Actually... (Destiny)

by Ragashingo , Official DBO Cryptarch, Monday, July 07, 2014, 16:39 (3792 days ago) @ Korny

Heh. :)

Ok, maybe someone rushed out and did... but I'd find it very hard to believe that the Alpha caused some kind of massive PS4 sales gain or a noticeable rise in preorders. Most of us, I bet, sat there and said, "Oh... which I known that sooner..."

Personally, I was very hesitant and cynical towards Destiny, especially in the days before the Alpha. But after one day with it, I slapped down for the full digital download, and once the Alpha ended, I began to count the days until the Beta.

So I think the Alpha did sway a number of people towards a purchase. As you can see from around here, watching the Alpha may have been tedious, but Stephen Laughlin and I spent almost an hour in one single spot trying to get out of the map, and I wasn't bored at all. It felt like the good ol' days.

I think that's the point of the multiplat Beta: It's not to test anything significant, it's to get the word out that this game is actually really darn fun to play, and we're just going to get a small taste of what's in store.

Exclusive content aside, if there was no Beta at all, what would you have done just for one day with the Alpha build? Word of mouth will be strong, and it won't need more than a few days to do it.

I totally agree that letting people play the game was hugely important. The beta will be too. As much credit as I give Bungie for something like two decades of great gaming I was still a little unsure about Destiny. Even just getting to see it played by normal gamers for a couple of days was enough to make me feel better. At the same time I didn't watch a lot mainly because watching is kinda tedious when you can't play something yourself.

And yeah, the Beta isn't probably so much to find bugs, but to test load balancing and stuff. But then again, we've seen multiple major games fall on their face on day one because they underestimated load. If all the Beta accomplishes is letting them get a good estimate then it's worth it.