Friday, May 13, 2016

Blizzard Goes Big With Overwatch Beta

Irvine-based Blizzard Entertainment said its recent beta release of its new title, Overwatch: Origins Edition, has ended up being its largest, opening beta ever, with more than 9.7 million players around the world taking part. The title officially launches on May 24th on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Blizzard said its beta users have already racked up more than 4.9 billion minutes of play time on the game. In a move which stretches the definition of a "beta" release--making it more of a marketing blitz and promotion than a test--Blizzard said it had planned to make sure "as many console and PC gamers as possible" could experience the game. Companies typically have used beta releases to iron out the bugs in software before full release, with a controlled and limited number of users.

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