Good news for anyone wanting to try out Guilty Gear Strive: Arc System Works today announced details for a closed beta test in April, and opened sign-ups for those who wish to take part.
Anyone with an internet-connected PlayStation 4 system and a PSN account from North America, Japan, the rest of Asia, or Europe (which includes Australia and New Zealand). PlayStation Plus is not required for beta access.
The test will include both an offline versus CPU mode and, during specific periods, online multiplayer, with seven character available: Sol, Ky, May, Axl, Chipp, Potemkin, and Faust. This will also be the first time a revamped UI is shown publicly.
Being a closed beta, not everyone who applies will be selected to participate. Those who are chosen will start being notified from 10.00 pm on April 12 (PDT) / 5.00 pm on April 13 (NZST).
The closed beta client will be available to download from sometime on April 15 or 16 (depending on region) and the test itself will run from April 16 to 19 (North America) / April 17 to 20 (Europe/Asia/Australia/New Zealand). Here’s the full schedule:
- 8.00 pm April 16 (PDT) / 3.00 pm April 17 (NZST): closed beta service begins with offline mode available
- 8.00 pm April 17 – 12.59am April 18 (PDT) / 3.00 pm – 7.59pm April 18 (NZST): Online test 1
- 12.00 pm – 4.59 pm April 18 (PDT) / 7.00 am – 11.59 am April 19 (NZST): Online test 2
- 3.00 am – 7.59 am April 19 (PDT) / 10.00 pm April 19 – 2.59 am April 20 (NZST): Online test 3
The closed beta announcement also includes the exciting news that Guilty Gear Strive will include rollback-based netcode online play, rather than the delay-based netcode used for Guilty Gear XRD. Rollback is widely considered the better option (when implemented well), because doesn’t throw off input timing the way delay-based netcode does, and it’s better at masking the effects of latency until you get to high levels of lag where neither option would work very well. (Ars Technica has a really good, in-depth primer on how both systems work, for those who want to know more.) That said, the rollback netcode won’t be implemented in time for the April beta, which will still be using delay-based netcode.
Guilty Gear Strive is being developed for PlayStation 4, with a planned release in late 2020.