I understand that labels are rarely the best thing to use when describing or defining a product – but how can anyone categorise EFT as being in the Beta stage of development? The most commonly accepted definition of what a beta product (and thus a beta test) is:
Beta Testing is always performed right after the completion of Alpha Testing, but before the product is released to the market (Production Launch / Go Live). Here the product is expected to be at least 90% – 95% completed (stable enough on any of the platforms, all features either almost or fully complete) –
EFT we are playing is nowhere near "90-95%" complete
- 30 skills yet to be implemented (with current skills being talked of needing a major overhaul)
- 5 maps still missing
- Questing overhaul (including missing quests for maps like Reserve)
- Major sound system overhaul
- Migration to Unity 2019
- One open world
Let's be honest with ourselves here – we are far, far away from testing even 60% of the final features. Performance complaints and issues are swept under the rug as "it's a beta test, performance isn't a priority, we're testing new features" – people who say this are not only wrong, but surely wilfully ignorant.
It's painfully obvious to me that the whole "beta" is noting more than a marketing ploy to get those EODs sold. Implying that the game is nearing release while at the same time avoiding all of the negative stigma usually associated with "Early Access" titles.
This is an example of an actual closed beta test:
Game was feature complete but had performance and UI issues (on PS3 the game would cause complete system lockup when calling in assault streaks). In the full release the core concept of the game remained the same, with 1-2 additional maps.
For anyone with awful memory (such as myself) here's a reminder of how long we've been testing our feature complete product for:
- Closed Alpha: 4. August 2016
- Extended Alpha: 28. December 2016
- Closed Beta: 27. July 2017
Have you ever considered the current release rate of new maps? At this rate we will need to wait 5 years for all of them to be finally added – not including any issues with updating or expanding existing locations. Reserve was added in 2019, we haven't had any new maps in over 2 years
So, now that I mentioned everything missing from EFT – how realistic do you think it is that the game will be finished in our natural lifetimes?
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/EscapefromTarkov/comments/mciixg/how_can_eft_be_even_called_a_beta/
