Image: Activision
Here’s everything you need to know to prepare for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 at launch.
Activision Blizzard’s next mainline Call of Duty game, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, launches this week with a campaign set during the Gulf War packed with action and espionage. This will also be the first game in the franchise to launch on Xbox Game Pass, following Microsoft’s costly $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
Black Ops 6 will feature the usual slew of campaign, zombies and multiplayer modes - but it won’t have an early access period, so everyone's going to be able to play it at the same time. If you’re trying to figure out its system requirements and pre-load times, however, we’ve got you covered. Here’s everything you need to know to prepare for the next big Call of Duty launch:
PC and console pre-load and launch times
Anyone who has pre-ordered Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 can already start pre-loading the game on their platform of choice, and immediately start playing when it launches. This means that you’ll be able to download all three of the game’s major game modes - Campaign, Multiplayer and Zombies - in advance of their official release. Pre-loading is now open on all platforms, including PC via Microsoft Store, Battle.net and Steam, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.
As for launch times, one should note that those using the Microsoft Store on PC, or PlayStation and Xbox consoles, will be able to play at midnight on October 25, local time. That means the game will be available to play sometime between 7 pm GMT+8 on October 24 and 2 pm GMT+8 on October 25 - depending on when the clock strikes midnight in your region.
However, Battle.net and Steam users on PC will only be able to play the game starting from noon on October 25. Here’s a handy launch map to illustrate those pre-load and launch times:
Official system requirements on PC
Now you know when Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is launching - but will your PC be able to handle the game when it’s out? Thankfully, the game asks for some pretty reasonable technical specifications this year, likely due to its cross-gen release. Here are the game’s system requirements:
Minimum
- OS: Windows 10 64 Bit (latest update)
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1400 or Intel Core i5-6600
- RAM: 8 GB
- Video Card: AMD Radeon RX 470 or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 or Intel Arc A580
- Video Memory: 2 GB
- Storage Space: SSD required with 102 GB available space at launch
- Internet: Broadband Internet connection
Recommended
- OS: Windows 10 64 Bit (latest update) or Windows 11 64 Bit (latest update)
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600X or Intel Core i7-6700K
- RAM: 12 GB
- Video Card: AMD Radeon RX 6600XT or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080Ti / RTX 3060
- Video Memory: 8 GB
- Storage Space: SSD required with 102 GB available space at launch
- Internet: Broadband Internet connection
Competitive/4K Ultra Specifications
- OS: Windows 10 64 Bit (latest update) or Windows 11 64 Bit (latest update)
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 2700X or Intel Core i7-8700K
- RAM: 16 GB
- Video Card: AMD Radeon RX 6800XT or NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 / RTX 4070
- Video Memory: 10 GB
- Storage Space: SSD required with 102 GB available space at launch
- Internet: Broadband Internet connection
Additionally, you’ll want to download the following recommended drivers before playing:
- AMD: 24.8.1
- NVIDIA: 560.70
- INTEL: 32.0.101.5972
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 launches on October 25, 2024.