Not to be outdone by the lavish Call of Duty XP event, Electronic Arts and DICE took the opportunity over the weekend to host the first open beta for Battlefield 1, the upcoming squad-based shooter poised to steer the blockbuster tentpole back into the trenches.
That’s because DICE has opted to situate the barnstorming action of BF1 during the throes of World War 1, and those of you who have dabbled with the inaugural tech test will have no doubt gotten a taste of the primitive warfare – be it mustard gas, horses, or those seemingly unstoppable war trains.
Enjoy it while you still can, though, for the studio has confirmed today that the Battlefield 1 open beta will come to an end on Thursday, September 8. Before the curtain comes down, DICE has also mapped out plans to “simulate extreme launch situations” in order to stress the game’s servers, least the upcoming release succumb to the same launch problems that beleaguered Battlefield 4 three years ago.
As such, expect intermittent downtime to pop up during the beta’s final days.
Starting today, we are simulating extreme launch situations to test BF1 servers. You may experience downtime throughout the stress test.
— Battlefield (@Battlefield) September 5, 2016
There’s no mention of the exact time when DICE will close off the open beta for good, but we’ll keep you posted as that time draws near.
Battlefield 1 marches directly onto PS4, Xbox One and PC on October 21.