‘Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare’ Free Five-Day Trial Gives Limited Access To All Three Modes

Activision is giving PS4, Xbox One, and PC gamers a holiday treat. The publisher announced a free trial of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare this weekend to give PlayStation 4 and Xbox One owners a chance to try all three game modes: Campaign, Multiplayer, and Zombies.

The Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare free trial will go live Thursday, December 15 at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT. Those interested will be able to download the trial from the PlayStation Store, Xbox Store, and Steam at that time.

Note that the download for Infinite Warfare is approximately 60 GB on consoles. So, plan your download time and free up any space necessary.

While Activision is giving access to all three Infinite Warfare modes, it is not giving full access to everything. Those that take on the campaign will only get to try the first two levels – “Rising Threat” and “Black Sky.” Each of these two levels takes approximately 15 minutes each, so that’s the first 30 minutes of the campaign to play for free.

Meanwhile, the multiplayer side of the latest Call of Duty title will also have some restrictions. Players will only be able to reach level 15 during the free trial. This will give access to a smattering of unlocks, but a good taste of the gameplay across all of the available modes.

Finally, Zombies in Spaceland will have a similar restriction. Players will only be able to test their skills in the retro-80s themed Zombies experience through level 3.

The good news is any progress earned during the Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare free trial will carry over to a full purchase of the game. Just make sure you have a PlayStation Plus or Xbox LIVE Gold subscription. The former is needed for Multiplayer and Zombies on the PS4 while the latter is needed for all three game modes on the Xbox One.

Unfortunately, there will not be a free trial for the PC version. Additionally, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered will not be included during the trial.

At first glance, the decision to run a free trial for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare appears to be based on relatively lackluster sales of the title. Physical sales of the shooter are down 50 percent compared to last year’s Black Ops 3, per NPD data for North America via CNBC. Similar numbers were also reported for Europe by GfK Chart-Track.

The initial reaction to the Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare debut trailer was overwhelmingly negative. Activision and developer Infinity Ward have been fighting an uphill battle against negative perceptions ever since.

Still, it is not surprising that Infinite Warfare is selling less at retail than Black Ops 3. This can be partially explained by the simple fact of it not being an entry in the Black Ops series combined with the disappointing reception of Infinity Ward’s previous effort, Call of Duty: Ghosts.

Another large factor is the console owners continued migration to purchasing games digitally. For example, Electronic Arts revealed during a November 1 earning conference call that 30 percent of the industry’s sales are driven by digital games. Indeed, Sony announced today Infinite Warfare was the top selling digital game on the PlayStation for the month of November and is in the top 10 paid games on the Xbox Store.

Infinite Warfare is not the only title to use a limited time trial to goose sales. Electronic Arts’ Titanfall 2 recently did the same as well just two weeks ago. It will be interesting to see the reception to Call of Duty making the free run as well.

Will you give Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare a shot this weekend? Why or why not? Sound off in the comments below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd2XqxQ0Uqs

[Featured Image by Infinity Ward/Activision]