PlayStation Closed Beta - What's Next

Greetings Champions!

We’re reaching the end of the extended Predecessor PlayStation Closed Beta and we’ve been blown away by the love and support we’ve received since launching the Closed Beta back in December.

The Closed Beta in numbers

Words can’t really do it justice though, so instead let’s instead jump straight in with some of the amazing stats from the Closed Beta period so far!

In return for all your support, we’re excited to share some positive news for PlayStation players and finally discuss what to expect after January 28th.

The current end of the Closed Beta

As previously communicated, we will be ending the current phase of our testing on PlayStation on January 28th.

This is a significant milestone in our development, and we’re pleased to share that we’ve gained comprehensive and invaluable data over the past few months that has proven instrumental to Predecessor’s ongoing development and the future of the game.

In fact, the Closed Beta has been such a monumental success for us that we’re now in a position to share some exciting news for PlayStation players - phase 2 of the Closed Beta!

What's coming next

Phase 2 of the Closed Beta will go into effect from January 29th, and will run until we’re ready to take the next steps in our PlayStation development (more on that at a later date). The transition from phase 1 should be seamless, and aside from some potential server downtime on the day of transition as we update our servers, PlayStation players should expect to be able to continue enjoying Predecessor alongside PC users for the foreseeable future.

Why?

The reasoning behind this decision is threefold.

Firstly, this is the healthiest decision for our game. Predecessor is thriving thanks to you, its active, dedicated and engaged community. While we had planned last year to take Predecessor down in this window, we realize now that preventing a chunk of our players from playing in order to meet an expectation that we set last year no longer makes sense.

Secondly (and most importantly for us), we want to do this as thanks for everything you’ve done for us. PlayStation users have turned out in force to support Predecessor, and, if we can keep Closed Beta access going and have achieved our goals, then we want to do it. This game was born from the players, and our mission has always been to do right by our players, first and foremost.

Finally, we want everyone to be able to experience our next original Hero! Codename: Emerald is set to release February 27th, and we want PlayStation players to be a part of that experience! The team have worked incredibly hard on him, and we can’t wait to share more about this deadly Midlaner next month.

So why the second phase? Why not just extend the Closed Beta like we did back in December?

Well, it all comes down to something rather exciting. We’re getting close to a Predecessor Open Beta.

That’s right, Predecessor will be launching into Open Beta a little later this year! But before we’re ready to move into open beta, we need to test a few more things in the Closed Beta environment.

So let’s talk a little about…

What’s changing?

The biggest difference between phase 1 of the Closed Beta and phase 2 will be which Heroes are available to you.

Let’s start by revisiting what we said way back in November, when we first discussed how Heroes would be available in the original Closed Beta:

When the Closed Beta launched, we opted to make nearly all Heroes released up until then available to PlayStation players straight out of the gate. The goal was to gather feedback and data on how they all behaved on PlayStation, including which heroes were the most popular, how each performed in the context of the PlayStation Closed Beta, and more.

Now that we’ve done that, however, our goal has shifted. We need to test and monitor the unlock process for PlayStation users as it will be in our later official release. After all, how players gain access to new Heroes is a crucial part of the game experience, so it’s important we take the time to go through it with the PlayStation player base ahead of the full platform launch.

As of phase 2 of the Closed Beta, we will be changing which Heroes Closed Beta accounts have default access to. Specifically, only 10 Heroes will be unlocked by default, with all other Heroes needing to be unlocked through play or purchased.

Those 10 Heroes are:

• Countess

• Dekker

• Gideon

• Greystone

• Grux

• Khaimera

• Kira

• Murdock

• Narbash

• Steel

In short, we’re aligning the PlayStation experience with the PC experience, finally creating parity between these platforms.

New players can expect to install Predecessor and have immediate access to the 10 Heroes listed above, with the option to purchase or unlock additional Heroes through gameplay.

For existing Closed Beta players, you will receive access to those same 10 Heroes, as well as any new Heroes you may have unlocked since the Closed Beta launched (such as Wraith, Iggy & Scorch and Kwang). Any other Heroes will become locked, and you will be required to unlock them in order to play them.

Any skins you may have purchased or unlocked for Heroes regardless of their unlock status will remain credited to your account, and will be available to you once you obtain the associated Hero (or by default if it is one of the default Heroes). Likewise, if a Hero you’ve been playing becomes locked in Phase 2, your Affinity progress will be saved and can be picked up right where it has been left off, once that Hero is unlocked.

Will I need a new game key to play this new phase of the Closed Beta?

Nope! If you already have Predecessor installed or redeemed to your PlayStation account you will be able to play with no interruptions.

Still need a key? You can sign up to join the Closed Beta at any time over on our Closed Beta signup page.

Predecessor Open Beta

The cat's out of the bag! We’re planning an Open Beta for Predecessor and we’re closing in on it fast.

While we don’t have a date to share today, you can expect more news in the coming months, including how we’ll be handling the transition out of Closed Beta for PlayStation users and what it’ll mean for Steam and Epic players.

Open Beta serves as a monumental milestone in Predecessor’s development process, and represents a huge step forwards towards a full release out of Early Access further down the line.

We’d like to once again thank you all for all of your ongoing feedback and support. We hope you’ll continue to enjoy Predecessor on PlayStation for many more weeks and we cannot wait to unleash the storm with Emerald later next month.

Until next time!

- Kari, Community @ Omeda Studios