Dustin Browder, lead designer on StarCraft II at Blizzard, says that the team is planning to have a publicly playable beta for the game that runs about "four to six months." When that would go live, Blizzard still isn't saying.
But considering that we're already six months into 2009, a four to six month beta period is kind of cutting it close, if the game has any intentions of shipping this calendar year. Granted, Blizzard hasn't officially committed to that, but StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is the company's best bet for a "front line release" this year. So... will it ship this year?
"It's getting there," Browder said, adding "We can still make four!"
While what we played at Blizzard's recent hands-on felt beta ready to us, we're obviously not calling the shots. Browder says that StarCraft II needs to be in the best possible shape before it gets its beta coming out party.
"Beta is extremely distracting for us," he said. "We're playing. We want to see what other people are doing. We need to fix bugs right now. The minute beta goes out, we lose a lot of efficiency."
"So, we don't want to be in beta for nine months."
Hey, neither do we!