Zenimax has revealed that The Elder Scrolls Online is going to go on beta very soon, and have subsequently reaffirmed NDAs are lifted, opening up the floodgates for streamers and vloggers.
.@Silvaz3 We will be announcing the next #ESO beta event very soon, so be sure to keep an eye on our social channels & official website!
— Elder Scrolls Online (@TESOnline) February 22, 2014
The Elder Scrolls Online’s official Twitter account fell short of confirming an actual date, but they will definitely be making the date known on their website and social media channels. It’s highly likely that this beta will be for the PC version, which is coming April 4, and possibly Mac. Playstation 4 and Xbox One owners will have to wait until June for their version, so owners of those consoles should probably not expect anything on their end yet.
It’s a relatively early time to be talking about a beta compared to release date, but it seems Zenimax is confident enough with the quality of their build that they’re willing to test it out now. Betas seem to have taken on larger significance recently, as more and more big budget titles are becoming more reliant on online.
Aside from preparing for launches, though, companies are awfully generous with the betas recently. While this is partly to test server capacity, it’s also meant many gamers have been treated to what’s essentially been some free games lately. Elder Scrolls fans are definitely looking forward to the same experience, and they’ll be getting it soon.
One harsh, but necessary, reminder, though: Zenimax has already said they only plan to launch a closed beta. One can hope that they open up signups to test server capacity as well, but we can only wait and see.