So approximately four thousand years after it was initially announced, Ubisoft’s Skull & Bones is finally promising that it’s going to enter into closed testing on August 25th. It’s finally happening! Probably. Maybe. We’ll still have to see. Are pirates still a thing any more? I thought we’d finally broken that meme-curse, but maybe that was wishful thinking on my part. Let me know in the comments.
Meanwhile, Fractured is coming back into testing after the whole thing where Gamigo published it and then saw this niche sandbox game wasn’t going to be a huge hit and decided on some take-backsies. That part of the story still blows, but the story does end with the people who own the game still being in control of the game. That’s not necessarily a sure thing, you know.
We have other beta news, of course. We always have other beta news. You can check it out just below, or you can let us know if we missed something down in the comments. You can also let us know about games you’re testing in the comments. You can even tell us how it’s actually a good thing Skull & Bones has been delayed several times. We won’t believe you, but you can still tell us that.
Whatever happened to Eco, Odd Giants (Glitch), and Istaria?
Post-Gamigo Fractured, back home with Dynamight, is finally reopening testing June 22
Chronicles of Elyria dev insists it will ‘return as a full-fledged MMO in no time’
Cozy life sim Palia wants 200,000 players to crash its servers in July
Blue Protocol, celebrating Japanese launch, still plans a western beta later this year
Anvil Empires starts testing the ‘very experimental’ family areas in its sandbox settlements
Blue Protocol’s Japanese launch is beset by delays, login issues, and cash shop problems
Camelot Unchained boss discusses the MMO’s dungeon building tool and character progression
Pax Dei discusses alpha test plans, monetization, building mechanics, and blending PvP with PvE
Skull & Bones will finally hit closed beta in August after at least half a dozen delays
Dune Awakening video shows off its five pillars of design: ‘Play the way you want to play’
We consider an MMO to be in open testing if it features free, public signups and will server wipe prior to launch. An MMO is marked in closed testing if it’s running a private test phase that cannot freely be accessed by the general public; it’s often under NDA as well. Early access and crowdfunded MMOs whose tests we deem legitimate will be included. So-called “open beta” soft-launch MMOs with cash shops, no sign of launch in the west, or limited interest for our readers will not be listed, nor will games that are NFT/blockchain scams; we also do not list expansions, with occasional exceptions. Finally, we’ll mark games “malingering” if they’ve been in a certain tier of development for a long time with no clear path to launch.
Open testing
Closed testing
Paid access
Legit MMORPG
Multiplayer
MalingeringThe Adventurer’s Domain Online: Early access
Aero Tales Online: Early access
Age of Water: Beta
Anvil Empires: Intermittent alpha
Arcane Waters: Early access
Arcfall: Pre-alpha
ARK 2: Closed testing
Ashes of Creation: Alpha two in planning
Ashfall: Closed testing
Battlebit: Early access
Bellatores: Closed testing
Blue Protocol: Launching worldwide in 2024
Book of Travels: Early access
Camelot Unchained: Closed beta
Chronicles of Elyria: Pre-alpha, again
Chrono Odyssey: Closed testing
Cinderstone Online: Closed beta
City of Titans: Alpha
Coreborn: Nations of the Ultracore: Alpha
Corepunk: Closed alpha
Craftopia: Early access
The Crew Motorfest: Closed testing
Dark and Light: Early access (abandoned?)
Darkbind: Closed beta (probably abandoned?)
The Day Before: Closed alpha (delay drama)
Diablo IV: Early acess
Dreamworld: Pre-alpha
Dune Awakening: Closed testing
ECO: Early access
Eleven: Closed alpha
Enlisted: Beta
Fae Farm: Closed testing (delayed)
Fractured Online: Back in closed development, testing resumes June 22nd
Fractured Veil: Back in closed development
Frozen Flame: Early access
Genfanad: Alpha
Ilysia: Alpha two
Inferna: Early access
Kurtzpel: Closed beta
Last Oasis: Early access (abandoned?)
Lost Skies: Closed testing
Monster Hunter Now: Closed beta
Monsters & Memories: Intermittent pre-alpha
Mortal Exodus: Closed testing
Multiverse: Returned to closed testing
Nightingale: Meep
Noah’s Heart: Beta
Odd Giants: Alpha
Outlaws of the Old West: Early access
Palia: Closed alpha
Pantheon: Intermittent backer alpha
Past Fate: Closed alpha
Path of Exile 2: Beta soon, announcement expected July 28th
Pax Dei: Closed alpha
Perfect New World: Closed beta
Pow Vista: Open beta (mobile)
Project F4E: Closed testing
Project Genom: Closed alpha (servers offline, abandoned?)
Project Gorgon: Early access beta
Prosperous Universe: Early access
Reign of Guilds: Intermittent open beta
SamuTale: Closed alpha
Seed: Alpha (drama, crypto link and weird comms blockout?)
Shadow’s Kiss: Early access (but read this first)
Ship of Heroes: Beta testing
Skull and Bones: Closed alpha
Spellcraft: Alpha
Star Citizen: Backer alpha
Starbase: Early access open alpha
Tarisland: Beta
Throne & Liberty: Korean closed beta
Valheim: Early access
V Rising: Early access
Valiance Online: Closed beta
The Wagadu Chronicles: Alpha two
Warcraft Arclight Rumble: Closed alpha
Waven: Open alpha
Wayfinder: Closed beta
We welcome additions and corrections to this list; send your info our way via tips!
Yes, MMO gamers, you too can perform the unpaid quality-control work otherwise known as game testing! Check out Massively Overpowered’s Betawatch every week for a run-down of MMOs that are still on the road to launch, even if they appear to have set up a permanent residence in a shed called early access.
