Fallout 76 May Get A Smaller Beta Before Full Beta’s Launch

Quite recently, we learned that the selection for players for the Fallout 76 beta will begin in October, which means that the beta itself is likely to begin towards the end of October as well (since the game itself launches in November). However, if you think that might not be enough time for Bethesda to be able to properly test out everything they need to for such a massive, large-scale game, fret not- a smaller beta for the game might be held even before the actual beta itself.

Bethesda’s VP of Marketing, Pete Hines, recently took to Twitter, and confirmed that a smaller test for the game will likely be going online “5 days or three weeks” before the full beta goes live- whatever the team at Bethesda Game Studios feels it needs to get enough feedback for the full beta itself.

Hines also clarified that the players participating in this mini beta will be chosen randomly from the pool of players that will be chosen for the full beta itself- players won’t have to do anything. “It’s how we’ve done it before,” Hines said. He is, of course, referring to The Elder Scrolls Online and The Elder Scrolls Legends.

Considering the fact that this is the first game of its kind that Bethesda Game Studios are attempting, with its online centric shared world approach, it makes sense that they’ll want to get as much testing done possible. They’ve admitted to being worried about charting into unknown territory in recent weeks, so it’s not much of a surprise that they’re holding a beta even for their beta. Fallout 76 launches on November 14 for the PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

we are already breaking it, and fixing it, and breaking it in new ways. and there will be smaller tests that involve some BETA folks we pull in before the full BETA

— Pete Hines (@DCDeacon) July 23, 2018

If we need a smaller group to do a test separate from full BETA in order to make the BETA and the full game as good as possible, we are going to do that. When it’s time for the full BETA, everyone’s time in it is the same.

— Pete Hines (@DCDeacon) July 23, 2018

Or just sometime before the full BETA. It could take place 5 days or three weeks before and still be in same month. Whatever the team feels it needs in terms of feedback and testing to get rdy for BETA.

— Pete Hines (@DCDeacon) July 23, 2018