Today, Electronic Arts revealed that 13.2 million people all over the world are playing Battlefield 1. This open beta multiplayer test for this game gathered this huge number over several platforms, such as PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Perhaps this was the biggest beta ever released for a game at EA, which might reflect in the success the game might have after it debuts on October 21.
This type of betas is extremely helpful for developers, who are thus able to gather more data and feedback regarding the software’s behavior under real conditions. For blockbuster games, betas are also teasers that the studios use to convince gamers to buy their game and to talk about it.
Activision, EA’s rival, started this practice back in 2007 when they released a beta for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. This test was one of the factors that pushed Call of Duty in the top of bestsellers at the time. However, now EA and DICE are using the beta to tweak the final version that will be released for Battlefield 1.
Aleksander Grondal, who is a senior producer at DICE, declared in a blog post that they have been closely monitoring social media mentions, forum posts and other data provided by gamers with regards to the upcoming game. He also said that they are watching what’s going well and what’s not, so that they can fix anything in time and to improve the game according to public’s wish. It seems that in the near future we will get the chance to find out more about the changes the team will make to the future full version of that game.
One example Grondal gave for showing what type of changes they will be making is the fact that the light tank vehicle proved to perform too well. This might mean that we should expect some prelaunch nerfs perhaps.
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