Open betas are more "marketing tool" than "actual test" for bugs, says GTFO developer

rockpapershotgun.com:

Den Of Wolves developers 10 Chambers have Thoughts about open betas, and whether they are genuinely designed to test for technical difficulties or are simply there to boost pre-orders. That's in addition to a grab bag of new details about the forthcoming meatpunk shooter's missions and possible map fixtures such as in-game augmented reality devices.

You'll hopefully recognise 10 Chambers as the handsome fiends behind GTFO, an amazing co-op horror FPS that transports you deep into the bowels of a cryogenic prison. Harrowing stealth segments and desperate gunfights aside, it's notable for taking a strong stand against "P2W or shady loot box-type microtransactions", to quote the official site, though with a console release in the offing, the developers concede that "we might add some cosmetic 'support the devs' type DLC".

Similarly, there are no current plans for a Den Of Wolves battle pass or any kind of seasonal progression with microtransactables. Studio co-founder Simon Viklund and his peers aren't dead against the idea, but in a new interview with MP1st, he commented that "it just doesn't feel like us".

"We don't like trying to nickel and dime people and trying to trick people into committing to something before they know whether it's good because that feels like what Season Passes often are," Viklund observed. "Again, it goes into our philosophy to try to under-promise and over-deliver. We're not the kind of company that would have an open beta a week before release and then not fix the bugs that come up in the open beta."

Open betas, Viklund went on, are better thought of as "a part of the hype" rather than an opportunity to catch bugs. "It's a marketing tool and if you don't use it as an actual test, and