Call of Duty Vanguard: beta details, UK release date, trailer, Warzone explained - when is the new game out?

Details of the latest entry into the Call of Duty franchise of military-themed video games have been confirmed, after a rogue listing on the PlayStation Store gave away the game’s reveal date.

Call of Duty: Vanguard will release later this year.

Here is everything you need to know about it.

What do we know about Vanguard?

New Call of Duty games have been released annually since 2005, so the reveal of another series entry in 2021 shouldn’t come as a surprise.

Even the game’s ‘Vanguard’ subtitle has been known for a few months now, with the first details emerging in March of this year.

The game is being developed by Sledgehammer Games, one of the four studios Activision has working on a rolling slate of Call of Duty games.

Sledgehammer have previously developed 2011’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Call of Duty: WWII in 2017, and also assisted in the creation of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare two years ago, a game which gave the franchise’s ‘Modern Warfare’ sub-series something of a reboot.

The studio is taking CoD back to the Second World War in Vanguard, which is welcome news for fans of 2017’s WWII.

Call of Duty’s cross-gen bundle system will be in place once more.

Where other blockbuster games have allowed players to upgrade their games to the flashier, next-gen versions free of charge, Call of Duty is only offering its games separately.

This means you will have to buy two copies if you want to migrate your game to a new console such as a PS5 or Xbox Series X. The next-gen versions will likely also be slightly more expensive too.

We also know the game will feature a single-player campaign, multiplayer and a co-operative element, and won’t be going down the solely multiplayer route that some recent Call of Duty games have.

How will Warzone be integrated?

Vanguard will integrate with Call of Duty: Warzone, allowing players to progress and use weapons, operators and other cosmetics items across both titles, in addition to the existing Modern Warfare and Cold War items in Warzone.

When can I play it?

The game is scheduled to be released worldwide on 5 November 2021.

Pre-orders of all editions grant early access to the open multiplayer beta, a cosmetic weapons pack for use in Vanguard, a special Mastercraft cosmetic blueprint, as well as the Vanguard character Arthur Kingsley for use in Cold War and Warzone.

How can I play the beta?

There are two weekends of the Vanguard Beta.

The first weekend takes place between 10 and 13 September, and will be available to those who pre-ordered Call of Duty: Vanguard for PlayStation 5 or PlayStation 4.

The beta will start and end on the above dates at 6pm.

Digital preorders will be automatically registered for Early Access, while those who preordered a physical version may find their Early Access code on the retail receipt or sent via e-mail.

Early Access codes can be redeemed at callofduty.com/betaredeem while logged into an Activision Account.

The second beta weekend will take place from Thursday 16 September 16 at 6pm to Saturday 18 September at 6pm, and will be available to players on Xbox consoles.

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