Alphas & Betas

MMOs in various stages of testing and crowdfunding, playable and… not. Don’t forget to follow our Betawatch and Make My MMO columns for a weekly rundown. [Follow this category’s RSS feed]

Take a shot.

Das Tal plans ‘massive’ spring alpha playtest

1
Das Tal's devs have a "massive" test event planned for the coming season. Fairytale Distillery says that its February sneak-peek playtests will be followed...
Story arriving!

Shroud of the Avatar prepares for Release 27

13
The final wipe for Shroud of the Avatar is approaching, and that means that the development team is moving forward with an eye toward...

SamuTale lets you explore a sandbox world as a samurai

56
"Boundaries" and "limitations" are not words that the makers of SamuTale like to incorporate into their design philosophy. This upcoming sandbox MMO seems to...

Black Death pushes back its early release

10
Hope you weren't expecting to contract the virtual bubonic plague any time soon. The grim medieval survival game The Black Death announced yesterday that...

Trinium Wars bringing three classes out for its early access next week

5
Trinium Wars is preparing to kick off its early access program next week on March 2nd. When prospective players take their first steps into...

The Repopulation spinoff Fragmented is hunting for a few good testers

11
The Repopulation lead dev Joshua Halls says that Above & Beyond has opened closed testing for Fragmented to selected applicants. Interested gamers should fill...
Just assume one of these people is Susan. I do not like Susan.

Camelot Unchained’s Mark Jacobs explains CSE’s Beta 1 ‘hard crunch’

95
City State Entertainment has announced on its livestream that it's entering a "hard crunch" mode to deliver RvR-centric crowdfunded MMORPG Camelot Unchained according to...

The Division releases 60 FPS trailer, doom simulator ‘Collapse’

40
Let's get that Division hype rolling! Ubisoft has posted a new trailer showcasing the game's visual quality in 60 frames per second. Not impressed by graphics...

Dam it all! Beavers and handcuffs are invading ARK

36
By land or by sea? You don't have to choose if you nab yourself one of ARK: Survival Evolved's newest additions: the giant beaver....
What're you doing here?

Black Desert’s devs on gender-locking, future plans

314
If you're hoping for every gender-locked class in Black Desert to have an equivalent for the other gender, the bad news for you is...

Traverse lets you mold and shape your own planet

7
A tiny dev team is scurrying away on a new title called Traverse that will let players not only think big but create on...

Worlds Adrift includes US players in next playtest

1
Worlds Adrift said that the wait is "almost over" for the game's third playtest, although the team did not give a definitive timeline for...
Early, earlier, earliest.

Project Genom launches into Early Access in May

7
If you want to get in on Project Genom without being part of a formal testing pool, your chance is approaching. The developers have...

Albion Online publishes its first novel, Landfall

3
Does your MMO have an official novel? Well, Albion Online isn't even out yet and it is breaking literary barriers with its first published...

The Stream Team: Growing attached to Paladins’ Grover

5
MassivelyOP's MJ has always wanted to be a tree. And now, thanks to Paladins, she can leaf the confines of frail fleshy bodies behind...

Hostility and bounty systems arrive in Star Citizen

45
Are you a law-abiding space citizen who's not above partaking in some mob vigilante justice? Or are you a sneaky ne'er-do-well who wants to...

Life is Feudal adds immersion with seasons patch

16
How many times have you expressed (or seen expressed) the desire to watch seasons change in an MMO? That's not a feature that most...

Rokh makes the planet Mars come alive

4
There are so many multiplayer survival games swirling about these days that you might be forgiven for overlooking one or two. We haven't heard...

Shroud of the Avatar is an ally for player-created quests

2
It should be rather obvious by now that the Shroud of the Avatar dev team is just as focused on involving the community in...

6.4 million people propelled The Division’s beta to a new console record

173
The Division set a record this weekend for the biggest beta in a new-brand, current-gen console game. Ubisoft told blog readers today that more than...