Summer is over and autumn is here, and you know what that means: it's Call of Duty season. This year's new installment in the massively popular FPS franchise is Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 — a direct follow-up to 2024's Black Ops 6 — and ahead of the game's November 13 launch, the game's beta playtest has officially kicked off.
Out today in Early Access for fans that preordered the game or got a code from Call of Duty: NEXT, and out October 5 for everyone freely until it concludes on October 8, the Black Ops 7 beta gives players across Xbox, PC, and PlayStation a chance to experience the shooter in advance of its release.
On top of that, it also serves as a stress test of the game's servers and systems, allowing developers Treyarch and Raven Software to identify noteworthy bugs and then work on fixing them so they don't cause any problems at launch. Notably, one such bug has been discovered immediately — and it's a major one.
The bug in question is an error preventing fans from opening the Black Ops 7 beta entirely, gating entry with the "You don't have access to the content" message you'd see if you were trying to play the beta right now without an Early Access code. Unfortunately, though, there are widespread reports that this is being encountered by folks who do have a code and used it.
There's been no official word from Treyarch or Raven Software on the matter on any Call of Duty communication channels, though I'll be sure to update this article with the latest information if that changes. There has been acknowledgement of an issue with Battle.net players launching the game, though, so at least that problem is being actively worked on.
However, there are at least a couple of workaround fixes you can take advantage of right now to get around the problem until it's resolved entirely (or the servers stabilize enough for it to go away on its own, if it's due to network issues).
The first solution — and the one that seems to be the most effective — is to join a friend's lobby if they're in the game using your friend's list on your platform of choice. Players have reported that this workaround reliably allows you to bypass the false error and get into the game, though it does require having a friend that's online, playing, and in a joinable lobby.
If that doesn't work or you don't have a friend you can join, you can also try restarting the Black Ops 7 beta client entirely by fully closing it and then launching it again. Fans have said that this has allowed them to get into the game as well, though it may take a few tries for it to work.
Lastly, if you're not having any luck with either of these workarounds, all you can really do is sit tight and hope for an update that resolves the issue — or for the problem to fix itself, if it does once the Black Ops 7 servers stabilize.
Black Ops 7 itself is undoubtedly going to be one of 2025's biggest games, simply by virtue of the fact that it's, y'know, Call of Duty. The title is doing some noteworthy interesting things like introducing a more co-op focused campaign and a Battlefield-esque Skirmish mode, however, so it may end up feeling like something more than your average run-of-the-mill CoD.
With that said, the official Black Ops 7 gameplay reveal was met with an incredibly lukewarm reception, and fans are worried the series' goofy cartoon skins will eventually rear their stylized heads again after its developers admitted cosmetics won't be entirely grounded — seemingly going back a bit on their earlier promise to release skins that "feel authentic to Call of Duty and its setting."
Personally, I couldn't be less interested in playing a CoD game right now, especially with Battlefield 6 poised to deliver what looks to be one of the best multiplayer shooter experiences we've had in years when it launches on October 10. Based on everything we've seen so far, though, I think Battlefield 6 is going to completely steal Black Ops 7's thunder.
If you want early access to the Black Ops 7 beta, you'll need to preorder the game. It's got a $69.99 MSRP across Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC, PS5, and PS4, with copies available now.
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