14 DAY TRIAL // Epic Games, the company behind the upcoming Gears of War 3 third-person shooter, is expecting over 1 million players to join in on the multiplayer beta stage that will be kicked off in two weeks.
Gears of War 3 is set to be one of the biggest Xbox 360 games of the year, as legions of hardcore fans are eagerly awaiting the ending of the Gears trilogy.
Before the game's launch this fall, Epic is getting ready to debut the multiplayer beta stage of the game, which will start on April 18, for those who bought the Bulletstorm Epic Edition, and on April 25, for those who already pre-ordered Gears of War 3.
The executive producer of the game, Rod Fergusson, said that while the company isn't trying to set any records in attendance, it is expecting around 1 million participants in the beta stage of the game.
"I don't know if we necessarily have a target but our expectation is around the one million range - that's what we're thinking. We're not trying to set any records, we're not trying to beat anybody for highest number of players on a beta. We're just trying to get enough data to help us make a better game."
Fergusson emphasizes the new features introduced by the Gears of War 3 open beta, including the dedicated servers, which will remove the dreaded host advantage issues that plagued the first two games in the Gears of War series.
"We're going to have dedicated servers around the world and it's going to be broadly available," said Fergusson to CVG. "But as I said, for us it's about getting enough players playing enough matches over enough time that we can actually learn from it and make changes."
Epic Games initially didn't want a Gears of War 3 beta stage, but, after delaying the game from its April release date back to September, the company officially scheduled a multiplayer beta in order to test out all of the features it wants to add in the final game and make sure fans are happy with the end result.
Besides getting a taste of the new game, participants will also unlock a variety of goodies, from weapons to different character skins by getting into the beta stage.