Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War early access beta keys are up for grabs this weekend

Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War
(Image credit: Activision)

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War was one of the many games showed off at the GamesCom 2020 event this week with a new trailer, but more importantly as with previous installments of Call of Duty there will be a public beta ahead of the game's launch and there are a number of ways to get early access.

Most of the early access methods not surprisingly involve pre-ordering the game, but this weekend Activision is giving away 10,000 early access beta keys without having to give them a dime (via The Verge).

What you do have to give them is your attention for the first-ever Call of Duty League championship that is happening this weekend. The results of the giveaway will be posted on August 30 at 4PM Eastern (1PM Pacific), so you'll need to qualify prior to that time. 

How to sign up and win early access

To get yourself registered to win one of the 10,000 early access beta keys you just need to visit the Call of Duty League's website and either sign up for an Activision account or simply log into your existing account and link it to your PlayStation, Xbox or Battle.net account. You'll get to choose at that time if you want access to the beta for your PS4, Xbox One or PC. 

The final step is that you need to watch at least 30 minutes of the Call of Duty League championships over the course of the weekend, make sure you are logged in and watching from either the official website or the companion app to make sure your viewership is noted. Beyond the early access beta keys there are a number of other CoD rewards available usable in Modern Warfare or Warzone for those watching over the weekend.

So tune in if you are a CoD fan and want a chance to play Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War ahead of its November 13 release date without having to put down a pre-order.

Sean Riley

Sean Riley has been covering tech professionally for over a decade now. Most of that time was as a freelancer covering varied topics including phones, wearables, tablets, smart home devices, laptops, AR, VR, mobile payments, fintech, and more.  Sean is the resident mobile expert at Laptop Mag, specializing in phones and wearables, you'll find plenty of news, reviews, how-to, and opinion pieces on these subjects from him here. But Laptop Mag has also proven a perfect fit for that broad range of interests with reviews and news on the latest laptops, VR games, and computer accessories along with coverage on everything from NFTs to cybersecurity and more.