PlayStation 4’s Call of Duty: Black Ops III beta test begins Aug. 19

We now know when PlayStation 4 gamers will get the first spoils of Sony’s new Call of Duty deal with publisher Activision.

Call of Duty: Black Ops III’s multiplayer beta test starts Aug. 19, according to a tweet from developer Treyarch. This online test is exclusive to the PlayStation 4. This is the latest entry in the annual Call of Duty franchise, and it returns to the popular Black Ops universe. The beta and the eventual game, which is due out in November, will have a lot to live up to since neither Call of Duty: Ghosts or Advanced Warfare outsold 2012’s Black Ops II.

We're excited to announce that the #BlackOps3 Multiplayer Beta will begin on 8/19 starting on PS4. More information coming soon!

— Treyarch Studios (@Treyarch) July 8, 2015

We’ve reached out to Activision to ask how entry into the beta will work, and we’ll update this post with any new information.

Sony announced at its Electronic Entertainment Expo event last month that it would get the beta as part of its marketing deal with Activision. This is the first time that the Call of Duty series has had this kind of relationship with the PlayStation brand, and this could start to shift the popularity of one of gaming’s largest franchises away from Xbox. Call of Duty has always sold best on Xbox 360 and Xbox One, and that’s helped the platform immensely, since Call of Duty is almost always the top-selling release of the year.