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2K Explains Why Evolve's Beta Follows The Game ‘Going Gold’
Yesterday, 2K announced that Evolve has gone gold. The beta test, typically an event that precedes a game’s completion, won’t be happening until next week. We reached out to the publisher to get some clarification about the decision.
“The team is still tweaking balance of the characters and progression system,” a 2K representative told us via email. “In this wonderful digital age we live in, all of those values can still be adjusted via hot fixes on launch day, making a beta still very much worthwhile.”
Next week’s open play period will also serve as a stress test for the online functionality. “The beta is to test our server infrastructure again so that everything runs smoothly on launch day and the servers remain up and stable,” we were told. “To put it another way, we had a ton of learnings a from the Big Alpha that are being applied to the beta to create an even better and more stable experience. When potentially millions of players bang on the servers during open beta, we'll no doubt have even more learnings to apply to the games final launch.”
2K also mentioned this morning that the third monster, Wraith, and the third group of hunters will be available in the beta. You can only unlock them for the test period by digitally pre-purchasing the title on Xbox One. The first two sets of hunters, Goliath, and Kraken will all be playable during the beta without the need for a pre-purchase. The beta will start players with tier one hunters and Goliath, with tier two and Kraken becoming available through play.
For the retail version, you’ll be able to instantly access the tier three characters and Wraith if you have pre-purchased the game digitally on Xbox One. These will be unlockable for all players in the full game regardless of when and how you purchase. The instant unlock offer is exclusive to digital and Xbox One right now, though.
Characters will take approximately three to five hours per class (including the monster) to unlock. The title launches with three in each category and one is available from the get-go.
Evolve will be out on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC on February 10. For more, check out our cover story from February 2014.
Our Take
Making some content unlockable in games is a normal occurrence across genres. This pre-order bonus will certainly give some players more flexibility at launch, but it isn’t additional content. It’s a time savings. Given that the beta on Xbox One is open, you can decide during and after if putting your money down in advance is worth it to you.
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