Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Alpha Start Time

[Update: The alpha has now ended. You will be able to play multiplayer again during the game's first closed beta on PS4.]

One of the surprises from Sony's PS5 event was that a free and public alpha for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War would be available for PlayStation 4 users starting September 18. That's today, and you can install and start playing the game's multiplayer modes right now. Activision has now shared all of the key details for the alpha, covering how to get in, what maps and modes are available, and more. We're rounding up all the key details here in this post.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Alpha Start Time

• September 18 at 10 AM PDT / 1 PM EDT / 6 PM BST

The Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War alpha is now live and playable for PS4 users. You don't need to pre-order the game. The alpha will not be available on other platforms.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Alpha End Time

• September 20 at 10 AM PDT / 1 PM EDT / 6 PM BST

You still have a little bit more time to play the Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War alpha. After that, you'll have to wait for the beta to start in October.

How To Install Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Alpha

Downloads for the Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War alpha are available right now. The client is about 25 GB. You can find links to download the alpha below.

• Download Free Alpha: Americas
• Download Free Alpha: Europe, Middle East, Australia, or New Zealand. Note that due to the game's rating, PS Plus is required to download in Germany
• Download Free Alpha: Japan
• Download Free Alpha: Asia

Modern Warfare and Warzone players can download the alpha from within the main menu of those games. Additionally, the alpha will let players move directly into Warzone, providing they have it installed, through a tab.

Bonuses

Everyone who plays the Black Ops Cold War alpha will receive a special calling card for use in Modern Warfare and Warzone right away, and later Cold War when it is released. An image of the calling card was not released, however.

Alpha Content

There are three 6v6 modes in the alpha, and they are all familiar--they include Team Deathmatch, Domination, and Kill Confirmed. In terms of maps, these include Miami, Moscow, Satellite, and you can see images of these maps in the gallery below to get an idea for what they look like.

Gallery

More interestingly, the Cold War alpha lets you try Cold War's brand-new Combined Arms: Domination mode. This is a 12v12 mode featuring large maps and vehicles like tanks, snowmobiles, wakerunners, and gunboats. Similar to the standard Domination, teams will capture and defend multiple objectives.

There are two Combined Arms: Domination maps available in the alpha, the first of which is Armada. This map takes place in the North Atlantic Ocean, and features three ships that players can move between either by swimming, taking a boat, or ziplining. Players need to control and hold capture points to win. Check out GameSpot's gameplay video below to get an idea about how this all works.

The second Combined Arms: Domination map is Crossroads, and this one is completely different. Set in the frozen Soviet wilderness, this map features tanks and snowmobiles that you can use to zip around quickly. Being a large map, it's also good for snipers.

Scorestreaks And Customization

The Black Ops Cold War alpha also lets players sample the new create-a-class, gunsmith, and scorestreak features, though all of these are limited compared to the final game. The alpha also spotlights some of the new field upgrades and the "wildcard" abilities that players can use to try to get an upper hand on the battlefield.

While this alpha weekend is exclusive to PS4, Activision will hold an open beta for Black Ops Cold War in October for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. For more on that, check out GameSpot's breakdown of everything you need to know.