The Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War PlayStation 4 early-access beta launched today, and players are noticing a major difference from the alpha. The alpha ran from September 18 to 20, exclusively on PlayStation 4, and broke the record for the most-downloaded alpha or beta in Call of Duty history. After that record-breaking weekend, the beta is set for an even larger number of downloads.
Although the beta is still in early access for a limited number of PlayStation 4 players, observations about gameplay and mechanics are being shared. Some players are reporting a problem in the Black Ops Cold War lobbies. Many noticed in the alpha that Black Ops Cold War lobbies would function like previous Black Ops titles, which would include certain features that were left out of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, but the beta is different.
Previous Black Ops titles featured lobbies that carry into the next match. Players have also noticed that the map voting feature has made a comeback in Black Ops Cold War. In Modern Warfare, lobbies are disbanded after each match and there is no map voting, which is a frustrating features for some players.
The Black Ops Cold War alpha featured lobbies that stayed together following a match. Now in the beta, players have found that lobbies are being disbanded after matches. There has been no announcement from Treyarch regarding this change, so many are seeing it as a problem or bug that needs to be addressed.
The change has also made some believe that Black Ops Cold War may include skill-based matchmaking. Modern Warfare includes skill-based matchmaking, and this is potentially one of the main reasons for including a lobby-disbanding feature. However, rumors of skill-based matchmaking in Black Ops Cold War have not been confirmed, so the lobby change from the alpha to the beta is still a mystery.
The early access beta is still only a few hours old, so lobbies disbanding may just be a bug, but time will tell if it is changed or left as an actual feature. Players who have not pre-ordered the upcoming Call of Duty title will still be able to try the game in the open-access PS4 beta that starts on October 10. An early-access beta for all other platforms starts on October 15, and the beta will then be open to all players and platforms on October 17. By then, it is likely the lobby disbanding will either be fixed or confirmed to be permanent.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War will be available November 13 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.