While PlayStation 4 gamers might already be knee-deep in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Blackout goodness, PC players will be getting their first taste of the mode starting today. Note that in order to participate today, players need to pre-purchase Black Ops 4 on Battle.net. If you do, you’ll be able to join the action beginning 10 a.m. PT.
Now, for those who don’t like pre-purchasing stuff, you’ll be able to play the Black Ops 4 Blackout PC beta tomorrow, September 15, at 10 a.m. PT. Pre-load has already begun, so you should be ready to go once the gates are open. The Blackout beta on PC ends on September 17, 10 a.m. PT, so make sure you get a lot of time in before servers are switched off.
In case you want to play early, Battle.net players who tune in to select Call of Duty Twitch streamers ( Ninja, Shroud, Summit1G or TimTheTatman’s) for an hour between 10 a.m. PT ad 2 p.m. PT will get early access to the PC beta directly to their account! You need to watch for an hour to be eligible though. Also, make sure your Battle.net and Twitch accounts are linked before participating.
Activision has also released the Blackout PC beta recommended specs (via Blizzard’s official site)! Note that these are just for the beta only, so don’t get annoyed if things change when the game hits retail later next month.
Blackout PC Beta Specs
Here are the minimum and recommended specs to play the Blackout PC Beta— keep in mind these specs are for the beta only:
Minimum:
- OS: Windows 7 64-Bit or later
- CPU: Intel Core i5 2500k or AMD equivalent
- RAM: 8GB RAM
- HDD: 40GB HD space
- Video: Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 2 GB / GTX 1050 2GB or AMD Radeon HD 7950
- DirectX: Version 11.0 compatible video card or equivalent
- Network: Broadband Internet connection
- Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
Recommended:
- OS: Windows 10 64 Bit
- CPU: Intel Core i7 4770k or AMD equivalent
- RAM: 12GB RAM
- HDD: 40GB HD space
- Video: Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 / GTX 1060 6GB or AMD Radeon R9 390 / AMD RX 580
- DirectX: Version 11.0 compatible video card or equivalent
- Network: Broadband Internet connection
- Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
Finally, Treyarch has a message for the PC players participating today and the rest of the week.
We’re ready to kick-off in the morning, so we wanted to make sure everyone has the latest Blackout PC beta updates, as we have a couple of details to share about our development and stat-gathering plans for the weekend.
During the Blackout PC Beta, among other things, we’ll be running constant server capacity and performance tests. During this important testing phase, to help ensure as smooth an experience as possible for everyone, we are capping the framerate at 90 FPS. The team will be closely monitoring all the data throughout the course of the weekend. We’ll also be testing different player counts so that we can optimize to be ready for launch on October 12th.
Remember, as always, that the beta serves as a testing ground for us to gather information on performance, controls, and so many other details. All your feedback during the beta contributes important information that will help us deliver the best experience possible on PC. We are looking forward to this Blackout Beta weekend, and can’t wait to see you online.
Don’t forget to check out some of the changes Treyarch has rolled out for the PS4 version of Blackout, which will undoubtedly be applied to the PC version too.