Call of Duty Black Ops 3 Release Date and News: Xbox Exclusivity Deal Ends

Aug 18, 2015 07:37 PM EDT

Call of Duty: Black Ops is one of the best-selling video games from the famous Call of Duty franchise, not to mention video games as a whole.  The first iteration of Call of Duty: Black Ops took place in the Cold War, with the second taking place in both the Cold War and Second Cold War.  Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 will take place in a dystopian future of 2065, and this is what we know on its very unusual release date and news. 

According to Irish Examiner, the upcoming additional content for Call of Duty Black Ops 3 will be arriving first on PlayStation consoles, after years of Xbox exclusivity.  For the last five years, Call of Duty has primarily dominated the Xbox due to a deal with Microsoft giving the Xbox players access to exclusive content, but this deal is apparently off. 

As announced at E3 2015, all DLC for Black Ops 3 will arrive on the PlayStation 30 days before any other console, and this deal also means the first multiplayer beta for Black Ops 3 will arrive on PlayStation first. 

This will be difficult for those with the Xbox and were hoping for that Call of Duty exclusivity.  Part of the reason why Activision made this new deal with Sony is sales, and the PlayStation console sales are higher than that of Microsoft's Xbox. 

According to Polygon, the Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 multiplayer beta launches on August 19th for pre-orderers on the PlayStation 4 and August 26th on Windows PC and Xbox One.  According to Gotta Be Mobile, the official release date for Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 will be on November 6th, and if that doesn't seem odd to you, then you might want to check your calendar.  Yes, the release date for Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 is on a Friday, and not the usual Tuesday when most new games get their release date. 

Part of the reason is that a Friday release will mean that players can spend more time actually enjoying the game on a night where there will not be work or school the next day.  Robe Kostich, the Senior Vice President at Activision Publishing, told Forbes that "we thought it would be really fun for the fans to kick-off Black Ops 3 on a weekend". 

Kostich also stated that the development team at Treyarch are "really taking things to a new level" and "there's so much in this game across every mode of play".  Additional features to Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 include a reimaged campaign, multiplayer options, as well as zombies. 

Considering the popularity of the game, it would not be surprising if there were midnight release date events happening on Thursday, November 5th.  This has been unconfirmed, but most big games usually have these release date parties the day before that actual release date so that fans can get in on the action as soon as they can. 

Another gaming tradition, at least for the first weekend of a new offering from the Call of Duty franchise, is to have Double XP weekend.  The purpose is not only to entice players to purchase the game sooner, but get the first shot of leveling up. 

You should be able to purchase Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 for the PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360, and PC on the aforementioned release date.  The price for a standard edition is $59.99, Digital Deluxe, and a Season Pass.