Halo Wars 2 will get a PC beta "closer to launch"

Microsoft trotted out a Halo Wars 2 release date of February 21, 2017 at its E3 2016 press event, and also kicked off a week-long public beta test—exclusively for the Xbox One. But fret not! 343 Industries head guy Dan Ayoub told IGN that a PC beta is coming as well.

Interestingly, Ayoub said he dislikes the term “beta,” because he feel like it's lost some of its original meaning: It's used as much as a promotional tool these days as it is for actual testing purposes. The Halo Wars 2 test on Xbox One “is a true dev beta” that's being rolled out in stages so the studio can “react to feedback,” he explained. “And it's great, people have been reacting, and we actually rolled out an update today based on user feedback.”

“Closer to launch, we will have another beta that will be PC that people can hop in on,” he continued. When asked if the PC beta will be a “true developer beta” as well, he repeated that it will be "closer to launch,” implying that it will be a more polished experience, but noted that there will still be room to make changes. “We will react to it, we'll absolutely be able to react to it, we've got lots of good tuning tools that let us react to feedback quickly,” he said.

Ayoub demonstrated Halo Wars 2 running on Windows 10, and touched on some of the advantages of playing with a mouse and keyboard instead of a controller, during the PC Gaming Show at E3.

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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.