To the chagrin of its playerbase, Albion Online has announced that it’s significantly extending the duration of its current beta phase deep into next year.
“Compared to Beta 1, we have fixed a lot bugs, addressed some critical game design issues and added new exciting features and content to the game. On the other hand, some of the changes made between Beta 1 and Final Beta have created new issues that need to be addressed. On top of that, taking stock of Beta 1 and Final Beta, we still feel that some of the game’s core gameplay is not yet where it should be. We are eager to get the game ready for release and we know that waiting for this to happen can be frustrating. Our main goal with Albion Online is for the game to be a long term success. We want the game to do well even 5 years down the road, and not suffer the crash and burn fate so common in newly released MMORPGs. Therefore, we have decided the following: Final Beta will continue into the next year. There will be an in-beta wipe, most likely in February/March, once we have made the necessary improvements to the game and game world. If these improvements turn out well, we will release the game shortly thereafter.”
Players have expressed serious concerns over the delay, arguing that the beta has already dragged on long enough to lose player attention such that further delay will destroy its momentum, but the team says it doesn’t feel it has any other options if it wants to launch a good game.
“We understand that many of you had hoped for the game to released this year,” studio head Stefan “Bercilak” Wiezorek admits. “We would have loved to do so, too. However, a pre-mature release helps nobody, and has been the cause for many in principle great MMORPGs to not last long.”
