Hello 343Bungiesoft, I recently downloaded the Halo Wars 2 open beta, and (as of June 17th) having fun with it. But I’m not here to complain about the latency issues, but rather make a simple proposition and the reasons why you should accept it (of course I can’t make you do anything though, this is all on you guys and gals). You already know what the proposition is because you read the headline I assume, I think (and many others) that Halo Wars 2 should get a closed beta someday. This closed beta idea came from Overwatch, during the closed beta time limit, people could register to pre-download the game and bring bug tests, test the servers, and broadcast the game to keep the popularity up. If you wanted to see some Overwatch, all you had to do was hop on Twitch and start watching, No one could just forget about Overwatch easily. I think this same concept can keep Halo Wars 2 afloat for the time it’s down, there was a catch though, there was a time limit as to when you could register. If you didn’t register in time, you didn’t get the beta (getting sidetracked, sorry). If Halo Wars 2 were to have let’s say… 2000 people brought into the closed beta, I can only assume that there would be enough players to test the servers abilities and have enough broadcasters and youtubers to keep the game’s content fresh. Anytime you all were to release new content (i.e patches/additions), the amount of people interested in buying the game would go up. After all, the longer you go without something the more you realize you don’t need/want it. So for something free (allowing closed beta), the games popularity rises = increasing sales, and people will make youtube videos of the glitches in the game (hence you can fix them, increasing the functionality of HW2). One more thing before I end this paragraph, continuously increasing the amount of closed beta participants, will make the fan population not give up on their chances of entering, and further provide results for how the servers are holding up (once the game is released, you want to make sure those servers can stand the population boom). In conclusion, It’s a pretty dang good idea. Who’s with me on this one?
PS. Most of the suggestions above were just ideas, you are obviously able to do whatever you want with your closed beta (but they are some good suggestions). Also I’m a fellow broadcaster and if you were to make a closed beta, I would be very interested in broadcasting it.