Call of Duty Season 3 Reloaded preload times, sizes, and launch schedule revealed

The difference between being ready for Season 03 Reloaded and staring at a download bar came down to platform. Battle.net opened preload first on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S were set to get the preload at least 24 hours before launch, and Steam did not use the same preload path for the update. That made timing the whole story for anyone trying to jump in the second Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and Warzone unlocked.

The sizes were just as important as the clock. The full PC preload on Battle.net landed at about 40 GB, Warzone-only PC installs were listed at 22.2 GB, and PlayStation’s preload came in at 30.9 GB. Those numbers turned a mid-season refresh into a storage check, a bandwidth check, and in some cases a hard choice about what to delete before April 30 hit.

Season 03 Reloaded launched on Thursday, April 30, at 9AM PT across all platforms. That rollout brought more than a balance tune-up. Activision loaded the mid-season drop with Freerun in Multiplayer, Hot Pursuit in Avalon, Prop Hunt Royale on Rebirth Island, Operation Broken Mirror in Endgame, and the new round-based Zombies map Totenreich. It also added new weapons, blueprints, operator skins, and weekly challenge rewards, which is why the file sizes felt closer to a major content patch than a routine refresh.

Raven Software also used Reloaded to push a global Ricochet anti-cheat update, and the studio set the stage for a bigger PC security shift next season. Microsoft Azure Attestation will be required on PC in Season 04 for most playlists, with TPM and Secure Boot needed for full compliance. Players who are not ready for that change will face limited matchmaking, so Reloaded became a warning shot as much as a content drop.

The update also carried a crossover and charity angle. The RoboCop Event Pass arrived alongside the Siren Special Weapon and the Call of Duty Endowment C.O.D.E. Navigator Challenge, tying the mid-season rollout to Military Appreciation Month. In practical terms, that meant Reloaded was not just content to play through, but content to install, clear space for, and be online for at the exact minute the servers flipped.