Call of Duty: Black Ops-Cold War's multiplayer is free until Christmas Eve

(Image credit: Activision)

Following the release of Season One across Call of Duty: Black Ops—Cold War and Warzone, Activision has made (most) of the former's multiplayer mode free until December 24. Presumably so that all the six year-olds who get it on Christmas day don't have to put up with you freeloaders.

Now's your chance to experience the next evolution of Black Ops Multiplayer.Jump into the #BlackOpsColdWar Multiplayer Free Access Week through 12/24. pic.twitter.com/v7c7BMgAsXDecember 17, 2020

From Thursday, December 17 till Monday, December 21, free players can participate in the Team Deathmatch, Domination, the butt-clenchingly good 2v2 Gunfight, Nuketown and Raid the Mall playlists. Then at some yet-undefined time on the 21st, the Prop Hunt, Combined Arms Hardpoint, and Fireteam Dirty Bomb modes are added until the promotion ends on December 24. The last mode in particular is a complete mess but kind of amazing.

In addition, double XP and double weapons bonuses are running for all players till December 21, and double battle pass XP will be activated from December 22 (this runs past the free period, until December 28). The free trial is accessed through the Battle.net app.

Rich is a games journalist with 15 years' experience, beginning his career on Edge magazine before working for a wide range of outlets, including Ars Technica, Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, Gamespot, the Guardian, IGN, the New Statesman, Polygon, and Vice. He was the editor of Kotaku UK, the UK arm of Kotaku, for three years before joining PC Gamer. He is the author of a Brief History of Video Games, a full history of the medium, which the Midwest Book Review described as "[a] must-read for serious minded game historians and curious video game connoisseurs alike."