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The game's developer is expecting a huge number of players to participate.
The public beta of Destiny scheduled to begin early next year will be treated by Bungie as if it were a "full product launch," according to the developer's community manager, Eric Osborne.
"The Destiny beta, in many ways, is being treated like a full product launch. We can't just carve out three competitive multiplayer maps this time around," Osborne told GameSpot, referring to Bungie's past beta tests with Halo 3 and Halo Reach. "We'd only be gathering data on one facet of the overall experience -- one that is arguably the least resource intensive and most well understood by our team. Destiny demands more."
Bungie intends to reach a "pretty massive scale" with this beta, which will be available on all four platforms Destiny is coming to: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. The hope is to reach millions of gamers, as was the case with the Halo betas, in order to account for the fact that "no amount of prediction and intuition can account for the delightfully random human element that will ultimately define Destiny."
"Our ambition is to build big, rich destinations that players can visit over and over again, to fill them up with great story and moments that they can share with their friends, and to deliver face melting action that leads to treasure, challenge, and discovery," Osborne explained. "We want to pour all of that secret sauce into the Destiny beta. It's a massive undertaking, but one that we believe will pay huge dividends for us, and for our players."
The Destiny beta was revealed earlier today by way of an Amazon listing. We have since learned the beta will begin next spring and that, while supplies last, pre-orders at retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop, and Walmart (including existing pre-orders) will include a code to participate in the beta.
Destiny, the first game from Bungie since it parted ways with the Halo franchise, is scheduled for release sometime next year.
