During gamescom, Jonathan Warner, Game Director of Anthem, stated that there will be no beta. However, players can look forward to a demo of the online game. The special thing is: it actually runs just like any other game.
Anthem is an online game and one would expect a beta here, as other online games have been doing for years. But Bioware has other plans.
The Beta of Anthem is a Demo
Anthem gets an Alpha but no Beta: As Bioware explained, there will be a Closed Alpha for Anthem at a yet unspecified date. The next logical step would normally be a beta. However, there was an interesting statement made at gamescom regarding this.
- When asked about a beta by vg247, Jonathan Warner, Game Director of the game, responded: “A what?”
- The reporter repeated: “A beta.”
- And Warner said: “Oh, you mean a demo. Yes, you will have the opportunity to play the game before release. We will announce more at PAX.”
So there will be no official beta to be had. Instead, the team is planning a demo for the shooter. After the closed alpha, Bioware plans to release this demo so that everyone can get a taste of Anthem.
Anthem correctly calls its Play Opportunity “Demo”
What is behind this? The funny thing here is that this is exactly what everyone expected, just with the correct names.
Basically, BioWare is doing the same thing as all the other big games of recent years (Destiny 2, The Division): They will offer players a chance shortly before release to get a taste of the game for free before they buy it.
But Bioware is honest about it and correctly calls this play opportunity a “Demo” and not a “Beta” like the others.
Because there are no “real betas” like before anymore, only these play demos. A beta so close to release would make no sense, because the developers can’t change anything about the game anymore.
It seems that Anthem is now using the “correct labels.”
What does the demo offer? Currently, it is still unclear what we will see in the demo. Since Anthem is an open-world shooter, it will be very interesting to find out whether the game area for the demo will be somehow defined or if it will be a kind of limited-time trial.
