The MMO with sandbox elements ArcheAge is entering Closed Beta, which will not be a 24/7 beta, but a series of events.
Next weekend, ArcheAge will officially reach beta status. From Thursday to Monday, the beta servers will be open to all founders and also to anyone who can snag a beta access from any other source. As Scotts Hartmann, the CEO of the publisher Trion Worlds, reveals in an interview with massively, they will continuously work with partners during the beta phase to distribute beta keys to interested players. The Closed Beta will proceed as a series of “events”, mostly over a weekend. The later Open Beta will then be “free-for-all” and the servers will remain consistently online. This is the same model that The Elder Scrolls Online or WildStar used earlier this year.
A rough timeline for the beta exists, but it is flexible enough to respond to newly emerging circumstances. The most important thing is to get ArcheAge in the best possible condition.
The response to ArcheAge so far has been enormous: The alpha was so crowded towards the end that they had to launch a second alpha server. The beta will run on the later live servers. Those who really want to continue playing their character from the alpha can still do so on the alpha servers. However, Hartmann warns that the alpha servers will be neglected in favor of the new beta servers.
When asked about concerns that ArcheAge might only reach niche game status, he replied: “ArcheAge has already exceeded all expectations. We already consider it a success. It does not have to be number one in the West for us to regard it as successful.”
