In just a day from now, Activision's long-running Call of Duty: Black Ops franchise will be making its grand return to the gaming industry with Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. This new entry in the series will feature an epic, spy-thriller single-player campaign, a huge variety of competitive PVP multiplayer modes, the fan-favorite Zombies co-op horde mode, and much more.
With Call of Duty: Black Ops 6's release time inching ever closer, no doubt long-time fans and newcomers will be dying to know when exactly they can get their hands on this highly anticipated first-person shooter. So we at Windows Central have rounded up all the officially released information from Activision and the game's developers Treyarch Studios and Raven Software on the game's exact release date and launch windows for each region worldwide.
We have also included information on how much storage space your preferred gaming platform will need to install the game and if you will be able to preload it.
What is Call of Duty: Black ops 6?
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is a first-person shooter spy-thriller set during the early 1990s after the events of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 but before the events of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. As the Gulf War rages, a shadowy organization has infiltrated the CIA and usurped its command to brand anyone who it deems enemies as traitors. The war-veteran Frank Woods and his Black Ops team have been exiled due to this coup, and now they must go rogue to root out this corruption while being hunted down by the very country they swore to protect.
In the mission-based single-player campaign, players will play as Frank Woods' Black Ops unit as they travel all over the world to destroy this shadow organization while collecting upgrades for their arsenal, solving puzzles, and gathering information on potential allies to their cause.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will also feature a variety of PVP and PVE online multiplayer modes for players to enjoy. For PvP, this game will include Team Deathmatch, Hardpoint, Face Off, Gunfight, Domination, and Kill Order game modes that can be played on 16 brand-new maps. Twelve of these maps will support 6v6 game modes, while four of them will support Strike modes with 2v2 or 6v6 game modes.
For PvE, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will bring back the series' beloved Zombies co-op mode. In this game mode, a team of four players must band together to fend off waves upon waves of rampaging zombies in the new Terminus and Liberty Falls maps.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is available to pre-order on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam, Battle.Net and Windows for the retail price tag of $69.99. It will also be available to stream on NVIDIA GeForce NOW on release day via Cloud on Steam and Battle.net, and included on Xbox Game Pass on the day it launches.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 — Release date and times
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be released on October 25, 2025, and the home console and PC versions will have the same launch time windows. However, the game will launch a day early in some regions depending on their time zones.
Here are the full lists of when the game will go live on PC and home consoles.
Do note that the Xbox version will become playable on xCloud on October 25, 2024, 10:00 a.m. PT.
Can I play Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 with Early Access?
Unfortunately, no as Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 has no Early Access period for the campaign or multiplayer modes. You will need to wait until the game officially releases on October 25, 2025, before you can play it.
Call of Duty: Black ops 6 preload date and time
One of the most welcome additions to modern gaming is the ability to preload your games. This feature allows you to download and install a game before it becomes available to play. Preloading a game in advance will help players play a game immediately without having to waste time installing it as it comes out on release day. Preloading is especially useful when you're planning on downloading games with massive file sizes and if you have subpar or slow internet connections.
Preloading for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is available right now for all platforms as the feature became available on October 21, 2024, 9:00 a.m. PT.
Call of Duty: Black ops 6 download size
AAA games in this day and age have become so advanced in terms of graphics and gameplay content, that some of them require file storage spaces of over 100GB to be installed on consoles and PC, such as today's subject. According to Call of Duty: Black Ops 6's system requirements, you will need 102GB of storage space on your preferred platform's solid-state drive (SSD for short) in order to install the game.
If you don't have enough space on your platform's SSD, we suggest freeing up hard drive space by deleting old files you don't use anymore like videos or music tracks, compressing files, or uninstalling games you don't play often. Alternatively, if you want to add space to your console or PC rig instead of getting rid of files you like, or if you don't have an SSD for your system, we recommend picking up one of the best SSDs on the market right now.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is available to pre-order now on Xbox, PlayStation, Steam, Battle.net, and the Microsoft Store for $69.99 with a planned release date of October 25, 2024.