Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’s beta is “quite an upgrade” over the alpha, a lead dev claims

(Image credit: Activision)

A lead designer on Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War has claimed that the upcoming beta for the game will be "quite an upgrade" over the recent alpha on PS4.

The claim comes from Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War lead gameplay systems developer Tony Flame. From the sound of Flame's tweet, which you can see just below, it sounds like Treyarch and Raven Software have both been hard at work redoing parts of Black Ops Cold War in between the alpha (which ran in September) and the beta, which kicks off later this month.

In a follow-up tweet, Flame confirmed that those who already downloaded the alpha file on the PS4 can delete the file, since the upcoming beta won't be updating the previous alpha file on PS4.

The Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War alpha ran from September 18 for 48 hours, exclusively for PS4 players. It featured 6v6 and 12v12 gameplay modes, including Team Deathmatch, Domination, and Kill Confirmed. The alpha featured three maps from the final game: Miami, Moscow, and Satellite. 

The upcoming beta for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War kicks off on October 8, but only for those who have pre-ordered the game on PS4. A few days later, the beta will open up to all PS4 players on October 10, followed by pre-order customers on PC and Xbox One on October 15, and rounded out by the beta opening to all on the latter two platforms on October 17.

Activision has also revealeded the Zombies mode for this year's entry in the monolithic shooter series this past week. There's plenty of new additions to look forward to in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War's Zombies mode this year, including weapon and item rarities, reworked maps, and a battle pass that ties into the rest of the game.

For a complete look at every other game set to release in the remainder of this year, head over to our upcoming 2020 games guide.

Hirun Cryer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.

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