In a recent interview withEurogamer, Diablo general manager Rod Fergusson described beta as a “twisted word” which in today’s landscape is more akin to a marketing demo in which anyone who pre-orders or stumbles upon a key can take advantage of.
Video games are a business, and nowhere is that grim capitalist intention clearer than the modern reality of pre-order bonuses. For over a decade now we’ve seen developers and publishers try to sell us on empty promises and digital goods that might eventually amount to something. Entire marketing campaigns and development budgets are determined through pre-order numbers alone, with some titles encouraging us to put our money down years in advance without knowing a single thing.
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Normally these bonuses amount to cosmetic skins, usable items, and soundtracks. But for live-service games and those with a reliance on multiplayer, drawing players in by the millions to experience things ahead of time is far more appealing. Not only does it provide studios ways to gather feedback and test the load on their servers, such periods can also be offered as an exclusive incentive to pre-order and make yourself feel part of a very exclusive club. It’s long been a flawed approach, and has come to dilute what terms like alpha and beta really mean in terms of development. It relies on our lack of knowledge, and demeans the hard work of developers who are scrambling towards a finish line in spite of unreasonable expectations.
Fergusson’s point holds water, especially in how the goods technically being sold here have their value lessened when queues prove too overwhelming or servers go down entirely. It’s a dishonest way of advertising, largely because we are promised an end product that could either underwhelm expectations or offer a divisive shift in tone, gameplay, or visuals. Yet developers like Blizzard are also clearly in need of real-world environments to test their games and prepare for launches that without the right precautions can end in disaster. Diablo 4 did just that, but you also had folks like Fergusson squaring up to press in a since deleted tweet for reporting on the things that he said and did.
Just because we put your words in quote marks doesn’t mean we’re taking the mickey or viewing your actions with sarcasm, and fans were rightfully miffed about the lack of access to a playable beta they paid good money for. Betas are problematic by their very nature, designed to test out unfinished builds of games cropped up by architecture that even the developers responsible for it can have trouble predicting. It is asking players to test the game for you, and if they’re paying for the privilege, they’re right to expect a level of service.
We are guinea pigs in an experiment, and years of marketing jargon helped condition us into thinking it’s a privilege worth paying for. Progress rarely carries over, and we’re likely doomed to waste several hours waiting for servers to stabilise as we tackle a consistent slew of bugs and glitches. To Diablo 4’s credit, it is relatively seamless, although to have such a defining figure behind the scenes acknowledge the beta’s existence as a marketing ploy despite how much the team needs it to test the waters feels so close to a revelation. Maybe if the medium didn’t revolve around milking players dry through thinly-veiled lies we could get somewhere.
If those responsible for the games we play started being more honest with the technical language associated with development and the importance it carries instead of pulling the wool over our eyes for a quick buck perhaps we’d feel more sympathetic about everything. Yet are we too far gone already with alphas and betas now so ingrained in the marketing cycle for major releases that to devs, fans, and critics we all view it as normalised.
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