This weekend, fans playing the beta for Star Wars Battlefront got the news that the open beta for the much-anticipated shooter was getting one more day. Seems like a rare, awesome gift from EA to everyone, right? Turns out it’s not all that rare.
The Star Wars Battlefront beta was supposed to end, but was extended for another 24 hours. If EA’s instance of tacking extra time onto the public playtest of a AAA release feels like deja vu, then you’ve got a good memory.
Just this year, Ubisoft added three more days to the closed beta for Rainbow Six Siege, which ended on October 4 instead of the original date of October 1. Prior to that, Treyarch did the same thing for the Call of Duty: Black Ops III, giving players an extra day to work on their kill/death ratios before the game came out. The practice of extending beta makes sense for multiple reasons. If a beta runs into problems with glitches, exploits or general inaccessibility, then adding more time gives developers a longer period to collect data and work on fixes.
But, beta extensions might even be more useful as a PR move, as it makes publishers seem like good guys attuned to players’ desires. EA positioned their 24-hour extension of the Battlefield Hardline beta this way back in February and fan reactions were predictably positive.
It’s important to remember that betas aren’t just a chance to work out kinks before a game comes out; they’re also important parts of months-long marketing plans. And when the enthusiasm of a beta’s playerbase starts trending lukewarm or hot, extending a beta can be a way to spike reactions to an even higher temperature. If it seems like a publisher or developer is being generous with a beta extension, just remember it’s in the service of trying to get your money later down the line.
Comments
13 responses to “Extended Betas Shouldn’t Be That Much Of A Surprise Anymore”
So long as they get the servers right, I’ll be happy.
Isn’t it p2p? Or is that limited to consoles only
No? If it is and I can’t choose local then it’s not worth buying.
Ahh sorry apparently it is dedicated servers but they’re doing away with the server browser and are locking it down pretty hard on the PC to the point where its match making only much like most blizzard titles (so centrally located servers – but i wasn’t able to find any information on where)
tagged @letrico as it applies to your comment below
Source: http://games.on.net/2015/09/star-wars-battlefront-dedicated-servers/
Since when was battlefront p2p? It always ran on servers.
Probably why they released some new game modes, they must have heard us when we said we were a bit bored with it already.
Is the star wars one still open? I didn’t realise they’d opened up some of the other modes
Did they actually release the new game modes though? I thought they’d just outlined how they’d play in the full release…
Yeah you’re right, dammit. The articles I read were both confusing, I thought it meant they were unlocked for the beta
I was looking forward to trying them out lol
Yeah, me too!
Good on them for actually using beta testing instead of EARLY ACCESS POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP
Am I the only one that thinks it’s a very meh FPS with some very pretty scenery?
It is a god damn Beta….
2 maps, small selection of customizations, merely a taste.
Calm. Your. Tits
After that ‘player punches at-at walker to death’ incident I expect ‘player kills Vader by shooting snow under his feet’ will soon follow.