Palia is finally open to everyone, which feels like it took a while but hasn’t really been all that long. Just the same, that open state of affairs is a good thing and it has already come with its first major content patch, along with promises of more. Less fortunately, there is also apparently a burglary bug that’s hitting the game, which is not great news. But, you know, beta. It actually is in beta.
Not in beta is War Thunder Mobile, which has actually left beta. Waven has also left its closed testing by moving fully to early access, while Corepunk is promising to kick off its long-delayed testing phase pretty soon. They grow up so slowly. So agonizingly slowly.
All right, not all of those titles were malingering in beta states for ages. Some of the games on our list below are, however. Try to guess which ones; you can find out in the aforementioned list below, just past a rundown of all the major beta testing news this week. It’s fun for the family, assuming the family finds beta news fun. We are not going to judge your family.
Profane’s August roadmap update heralds a focus on polishing existing features
Palia’s open beta has apparently been hit with a house-burgling bug
Corepunk will finally open testing in September: ‘The most interesting exchanges are about to start’
Warcraft Rumble soft launches in several more countries including Australia and Canada
Wayfinder proves its MMO heritage with a messy MMO-esque early access launch
War Thunder Mobile has officially launched on Android and Apple today
Skull & Bones previews its crafting system ahead of next week’s closed beta test
Camelot Unchained provides a closer look at its new character progression system
Ankama’s Waven has officially entered early access today – and it’s F2P too
Pearl Abyss’ Crimson Desert gears up for a fresh unveiling at Gamescom 2023
Riot Games exec says MMO is still in early phases, but the studio is ‘committed to the genre’
Palia’s first content patch expands the main quest line, fixes the cash shop, and adds pets
Palia teases a player-facing feedback repository, customization options, and new body types
‘Romantic gold rush’ MMO Annex rebrands as Pioneers of New Dawn, plans fourth quarter alpha testing
Ultima Online is running an in-game lottery for hopeful New Legacy alpha testers
Fae Farm’s latest dev livestream looks at NPC relationships, customization, and mid-game activities
Nightingale shows off estate styles, new POIs, NPC body randomization, and fancy trees
Ilysia’s finally made it to closed beta, minus its freeforge classes, with Beta 2 scheduled to begin August 18
Star Citizen claims its latest mission-generation system will speed up development
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: Paid closed 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 beta
ASKA: Closed beta
Battlebit: Early access
Bellatores: Closed testing
Bitcraft: Closed alpha incoming
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: Early access
Corepunk: Closed alpha, open testing scheduled for September
Craftopia: Early access
The Crew Motorfest: Closed testing
Dark and Darker: Paid early access, legal troubles.
Dark and Light: Early access (abandoned?)
Darkbind: Closed beta (probably abandoned?)
The Day Before: Closed alpha (delay drama)
The Division Heartland: Closed testing
Dreamworld: Pre-alpha
Dune Awakening: Closed testing
ECO: Early access
Eleven: Closed alpha
Enlisted: Beta
Evercore Heroes: Paid testing
Fae Farm: Closed testing, launch planned for September 8th
The First Descendant: Beta in September
Fractured Online: Paid beta access
Fractured Veil: Back in closed development
Frozen Flame: Early access
Genfanad: Alpha
Ilysia: Beta two through August 23rd
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: Ongoing closed events
Noah’s Heart: Beta
Odd Giants: Alpha
Outlaws of the Old West: Early access
Palia: Open beta
Pantheon: Intermittent backer alpha
Past Fate: Closed testing
Path of Exile 2: Beta June 2024
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
Project Loki: Closed beta
Project ST: Closed testing, open event ended
Prosperous Universe: Early access
Return Alive: Closed beta
Reign of Guilds: Intermittent open beta
SamuTale: “Paid closed alpha early access” according to the developer, which is just early access, come on dude
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, western launch delayed into 2024
Valheim: Early access
V Rising: Early access
Valiance Online: Closed beta
The Wagadu Chronicles: Alpha two
Warcraft Rumble: Soft launching, changed name, everything is fine
Waven Early access
Wayfinder Early access ahead of full launch
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.
