Dust 514 open beta set for 2013

By: Moses Abaortae

  |   November 6th, 2012   |  

Uncategorized

Sony eagerly anticipated free-to-play title, developed by CCP, is currently in its closed beta stages with the open beta scheduled for release sometime early next year.

The freemium or free-to-play market is one area where a number of publishers wish to establish their presence as many believe that it is the structure and business model that will become the most common in the future.

The business model itself is fairly simple; the game, in essence, is downloadable and playable for free. However, content in the game such as weapons, power ups, upgrades, armour, items, etc. all cost real-world money. These microtransactions are where the publishers make their money.

No player is ever forced into paying for in-game content, however, the option is there for those who wish to avail it.

The model has come under fire from some fans who state that it removes some of the balancing between players as those who pay for content tend to have better items, weapons, health and armour and are at a great advantage over those who do not.

In short, they sum the free-to-play model as ‘free to play but pay to win’.

That debate is one that can be expected to carry on for quite some time however, there is no denying the fact that a considerable number of publishers are looking into the freemium market with EA and Ubisoft also set to release their respective triple-A free to play titles in the future.

In the meantime Sony is looking to push ahead with its ambitious first-person shooter, which is currently in its closed beta stages and will remain so for the rest of the year. At the moment all those taking part in the beta are enjoying a double XP weekend yet things will return to normal soon.

However, there are a number of players who want to give the game a go and are waiting for any news on when CCP will announce the open beta.

David Reid, the chief of marketing at the developer studio, pointed out that the game will remain closed but for a lucky few.

He pointed out, “We’ll be in closed bate for the rest of the year.”

Reid also pointed out that they were looking at how players were responding to the game in order to ascertain a date for the open beta, which as it turns out would be some time next year.

He continued, ”While determining the precise date for commencing open beta definitely will depend on player feedback, we’re feeling confident that it won’t be much longer after year end.”

But what about the readers, are you excited about and waiting for the open beta or does the game not tickle your fancy? Let us know in the comments section below.