The next Call of Duty Black Ops 7 beta will showcase Zombie Survival, and players are seriously confused about exactly when they will actually be able to get in on the action.
To give players just a day or two to get a quick taste of the zombie-based action prior to Halloween, from October 3rd through October 6th Zombies Survival will only be available during the Black Ops 7 Beta.
The information was dumped through a gaming news outlet named CharlieINTEL, and immediately, the inconsistencies in the announcement started to become evident to the players themselves. Even TranzitIsPog said, “They changed this, it now lasts the entire beta (as it should have to begin with),” which seemed to strongly insinuate that Activision is changing the schedule on the fly and half-heartedly informing the public.
Messy, though. Bobby Bray went on the record: “Yet another case of their communication being absolute trash. They need to clarify this immediately bc I’ve seen so many versions of the date now. Wth are they doing 💀” – or basically the public sentiment right now.
People have also been having a hard time getting codes for the beta. Numerous users have described problems getting their Twitch drops and having codes actually sent to them. Jose_0798 suggested that “It seems a vast majority didn’t get a code. I watched the entire four hours and got no code. Only the other drops.” BarronIdkzzz begged, “I was 82% on the 45-minute reward do you have a spare beta code?” – a clear demonstration of how far gone the whole beta access situation is.
On to Zombies, really fast. This map is generating… mixed reactions, to say the least. Uzis chimed in with “Map looks about as big as Verruckt, wtf” – which, for anyone who is not hardcore into Zombies, Verruckt was one of the smaller cramped maps from the original World at War days. That can either be really, really good news for folks that like intense, close-quarters Zombies action or really, really bad news for those who want giant maps.
How Zombies was brought forth during the beta was a thorn in a lot of players’ sides. SquirrelFiendish was in sympathetic mode: “Here I was hoping to play zombies and level up at my own pace to get the beta awards, now I’m gonna have to play against sweaty no lifers who literally do not touch another game outside of call of duty” – big mood.
MadcapGaming420, meanwhile, drew parallels between the treatment of Zombies fans at home and how Zombies creators were treated at COD Next: “so they gunna give us zombies fans at home, the same treatment they give zombies creators at cod next ‘alright pack it up you gotta move to multiplayer!’🫠” – implying that Zombies might get treated worse than the other game modes.
At the very root of this seems to be communication. People have had cited conflicting times for Zombies being available to them depending on what country they are in as well as depending on which blog post they read. TheGreatWraith sums the collective frustration of many: “Dude why can’t they just straight up tweet from their account and say exactly how long the beta is omg 💀” – I’d say that’s an entirely reasonable request.
In the midst of the confusion and frustrations, there are quite a few eager players hoping to throw themselves into the new Zombies experience. That passion for the mode runs deep, regardless of how messy the rollout has been; Scenicgamer logs a comment that absolutely nothing beats zombies, with an accompanying hype gif as evidence.
This whole mess brings to the fore another persistent issue common in modern game launches- which, to put things bluntly, are the seeming inability of companies to bother to communicate clearly and consistently about their schedules and their betas. You are, if anything, actually left to piece information together from various sources and make sense of last-minute changes that generally feel like a very-evasive-answer to your very real question.
With the October 3rd date creeping ever-so-close, the hope is that Activision clears the real answer for just when Zombies will grace our presence and for how long. Because right now, it’s just enough time for everyone to play peek-a-boo as to when they may actually get to play the one they want more than anything else-right not an image of good fame for one of the industry’s foundational franchises.
In early October, we will see the opening of the damn Black Ops 7 beta and, hopefully, Zombies Survival will be offered concurrently from October 3rd-6th-this being a confusing mess, keep those eyes glued to the official channels for that last-minute switch-up! Because, in all honesty, who even knows what’s going on with this whole beta schedule-debate. PlayStation and Xbox players alike are facing similar communication issues in other major game launches, showing this isn’t an isolated problem.
