In an interview with the Seattle Times, community director Brian Jarrard and multiplayer design lead Chris Carney described just how massive they anticipate the beta will be.
"My expectation is it could be upwards of 3 million people," Jarrard told the Times. "I think that's a fairly conservative estimate. Certainly there will never be a console beta of this magnitude."
With full-scale changes coming to everything from Halo's look and weapons to its multiplayer matchmaking and experience systems, Carney said it's critical to have a huge beta to ensure Bungie and Microsoft can handle everything fans will be throwing at them when the full game launches in the fall.
"There's a whole back end that supports the game, essentially servers that keep track of stats, handle matchmaking, handle the hoppers so when you go to play online you're going to get a list of the hoppers you can play, like 'I want to play [a session of] invasion' or 'I want to play slayer,'" Carney said. "What the beta does is it helps us stress that, to really get a lot of people playing it, choosing games and voting, so we can see how those systems operate."
Microsoft offers a more conservative estimate of roughly 2 million Reach beta participants, but given the sales of Halo: ODST, Jarrard's 3-million-plus could become the more accurate figure. Anyone with a copy of Halo: ODST will have access to the Reach beta through ODST's menu, and according to VG Chartz, that game sold nearly 5 million copies world wide, including 3.5 million in the U.S.
The Halo: Reach beta opens on May 3.
Sharkey says: Something tells me used copies of ODST are going to become hot sellers come May. And whether it's 2 million or 3 million, there is little doubt the Reach beta will be gargantuan. Can't wait to give it a spin.
