The Call of Duty: Blackout private beta started yesterday for PlayStation 4 players who pre-ordered Black Ops 4. Reports suggest it’s very good indeed; the super-polished military Battle Royale that people have been clamouring for since PUBG first appeared. Here's how the beta is helping better the game.

“I want the PC community to know that this game was built for them,” says Beenox’s Philippe Troie. “This is a PC game that is being built with the PC in mind. From the controls, to the graphics options, to the gameplay, I want the PC community to feel that this is for them in every way.”

Activision and developer Treyarch have been unusually quiet about Blackout, the new Battle Royale mode that’s coming to Call of Duty in Black Ops 4. Beyond admitting that it exists, and that it’ll stitch together moments and maps from your favourote Black Ops experiences on a single, contiguous map, there’s been very little information – particularly when it comes to player counts. We even tried to goad information out of Treyarch at E3, but they refused to speak in absolutes.

Call of Duty is one of the worst offenders when it comes to season passes and DLC. With brand new maps perpetually tied to map packs, there’s a splintered player base. Many other multiplayer games have moved away from this model, instead giving players free maps over the game’s life time.

So, today is a big day.  I’m leaving South Africa to attend the reveal event for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.  This is a big deal. For so many more reasons than some of you may know. Failure to launch Before I get into it, let me start this off by introducing myself. My name is Nick Holden, also …

A rumour has surfaced suggesting that Black Ops 4's multiplayer resembled Overwatch. It's been changed following poor playtest feedback.