14 DAY TRIAL // BioWare Victory, the team inside Electronic Arts in charge of the Command & Conquer franchise, says that it plans to introduce the longest beta stage for any title linked to the series for the upcoming Generals 2.
The idea is to give both the developer and the fans the time that they need to get all the information on the game and then offer feedback which can help make it better ahead of the original launch.
EA_CIRE says on the official forums of Generals 2 that, “As planned right now, the Beta will start in the first half of 2013, and will be the longest running beta phase in franchise history.”
He adds, “We know you have a lot more questions about the new Command & Conquer and you may be wondering why we are so silent about it. We’ve decided to actually let the game speak for itself, instead of starting the typical marketing noise you normally would expect.”
After reading the official blog post, it’s interesting to note that the developers seem to have stopped using the Generals 2 subtitle when referring to the game they are working on.
It’s not clear whether this means that the new Command & Conquer is seen as a reboot for the series rather than a sequel, or whether the Victory team is actually working on two different titles linked to the same franchise.
Command & Conquer: Generals 2 was officially announced during 2011 and BioWare initially said that the game would use all the concepts and the factions introduced in the first game with that name.
Since then, the team has also made it clear that the experience will use a free-to-play system and will be oriented towards multiplayer matches.
Victory also suggested that they might add a single-player campaign later during the life cycle of the game.