Take your yearly trip to New Zealand to play COD a little early.
It's almost time for the launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, which is releasing worldwide on Nov. 14. For a majority of players around the world, the game will be released at midnight local time. This goes for both console and PC players, but there are some exceptions for those beyond the Eastern Time Zone. While the midnight release does apply for most players in Black Ops 7, hardcore fans know that this can be subverted with the "New Zealand trick."
The New Zealand trick allows you to start playing Black Ops 7 when the game is first released for those living in New Zealand. This is the first region the game unlocks in, giving you the maximum amount of playtime. Depending on where you live, this means you can start playing Black Ops 7 up to 19 hours early.
Below, we'll walk you through how to do the New Zealand trick for all platforms in Black Ops 7.
How to do the New Zealand trick on Xbox
Fortunately, if you're on an Xbox One or Series X|S, the New Zealand trick is extremely simple to do. All you have to do is follow these quick steps:
- Head into your console's settings, go to your account page, and you should be able to see and change your current region
- Change the region to New Zealand and then restart your console
- If you view the Black Ops 7 application, it should now say that you can play earlier than midnight local time
How to do the New Zealand trick on PC
Moving on, the New Zealand trick can also allow PC players to start playing Black Ops 7 early, but there's a major caveat with this. If you're on Steam or Battle.Net, you will not be able to take advantage of the New Zealand trick. These two platforms take extra measures to determine your current region, so you can't simply change your PC's region to take advantage of the trick.
If you want to play Black Ops 7 early on Steam or Battle.Net, you need to have a friend who is doing the New Zealand trick. By launching COD HQ, your friend can invite you to their lobby while they're playing Black Ops 7, and you should be able to join, giving you the chance to play early. However, sometimes, leaving your friend's lobby will result in you getting kicked out of the game, forcing you to repeat the steps again.
Now, if you're playing on the Xbox app on PC, you can fully take advantage of the New Zealand trick by following these steps:
- Go to your Activision account and head into the profile settings
- Here, look for the option that allows you to enter in your address
- You want to find any address in New Zealand, be it a business, house, or apartment complex, and enter that exact address into your Activision account
- Save the changes and then exit out of the website
- Now, look at the bottom-right of your PC screen and right-click on the date and time box
- Select "Date and Time" and then find the "Region" tab
- Change your country or region to "New Zealand" and then restart your PC
- With all of that done, launch the Xbox app and make sure you're using an account that's linked with your Activision account
- Go to the page for Black Ops 7, and it should say you can play earlier than midnight local time
- For me in the Eastern Time Zone, the app says I can start playing at 6 AM on November 13, which is 18 hours ahead of midnight local time on November 14
How to do the New Zealand trick on PlayStation
Finally, we arrive at PlayStation. Unfortunately, PlayStation players are completely locked out of doing the New Zealand trick. Even if you change your region, your console will still say that you can't play Black Ops 7 until you're supposed to.
The only way to play Black Ops 7 early on PS4 or PS5 is by joining a friend who is doing the New Zealand trick or already playing the game. Your friend can invite you or you can attempt to join them from your friends list in COD HQ. However, this can be buggy at times since you're not supposed to be playing, so it might take a few tries to get yourself into the lobby.
And that covers all the ways to play Black Ops 7 early. When you start playing, make sure to stay tuned to EsportsGG for all of your Call of Duty coverage.
