With Fallout 76 slated to come out on November 14th, Bethesda has decided to up the hype by offering what they call “B.E.T.A.” access (Break-It Early Test Application). Fallout 76 B.E.T.A. will be available first for Xbox One on October 23rd, while PC and PlayStation 4 owners will have to wait until October 30th.
All players who wish to participate must pre-order to receive B.E.T.A. access. If you are testing Fallout 76 on PC and have created a Bethesda account, you will be able to download the B.E.T.A launcher for when the launch.
Their primary objective is of course, beta testing. Players are encouraged to login at a specific time and play the game in order to stress test the game and provide feedback. They’ll be notified in advance when login times are available (via Twitter) and encouraged to share feedback. Users are also allowed to stream and discuss their experiences in the game, instead of it being a closed beta testing situation. However, at this time until the B.E.T.A. event launches, all other beta testers are under a non-disclosure agreement.
More than anything, it’s a bit close to launch to be truly beta testing, therefore this seems to be just another marketing scheme. However, I’m sure we all would love to play it anyway. Take note that Bethesda plans to carry your B.E.T.A. progress over, so you may want to think wisely about the choices you make during testing. However, you won’t be able to earn achievements, so it might be worth waiting until the game has launched officially on November 14th to play it.
More information about the B.E.T.A. program is available here.