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Activision have removed Xbox players ability to pre-load the Blackout Beta till it’s Live

Railgun

Railgun

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,148
Australia


So sometime between the multiplayer Beta and the Blackout Beta this week Activision removed the ability to redownload the Beta in preparation for Blackout. Two days ago I found a loophole that allowed me to download it again after I deleted the Beta to make space. That loophole no longer works today, and Activision aren't letting players download it till it's already live.

This is on top of the Beta only running for 3 days on Xbox/PC versus the 7 on PS4. PlayStation also had the ability the preload. Based on the fact that they removed the ability to download it and then even fixed a loophole that allowed users to download it really makes this sound like part of the exclusivity deal involved not allowing Xbox to even preload it. The Beta is almost 20GB and some users won't even be able to download it before the end of the Beta.
 
Kiekura

Kiekura

Member
Mar 23, 2018
4,043
But you can preload it on PC? If it was actually part of the deal, you couldn't download it there either?

Anyway, this is stupid from Activision
 
VinFTW

VinFTW

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,470
Wow, I'm shocked.

A shortened beta period led to technical difficulties and now even less time to play for an already short beta.

Activision and Sony's partnership has produced some of the most malice shit this gen.

when will publishers and devs learn, BETAS ARE NOT MARKETING TOOLS.
 
Rodelero

Rodelero

Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,510
VinFTW said:
Wow, I'm shocked.

A shortened beta period led to technical difficulties and now even less time to play for an already short beta.

Activision and Sony's partnership has produced some of the most malice shit this gen.

when will publishers and devs learn, BETAS ARE NOT MARKETING TOOLS.
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If they aren't marketing tools, why does it matter?
 
Kiekura

Kiekura

Member
Mar 23, 2018
4,043
VinFTW said:
Wow, I'm shocked.

A shortened beta period led to technical difficulties and now even less time to play for an already short beta.

Activision and Sony's partnership has produced some of the most malice shit this gen.

when will publishers and devs learn, BETAS ARE NOT MARKETING TOOLS.
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Yes they are. That doesn't mean, that they aren't also testing and tweaking, but beta is also important marketing
 
II JumPeR I

II JumPeR I

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
2,770
Germany
Yup Betas should be never behind a Preorder paywall or should never be exclusive to a platform for some period of time.

Its pathethic and i dont take any publisher or dev serious when they say its a beta when they do such stuff.
 
VinFTW

VinFTW

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,470
II JumPeR I said:
Yup Betas should be never behind a Preorder paywall or should never be exclusive to a platform for some period of time.

Its pathethic and i dont take any publisher or dev serious when they say its a beta when they do such stuff.
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Yeah, honestly BLOPS4 at launch will be a mess on X1 day 1 I bet.

3 days vs like, what, 10 days for the PS4 beta? Blackout will struggle.
 
Rodelero

Rodelero

Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,510
VinFTW said:
What are you even saying?
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The traditional purpose of a beta is, as you allude, not marketing but testing. It is there so that they can test elements of the game that are hard to test internally, garner feedback from a wider community, and run analytics on real players. In that case, it's very hard to be upset about any restrictions that are put on preloading, availability, playing time, or otherwise.

Of course, in reality, betas are at least half about marketing.
 
Nostradamus

Nostradamus

Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,280
VinFTW said:
Wow, I'm shocked.

A shortened beta period led to technical difficulties and now even less time to play for an already short beta.

Activision and Sony's partnership has produced some of the most malice shit this gen.

when will publishers and devs learn, BETAS ARE NOT MARKETING TOOLS.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Judging from people preordering across the board to get a code it definitely is a marketing tool. The issue is that COD is so popular that a beta can act as both a marketing tool and a useful test for the developers. Treyarch can ensure a large player count for testing even without making the beta public.
 
Kiekura

Kiekura

Member
Mar 23, 2018
4,043
VinFTW said:
What are you even saying?



Demos are marketing tools, betas should NEVER be marketing tools.

Remember MH:W? Yeah, that went well.
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Lots of games have closed beta. Never been a problem for them. Atleast here you can access beta if you really want and they have been giving those codes away pretty generously. Like everyone who preordered and are on beta also got 4 codes for their friends. Not to mention people pre-ordering the game from retailers (you pay when they ship), getting beta code and then cancelling that order. So free beta for them.

Game isn't going to be mess on Xbox. I don't know why you think that. The game is already being tested on PS4 and consoles are pretty similar to each other when it comes to performance
 
Irrotational

Irrotational

Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,136
Kiekura said:
Game isn't going to be mess on Xbox. I don't know why you think that. The game is already being tested on PS4 and consoles are pretty similar to each other when it comes to performance
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Monster hunter world had quite a lot of day 1 issues on Xbox, particularly with networking, which it didn't have with PS4. They did a PS4 beta test but not on Xbox (or it was very short, I can't remember).

Unfortunately, the consoles aren't similar enough to mean testing on one will work for testing on the other.
 
