Activision is Blatantly Challenging Battlefield 6 With Black Ops 7 Beta

Call of Duty is going to be trying to steal some of Battlefield 6‘s thunder with the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 beta. It’s no secret that the holiday season is one of the biggest and busiest times for the gaming industry. Publishers save some of their biggest and best titles for the last few months of the year, largely so their best titles are available in time for the holiday season. Not only are people looking to buy gifts for their loved ones, but people are spending more time indoors and digging into games. With that said, there’s usually a lot of variety, but two franchises have historically gone head to head.

Call of Duty and Battlefield have had a long time rivalry around the holiday season. 2025 is going to be no exception as Battlefield 6 is being hyped to the nines and Call of Duty is returning with a direct sequel to one of its best games, Black Ops 2. It will likely be a big year for gamers, but there will be a full month between the two releases. Call of Duty will return in mid-November while Battlefield will dominate starting near the beginning of October. However, Call of Duty will be finding a different way to take some of the lime light in October.

Black Ops 7‘s Beta Will End Just Two Days Before Battlefield 6‘s Release

Activision has confirmed that the Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 multiplayer beta will begin in early October, just days prior to the launch of Battlefield 6. However, there is an interesting wrinkle to this news. The beta will run from Thursday, October 2nd to Wednesday, October 8th as part of one uninterrupted test. Historically, Call of Duty has split its beta up across multiple weekends, ensuring the maximum amount of players would be available to play it as they’re off work and school. However, this time it will run through the middle of the following week and come right up to Battlefield 6‘s October 10th release.

The Black Ops 7 beta will be free for everyone, but it will have an early access period beginning on October 2nd that is reserved for those who pre-order the games or eligible Xbox Game Pass subscribers. It will be available on Xbox One, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and PC, just like the full game.

It does somewhat suggest that Call of Duty doesn’t want to directly compete with Battlefield 6 by running its beta during the same date. However, it may want players to be thinking about Call of Duty just prior to Battlefield 6, especially those who maybe can only afford one game this holiday season or only have time to dedicate to one shooter. Either way, competition is good and it’ll be exciting to see how this rivalry plays out this fall.

I got to check out Black Ops 7 at Treyarch last week and was able to learn a lot about all modes in the game, including the multiplayer. Treyarch will be bringing back a handful of classic Black Ops 2 maps, guns, and even scorestreaks, but you shouldn’t expect this game to serve as a remaster/remake of Black Ops 2 in any capacity. There are new mechanics and ideas at play here that go well beyond what Black Ops 2 ever had. The game will be a direct sequel to Black Ops 2 in a narrative capacity, though, so you can expect to see returning characters and plots from the 2012 shooter.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 will release on November 14th.