Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 just confirmed its release date, launch times — here's exactly when you can play the Xbox Game Pass FPS juggernaut

Activision Blizzard's (and now Microsoft and Xbox's, thanks to the firm's acquisition of the publisher) massively popular FPS series Call of Duty stands tall as one of the biggest gaming franchises in the world, and each new title that comes out is all-but-guaranteed to be a massive hit with chart-topping sales and concurrent player counts.

Black Ops 7 — this year's new Call of Duty, and a direct sequel to 2024's Black Ops 6 — is expected to be one as well, despite stiff competition from Electronic Arts' (EA) Battlefield 6. Battlefield certainly gives the series a major challenger in the mainstream FPS space to contend with, though so far, it hasn't disrupted Call of Duty's player base much.

Interest in Black Ops 7 was high the moment it was announced during Microsoft's Xbox Games Showcase in June, and it's only continued to rise in the months since. One particularly notable driver of player excitement was the Open Beta for the game that ran in early October, giving fans across Xbox, Windows PC, and PlayStation a free-to-play taste of the shooter while also helping the developers identify and iron out some potential bugs and launch issues.

As a result — and with Black Ops 7's November release date rapidly approaching — players around the world are eager to figure out exactly when the game is coming out so they can jump in as soon as possible.

Luckily, Treyarch, Raven Software, and Xbox Game Studios have announced all of Black Ops 7's official release dates and launch times across its various platforms. You'll find all of these in the graphic and table below, along with an explanation for the game's rather confusing listed launch timings for consoles, in particular.

Officially, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 has the release date of November 14, 2025. This was revealed to fans quite a long time ago, but with the publication of a recent blog post from the developers, it's been clarified that the game has different launch times depending on the platform that you're playing it on.

Specifically, on Xbox and PlayStation consoles as well as the Xbox app version of the FPS on PC, Black Ops 7 is coming out on November 13, and will gradually roll out region-by-region starting at 3:00 a.m. PST and ending at 10:00 p.m. PST, at which point it will be playable on these platforms worldwide.

Fans using Steam or Battle.net, however, will have to wait a bit longer until November 13 at 9:00 p.m. PST, which is when Black Ops 7 will unlock on those platforms globally. Both the graphic and table above show several time zone conversions for this launch time, but if you don't see the one you live in, you can use this time zone calculator to figure out when the game is coming out in your region.

Another thing important to note is that preloads for Black Ops 7 are scheduled to begin for all platforms on November 10 at 9:00 a.m. PST globally (again, use that linked calculator if needed to convert that into your time zone). Preloading is a nifty feature that allows you to download and install a game ahead of its release so you can play right away when it comes out, though it does require you to preorder it.

All in all, Black Ops 7 is poised to have a huge launch and strong sales over the holidays as the series always does, though there does seem to be some unmistakable "Call of Duty fatigue" in the wider gaming community after countless years of annual releases that arguably don't change much about the gameplay experience.

That may affect the game's launch performance some, though it's worth noting that Black Ops 7 is taking some steps to shake up the experience with new multiplayer modes, a co-op focused story campaign, and skins more "authentic" to the franchise, though don't expect anything too "grounded."

Like Black Ops 6 before it, Black Ops 7 will be one of the most accessible Call of Duty entries thanks to its inclusion in Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass. That's something of a double-edged sword, however; while Game Pass availability can potentially lead to record-breaking player counts, Black Ops 6 losing $300 million in sales to the service shows it has a major impact on profit.

It remains to be seen how things go for Black Ops 7, but ultimately, it's hard to imagine a world where it doesn't sell incredibly well and attracts millions of players as it always does. I'll certainly be watching its performance closely, even though I don't care much for Call of Duty myself; competition from Battlefield as well as the effects of Game Pass make its impending launch an interesting one to pay attention to.

Note that Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is available to preorder on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC (Xbox app, Steam, Battle.net), PS5, and PS4 for $69.99. If you're for sure going to buy the game, it's worth preordering it so you can take advantage of the aforementioned preloading coming on November 10.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 | $69.99 at Amazon (Xbox)

Experience the direct sequel to 2024's hit Black Ops 6, co-developed by Treyarch Studios and Raven Software. Black Ops 7 is expected to launch this fall on Xbox and PC Game Pass with a thrilling campaign, multiplayer, and zombies experiences.

Preorder now: $69.99 (Xbox)| $69.99 (Best Buy)

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