Overwatch Beta Ending Dec. 10 for a Break
by JR Cook - 8 years ago show comments
We’ve only had closed beta for a little over a month now, and we now have less than a week to play it before Overwatch goes dark for a bit. Starting on December 10, the beta will go down for the holidays and there are no plans to bring it back up until mid to late January. So we’ll be without the closed beta for a little over a month.
I’m assuming when it comes back up we’ll see some more waves of invites and likely a stress test weekend coming very soon after that. We’ll likely see some changes to the games as far as balance or hero kits might go, but keep in mind the current 21 heroes and maps in the game will still be there as it’s confirmed for release.
Some people are speculating open beta, but I find that to be highly doubtful. With the business plan Blizzard has in place for this game, if there is an open beta it will be for a few days or a full week probably just a couple weeks before the game release. After all, Blizzard wants people to buy this game and not get burned out on it by playing it for free for a few months in an open beta.
Overwatch is set to release in Spring 2016.
Since the start of the Overwatch beta in late October, aspiring heroes from around the world have battled it out in more than 900,000 matches. In this same period of time, we’ve also gathered invaluable information about our servers, core systems like matchmaking, and overall map and hero balance—thanks not only to the raw data we’ve collected from the game, but also to the numerous bug reports, suggestions, critiques, and experiences you’ve shared.
This phase of development has been key, but now it’s time to analyze the data we have, dig into your feedback even further, and put that knowledge to use as best we can. To accomplish this, we will be bringing the Overwatch Closed Beta offline for an extended break beginning on Thursday, December 10 at 9:00 a.m. PST. During this downtime, we’re looking forward to making more improvements to the game, as well as continuing to work on in-development features like spectating and progression.
As we mentioned, this break is only temporary, and we’re excited to bring the Closed Beta back online sometime in mid-to-late January. We’ll share more details about this next phase of testing in the new year, so stay tuned!
Q. What will happen when the Closed Beta is brought offline?
A. Once the beta is brought offline on December 10, players will no longer be able to log in to the beta client. Access to our Closed Beta forums will remain available until Friday, December 18.
Q. If I have access to the Closed Beta now, will I have access when it comes back online in January?
A. Yes. All players who have access to the Closed Beta now will also have access when it comes back online in January.
Q. Will any more players be added to the Closed Beta before it’s brought offline on December 10?
A. No. We have no plans to add any more players to the Closed Beta before it’s brought offline on December 10.
Q. Will any more players be added to the Closed Beta after it comes back online?
A. Yes, we do plan to invite more players to the Closed Beta after it comes back online. The exact timing and how many players are invited will be determined by our testing needs.
Whether you’ve been part of the Closed Beta, played during a Beta Test Weekend, or contributed to conversations on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or Reddit—we’d like to thank you for helping us make Overwatch the best game possible. You’ve done an amazing job of testing, and we couldn’t be more grateful for all the awesome feedback you’ve provided to the team.
We’ll see you in 2016!
