'Fallout 76' B.E.T.A Explained

Now that we know that the "Break-It Early Test Application" beta is coming at the end of October for Fallout 76, the team over at Bethesda wanted to take a moment and explain how it works and answer a few common questions.

"One of our primary goals is to stress test and break the game," began the studio in their latest blog post. "As such, the servers will not be running 24/7; instead, they'll be online during targeted timeframes so we can get as many people as possible playing at the same time. Why? Because that's the best way to put all our systems to the test and see how they respond."

They also tackled how active windows will be targeted, particularly with the servers. "On any given day the game might be up for anywhere between four to eight hours. Focusing as many players as we can into these windows is our prime objective. Then we'll fix what we need to fix and do it again and again from the start of B.E.T.A. until a few days before launch."

Bethesda has often joked about how the beta will be broken and they need the player-base's help with fixing it. Jesting aside, that is the exact purpose of a beta to begin with and given that this is a first for the Fallout franchise, it's understandable that they'd want to get everything right on launch day. Feedback is absolutely critical during this time and the studio has already given fans essentially the go-ahead to be as brutally honest as possible so they can ship the game Survivors want and the game they deserve.

The Fallout 76 beta begins on October 23 for Xbox One players, with the PlayStation 4 and PC beta coming a week later on October 30. It will be interesting to see how the online experience works with both friends and strangers.

For those that really just don't like the idea of playing with randoms, there will also be private server support following launch making it easier to tailor the experience to the individual gamer.

Fallout 76 arrives on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Pc on November 14, 2018!