How to Use the New Zealand Trick to Play Black Ops 6 Early

This method involves changing the timezone of your Activision account—and sometimes your console or PC—so you can access Black Ops 6 when it becomes available in New Zealand, instead of waiting for its release in your region.

Since New Zealand's timezone is significantly ahead of most other places, players who own the digital version can get early access for several hours. Unfortunately, if you're waiting for a physical copy, this trick won't work for you.

Here’s how you can do it on different platforms:

Xbox New Zealand Trick:

1. Go to your console’s Settings.
2. Scroll to System.
3. Select Language and Location.
4. Change your location to New Zealand.
5. Click Restart Now to apply the changes.
6. Visit the official Call of Duty website.
7. Log in to your Activision account.
8. Under the Basic Info tab, edit your address to New Zealand.
9. Save the changes.

PC New Zealand Trick (Game Pass):

1. Open Windows Settings.
2. Go to Time and Language.
3. Select Region.
4. Change your location to New Zealand.
5. Restart your PC.
6. Log into the Xbox app, where you should see the currency in NZD.
7. On the Call of Duty website, update your Activision account region to New Zealand following the same steps as above.

PS5 New Zealand Trick:

1. Visit the official Call of Duty website.
2. Log in to your Activision account.
3. Go to the Basic Info tab.
4. Change your country to New Zealand and save.

While this method has been tricky for PlayStation in the past, it's now possible for Black Ops 6 just as it was for MW3.

PS4:

For PS4, the situation is a bit more complex since Black Ops 6 is released through the Call of Duty HQ app as content packs. It’s still unclear if the New Zealand trick will work this year.

Additionally, PSN accounts are locked to the region they were created in. Some players get around this by creating a new PSN account with a New Zealand address and purchasing the game from the New Zealand PlayStation Store.

Steam and Battle.net:

Unfortunately, the New Zealand trick doesn’t work on Steam or Battle.net. These platforms lock your account to a region, preventing timezone changes.

Black Ops 6 New Zealand Release Time:

Using this trick, you can start playing Black Ops 6 on October 24 at 4 AM PT / 7 AM ET / 12 PM BST. This means players in the western US can play up to 20 hours earlier than their local release, while those in the eastern US and UK can access it 17 and 12 hours earlier, respectively.

Though it won't give you days of early access, it does offer a head start for a few hours. To ensure you’re ready to play as soon as possible, check out our guide on how to preload BO6.