Calverz

Calverz

Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,586
Xbox is my preferred platform. But iv been playing beta on ps4. Im extremely concerned at the lack of support xbox is getting from call of duty. I was going to pre order blops 4 on the xbox but im holding off now to see what launch is like.
 
Irrotational

Irrotational

Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,136
Activision supports pinned tweet implies the problem is on Microsoft's end. It says they (MS) are investigating why the download is not available. So I'm not 100% sure this conspiracy theory is true. :-)
 
Kiekura

Kiekura

Member
Mar 23, 2018
4,043
Irrotational said:
Monster hunter world had quite a lot of day 1 issues on Xbox, particularly with networking, which it didn't have with PS4. They did a PS4 beta test but not on Xbox (or it was very short, I can't remember).

Unfortunately, the consoles aren't similar enough to mean testing on one will work for testing on the other.
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That is one example. I don't believe Xbox is going to have any problems in launch. It is Call of Duty
 
Kei-

Kei-

Member
Mar 1, 2018
1,041
VinFTW said:
What are you even saying?



Demos are marketing tools, betas should NEVER be marketing tools.

Remember MH:W? Yeah, that went well.
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It's just semantics really. Betas are now demos of multiplayer games. Issues are permitted to exist into the launch period of the game, they are identified during the beta period and worked on. That's just the way things are these days. They can call them demos, but then what would that change?
 
VinFTW

VinFTW

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,470
Kei- said:
It's just semantics really. Betas are now demos of multiplayer games. Issues are permitted to exist into the launch period of the game, they are identified during the beta period and worked on. That's just the way things are these days. They can call them demos, but then what would that change?
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Well when those "demos" lead to day 1 launch issues I wont be laughing, I'll be sitting there on a login screen trying to play.

Happened with MH:W, I'm sure it'll happen here.

Especially when they are crucially pushing numbers for Blackout up (89 players). How do they properly test that in 3 days on XBL?
 
Kei-

Kei-

Member
Mar 1, 2018
1,041
VinFTW said:
Well when those "demos" lead to day 1 launch issues I wont be laughing, I'll be sitting there on a login screen trying to play.

Happened with MH:W, I'm sure it'll happen here.

Especially when they are crucially pushing numbers for Blackout up (89 players). How do they properly test that in 3 days on XBL?
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They don't. I'm not saying it's right, just saying that betas these days are really just demos for multiplayers games and they are definitely marketing tools. Tying them to pre-orders is just a way to show investors there's interest. Even though pre-orders for betas don't always equal sale.
 
Saint-14

Saint-14

Banned
Nov 2, 2017
14,477
Calverz said:
Xbox is my preferred platform. But iv been playing beta on ps4. Im extremely concerned at the lack of support xbox is getting from call of duty. I was going to pre order blops 4 on the xbox but im holding off now to see what launch is like.
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It's CoD not a JRPG, support will be fine.
 
Irrotational

Irrotational

Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,136
Yeah, I mean a couple of their tweets say it will be fixed a bit before beta goes live (which is an hour away). So that seems suspicious... But maybe they are just trying to reassure people that it won't impact the start time. (clearly it does as no one's Internet is instant)
 
A Ream of Paper

A Ream of Paper

Member
Apr 8, 2018
1,806
Yeah they didn't allow you to do this with the BO4 MP beta either. Really dumb since I think they let you preload one or all of the past betas they had.
 
VinFTW

VinFTW

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,470
Install isn't working off the store. Says I "own this product" but won't install.

edit: I've seen quite a few people mention this on Twitter as well.

IM SHOCKED
 
Irrotational

Irrotational

Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,136
Confusion on reddit. Some people have it working from ready to install, a lot don't. Several have tried hard resets etc and still nothing. Other people say a hard reset fixed it for them...
 
Kei-

Kei-

Member
Mar 1, 2018
1,041
VinFTW said:
Well when those "demos" lead to day 1 launch issues I wont be laughing, I'll be sitting there on a login screen trying to play.

Happened with MH:W, I'm sure it'll happen here.

Especially when they are crucially pushing numbers for Blackout up (89 players). How do they properly test that in 3 days on XBL?
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Also, been meaning to ask about this. Wasn't this announced as 80 players? But I saw a stream the other day that started with 87 players or so, maybe was 89, but what is the official number they are saying and is that the same on PC, or will PC have 100?
 
VinFTW

VinFTW

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,470
Kei- said:
Also, been meaning to ask about this. Wasn't this announced as 80 players? But I saw a stream the other day that started with 87 players or so, maybe was 89, but what is the official number they are saying and is that the same on PC, or will PC have 100?
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right now ps4 is 89 and pc and x1 are 80, why you ask?

because PS4 beta has been going on since monday so they can test more players

tell me that isnt a terrible fucking idea
 
Irrotational

Irrotational

Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,136
Seems to be up now. I'm in the UK and a hard reboot finally added it to my "ready to download" list.
 
Kasey

Kasey

Member
Nov 1, 2017
10,822
Boise
Acti giving Xbox users the middle finger yet again for that Sony cash. Sick of platform exclusive/marketing deal garbage.
 
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