EA's DICE studio has blown the lid off the multiplayer for its upcoming military shooter Battlefield 6, and players will soon get to join the fray themselves. A Battlefield 6 public beta is coming on two consecutive weekends starting Aug. 9 -- and if you're lucky enough to get in Early Access, to play starting Aug. 7 -- and here's how to join.

The Battlefield 6 beta preload time started on Monday August 4 @ 8am PDT / 11am / EDT / 4pm BST, which means that at the time of writing it is now available. To find it, go to the digital storefront for your platform and search for "battlefield 6 open beta", then download the beta client from the results.

Here's why EA lets only a select group of fans participate in Battlefield 6's Early Access phase of the Open Beta, which isn't that 'open' after all.