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Gears 4 dev: consumers think "beta" means "demo"

Rod Fergusson slams other publishers for misusing the "beta test".

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Betas aren't what they used to be. Or rather, the term "beta" has been twisted to the point where it's lost all meaning. That seems to be the opinion of Rod Fergusson, studio head for the Gears of War 4 developers, The Coalition.

Speaking to MCV, he laments how consumers have the completely wrong expectations of what developers label a beta.

"The industry has taken the word beta and twisted it to mean 'pre-release demo'," Fergusson says. "The community thinks they should be a highly polished demo. We are really focused on saying we're pre-alpha right now. I even joked that we should call our beta an alpha just so people understand where we are and that we are actually looking for feedback and we're actually testing systems."

The multiplayer beta of Gears of War 4 is currently in early access, and will open up to all Xbox One players on Monday.

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