How to play Modern Warfare 2 Multiplayer and Spec Ops early before official release

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is currently out in New Zealand, but not the rest of the world. If you're in a hurry to play the Multiplayer and Special Ops modes, you will have to tweak some settings in your console.

The official release time for the game is 4 am PT, 7 am ET, and noon BST on October 27. As the game has already released in New Zealand, Xbox and PlayStation owners can change a few settings to access the game early in their area.

Unfortunately, this is not possible for PC players as the title will be released at the same time globally at 9 pm PDT on October 27.

Unlock Modern Warfare 2 early on Xbox and PlayStation using this trick

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Infinity Ward is aware of the trick that players have been using to get into the game early and has issued a statement saying that they can get locked out of their copy until the title is officially released in their area. However, no complaints from fans getting locked out have been reported.

It's being speculated that Infinity Ward tweeted this to only scare players into waiting for the official release, and not playing Modern Warfare 2 early by tweaking the settings.

Guide for Xbox One/Series X|S

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To access Modern Warfare 2 early on Xbox consoles:

Open the Settings app.
Navigate to System.
Open Language Region, and select "English (New Zealand)" in the drop-down menu.
Open Location, and select New Zealand.
Restart the console.

This guide may not work for some players and they might need to complete a few more steps:

Log in to the official Call of Duty website using the account in which you own the game.
Navigate to the Basic Info panel.
Select Edit next to the Address option.
Enter a New Zealand address, "162 Colin Street" in Address Line 1, "Woodhaugh" in City, "Dunedin" in State, "9010" in Postal Code, and "New Zealand" in location.
Save changes, and restart your game on your Xbox console.

Guide for PlayStation 4 and 5

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To access Modern Warfare 2 early on PlayStation consoles, you will need to edit some of the information in your Call of Duty account.

Log in to the official Call of Duty website using the account in which you own the game.
Navigate to the Basic Info panel.
Select Edit next to the Address option.
Enter a New Zealand address, "162 Colin Street" in Address Line 1, "Woodhaugh" in City, "Dunedin" in State, "9010" in Postal Code, and "New Zealand" in location.
Save changes, and restart the console.

Lastly, you will need to uninstall the multiplayer pack installed on the console as the packs are of different sizes in different regions.

To re-install the multiplayer pack on PlayStation 5, follow the steps below:

Hover on the Modern Warfare 2 icon on the home screen.
Press the Options button on your controller.
Scroll down and select Manage Game Content.
On the right, uninstall the multiplayer packs by selecting the "trash can" icon.
Re-install from the same panel by selecting the download icon on the multiplayer packs.

To do the same on the PlayStation 4, the steps are:

Hover on the Modern Warfare 2 icon on the home screen.
Press the Options button on your controller.
Select Delete and confirm it.
Go to the Purchased section in your game library.
Select Download under Modern Warfare 2.

You can select the content you wish to download, including the multiplayer packs.