How to do the New Zealand Trick – Destructoid
If you’re itching to jump into Black Op 6 just a few hours early, then may be in luck depending on your platform of choice. Using the New Zealand trick, it’s possible to play earlier than normal, so if you’re interested in the possibility, here’s how you can perform it.
How to use the New Zealand Trick for CoD Black Ops 6
The “New Zealand trick” is well-known in the COD community and has even worked for other unrelated games in the past. This method takes advantage of modern gaming’s staggered release schedules, which often roll out based on time zones. In theory, if you could temporarily set your location to New Zealand, you might unlock early access to Black Ops 6 before its official release in other regions. That’s the core idea behind this trick.
However, whether or not it works it is platform-dependent, so I’ll break down how to use it on all platforms, for your convenience. A quick disclaimer: there’s no guarantee this will work for you on any platform, but I can confirm that it has worked for past Call of Duty titles.
Xbox
In order for the New Zealand trick to work on your Xbox, you need to change your system settings so that it recognizes you in New Zealand instead of your current location. To do this, turn on your Xbox (any applicable version), and head to the System setting. Choose Language and pick Location from the list of options.
From here, scroll until you find New Zealand in the list and select it. Now, restart your system. Once restarted, head to your Call of Duty Account Profile and find your current address. Where your address is located, modify the information and select ‘New Zealand’ again. Save the changes, and now you should be able to play Black Ops 6 as soon as it is live in New Zealand. Happy travels!
PC (Xbox Game Pass)
All systems are different, so the following instructions by slightly differ from what you have on screen. Nevertheless, the result should still be the same.
Go to your system’s Home Screen and do a search for Date & Time in your search bar. Select it, and it should bring you to a screen where you can alter the time on your PC. It may also say Time and Language instead. Next, select Region or Timezone from the list of options and choose New Zealand. Save the changes and restart your computer.
With this, your system should now be considered to be within the New Zealand timezone. The next step is to change your Call of Duty account address to match this. Go to the Call of Duty website and log in with your standard information. Go to your profile and change your address to New Zealand.
This should allow you to play Black Op 6 as soon as it is live in New Zealand. Until it is released in your timezone, you’ll need to keep these changes in place to play. Make sure to change all of this information back to your timezone after it is officially available in your region.
Steam and Battle.net
Unfortunately, the New Zealand trick is not likely to work on the Steam or Battle.net versions of Black Ops 6. From a tech standpoint, the Xbox Game Pass version is still considered to be ‘Xbox’, which is why it works there. The Steam and Battle.net PC versions of Black Ops 6 tend to follow a strict midnight EST release schedule, with no changes possible to speed this up. You are absolutely welcome to try it out and see if it works for you, however.
PlayStation
Using the New Zealand trick for PlayStation is highly questionable, but you’re welcome to give this method a try and see if it works out. The process of changing your timezone is less convoluted than the PC or Xbox versions of the trick.
All you need to do is head to your Activision Account and log in. Find your Profile, then head to Basic Info at the top of your screen. From here, Edit your address field and change the active location to New Zealand. After that, you should be good to go. Sony tends to be more strict about timezones than other platforms, so it may not be possible for you to do this.
How to use the Invite Trick for CoD Black Ops 6
Steam and Battle.net players may not be totally out of luck when it comes to playing Black Op 6 early, thanks to the Invite trick that has existed since Call of Duty HQ became a thing.
Because of the Call of Duty integration (CoD HQ), most modern Call of Duty titles are launched through the same client. Since this is the case, it may be possible to invite people on your Friends List to Black Ops 6 lobbies, even if it hasn’t yet been released in their timezone. This was the case with the release of Modern Warfare 3, and since Call of Duty HQ remains in place, I highly suspect this trick will work for Black Ops 6 as well.
All you need is someone who has gotten access to the game (using the New Zealand trick, potentially) to invite you to their lobby. That person will either need to send you an Invite/Friend request, or you’ll need to share your information with them for the same effect. Once that has happened, you will have access to Black Ops 6 as long as you remain in-game. If you leave the game, you may need to have someone reinvite to their lobby.
Battle.net, Xbox, and Steam versions of the game should be able to gain Early Access to Black Ops 6 using this method. As with the New Zealand trick, for PlayStation users, I’m not certain this will work, but it is worth the effort if you wish to play the game early.
