Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 beta dates and times

It's nearly launch month for one of the more confusingly-named CoD games yet and, like last year, the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 beta is taking place over multiple weekends for different subsets of players.

“This is already the best CoD has played recently in terms of sound, feel, movement, and feedback,” our staff writer Morgan Park said after putting in time on the beta last weekend on PlayStation. “Modern Warfare 2 has that extra sprinkle of tacticool magic that was sorely missed in CoD's last two years of Cold War fan fiction and bland WW2 rehashes.”

If you're ready to find out how it plays yourself, the good news is that your time is nearly here. Unsurprisingly, having a pre-order for the game will get you in earliest. However, this weekend is the true open beta for all platforms, which is when PC players who want to try before they buy will get to play. Here's how and when to play in the Modern Warfare 2 beta:

When does the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 beta start?

The Modern Warfare 2 beta kicked off first for PlayStation players who pre-ordered the game on Friday, September 16 and was open to all PlayStation players on September 18 – 20.

The MW2 beta opens up to all platforms on Saturday, September 24 at 10 am PT / 6 pm BST and ends on Monday, September 26. Starting Saturday, anyone on all available platforms can download and play in the cross-platform multiplayer weekend.

Similar to the PlayStation exclusive weekend, players who've pre-ordered the game either on Xbox or through Battle.net or Steam can start two days before that on September 22. Here's how all the dates shake out depending on your platform and pre-order status:

• September 16 – 17: PlayStation pre-order players
• September 18 – 20: All PlayStation players
• September 22 – 23: All PlayStation players and Xbox/PC pre-orders
• September 24 – 26: All players on all platforms

Based on feedback from the first beta weekend on PlayStation, Infinity Ward says it has fixes several crashing bugs, exploits, map geography, and bugs related to gunsmith progression. You can see the rest of the known feedback in IW's weekend two beta post.

You'll also be able to earn a total of 10 in-game rewards by leveling up during the beta weekends. Level 15 will net you a “Side Impact” weapon blueprint, level 18 the “Collision” operator skin, and a tank skin and another weapon skin come in at levels 26 and 30 respectively. You can catch the rest of the rewards in Infinity Ward's post.