It’s that time of year again. As a new Call of Duty is about to be released, FPS lovers are coming together in a long-lived and important cultural tradition. To play Black Ops 7 early, thousands of fans are digitally migrating to New Zealand.

Why are they doing this? Well, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 (like many games) doesn’t have a unified worldwide release time. The game launches on the 14th November, and thanks to time zones it’s playable earliest in New Zealand.

As such, players can hop into their console settings and change their region to New Zealand from the comfort of their home that in reality is thousands of miles away from the idyllic island nation. This lets an eager player easily access the game way earlier than intended, and they can always switch their regions back once the game is fully released worldwide.

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This isn’t a new phenomenon among Call of Duty players, or in all honestly players of various series which have disjointed global rollouts. It turns out the super-passionate gamer is a migratory bird of sorts, flying their profiles over to the home of the net gun to get some games in before heading home.

Already on community hubs for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 fans including Reddit, fans are celebrating the incoming New Zealand release. It’s a running joke of sorts, with users speaking about these shenanigans as if going on a quick holiday. One user, Sneaky_Demise, wrote: “On my way to the airport now then a nap before midnight once I land”.

You may be wondering, is this technique bannable? Well, over the past few Call of Duty games it certainly hasn’t been. As long as players don’t access the game prior to the New Zealand launch through more nefarious practices, and only start playing alongside their fellow gamers who actually live in New Zealand, it’s been an unpunished practice. The New Zealand trick lives in the grey zone between what’s allowed and what isn’t, and has so far been ignored.

If you don’t fancy heading on a quick trip to New Zealand, you can find the global release times for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 to make sure you’re awake for the launch. The game is also available in November’s Game Pass line-up, if you fancied trying it out before paying full price for it.