It's finally almost time for the launch of Black Ops 7 on Xbox, with the game officially releasing this week on November 14th. However, as is becoming the norm each year, fans have already started talking about plans to 'visit New Zealand' to begin playing a little early.
Yes, the biggest open secret in the history of Xbox appears to be returning once again for the new Call of Duty title. Rather than waiting for the game to go live in their region (midnight local time on Xbox), players are spotting that New Zealanders can play the game now - roughly 12 hours earlier than some locations.
CharlieIntel has shared exactly how folks can do this for Black Ops 7:
Over on Reddit, we're also seeing some success stories as players get into those BO7 NZ servers:
Switching regions on Xbox is as simple as going into the Settings menu and finding New Zealand in the location menu, but we must stress that this is something to do at your own risk (in COD's case you also need to change your Activision account location). Xbox fans have been using the trick for a long time and Microsoft has never seemed bothered, but there's always the possibility of that changing. If you want to be safe and avoid any potential issues with your account, it's best to just wait it out. You've been warned!
For all of the official details on when you can play Black Ops 7 — including via Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, check out our full release times guide down below.