As you may have heard, Ubisoft’s upcoming prehistoric battle game, For Honor, just recently wrapped up it’s spectacular closed alpha. The sheer amount of players that were brought together to be a part of the alpha and test out the combat prowess of the highly anticipated title broke company records according to some numbers that were revealed today by Ubisoft.
The upcoming melee(short range weapon and hand to hand) combat-focused title will be launching for all next gen capable platforms (PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC) by February 14 next year.
Ubisoft stated recently in an official press release that was sent to GamesBeat that, on record, this was the largest closed alpha in the company’s history. The hundreds of thousands of players that the publisher invited to the testing spent an estimated average of 4 hours and 38 minutes testing the game. Although specific numbers were not disclosed. For reference, Ubisoft’s previously claimed largest beta, the one for The Division, had 6.4 million players.
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It’s a common sight watching companies boast numbers for their open beta tests. Betas, come much after the alpha release and take place further down the title’s development cycle. Closed betas or alphas are only accessible to gamers the company sends invitations to. These tests are necessary as they help publishers discover certain bugs, game-breaking glitches and balancing problems in a game before officially releasing them with the help of a large number of players who’re eager to test out every nook and cranny that the game provides. These are also used as marketing tools, since gamers playing the alpha or beta are allowed broadcast the game on any of the popular streaming sites like Twitch or spread hype through social media.
During the closed alpha, For Honor was at one point the second-most watched title on Twitch.tv, temporarily besting stalwarts such as World of Warcraft, Counter-Strike and Dota 2, It was in the top 10 during most of the closed alpha’s four days, with number of streaming channels growing each day.
Ubisoft noted in its press release
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Future prospects for the game seem like a safe bet to make. According to Ubisoft, the demand for For Honor’s upcoming beta test is 40 percent higher than it has ever been before. An educated guess would be that Ubisoft is looking forward to a fairly successful launch.
