A PlayStation Plus membership will not be required to participate in the alpha, except for those players who live in Germany.
To access the alpha, all players need to do is go to the PlayStation Store, scroll down to “What’s Hot,” scroll right to the Cold War alpha, and download the alpha. Those who already have Call of Duty Modern Warfare or Warzone can download the alpha through the menus in those games.
Matches will play out in four modes across five maps. Domination, Kill Confirmed, and Team Deathmatch will have the largest map rotation with Miami, Moscow, and Satellite, while Combined Arms: Domination, a “vehicle-exclusive twist on traditional Domination,” will see action on Armada and Crossroads.
Some of Cold War’s customization systems will be on display during the alpha, such as Create-A-Class, Gunsmith, and Scorestreak.
Multiplayer was first revealed on September 9 through an in-depth dive into what Treyarch plans to bring to the war table when the first-person shooter releases on November 13. Confirmed modes include those above (Domination, Kill Confirmed, TDM, and Combined Arms), but they will also include Search & Destroy, VIP Escort, and Fireteam.
Field Upgrades and Wildcards will change moment-to-moment combat and swing matches, and tweaks to animations and player movement will add wrinkles to the overall experience. For example, an extensive Activision blog post said that sprinting and jumping will be more realistic.
For those unable to drop into this weekend’s alpha, there will be two Cold War beta periods in October. The first beta will be exclusive to PS4 owners and take place from October 8 to October 12, while the second weekend will be open to those playing on PS4, PC, and Xbox. It will feature crossplay and take place from October 15 to October 19.
The first two days of each beta weekend will only be available to those who pre order Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.
The latest entry in the perennial first-person shooter franchise will launch on November 13 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S. It will have several upgrade paths for current-gen players looking to move to next-gen platforms in the future.
Stay tuned to GameSkinny for our thoughts on this weekend’s alpha, as well as our official review and guides later this winter.
