The recently-concluded closed alpha for Ubisoft's upcoming game For Honor is the studio's largest ever, with hundreds of thousands of players participating in the four day test.
The last few months have seen Ubisoft's upcoming For Honor get a good portion of the spotlight at a number of major gaming events, such as E3 2016, gamescom, and PAX West. With the studio gradually rolling out a wealth of information, such as new gameplay details, character classes, and even various special editions of the game, it is clear that there is a lot riding on the success of this melee-centric title. But if the statistics of the recently-concluded For Honor closed alpha test is anything to go by, it appears that Ubisoft may have another hit on its hands.
The four-day closed alpha test for For Honor took place from September 15 to 18, and it proved to be very popular with players. According to Ubisoft, the test was the largest closed alpha in the studio's history, with hundreds of thousands of players invited to take part. Gamers spent an average of four hours and 38 minutes playing through the game's Duel, Brawl, and Dominion multiplayer modes, and the average playtime increased on a daily basis with over a third of all active players participating in at least three of the four testing days.
Although specific player and viewer numbers were not revealed, For Honor's closed alpha test proved to be so popular that it briefly beat out big-name games such as World of Warcraft, Counter-Strike, and Dota 2 as the second-most watched title on Twitch. Plus, it was consistently ranked in the top 10 during the four day duration of the test.
Ubisoft is no stranger to large-scale alpha and beta tests, having drawn a whopping 6.4 million players for the beta test for The Division. But with the studio stating that demand for the upcoming For Honor beta is approximately 40% higher than any of its previous titles, there's a good chance that the For Honor beta could eclipse The Division's 6.4 million player benchmark.
As for when players can expect the For Honor beta, no date has been announced yet, but it will presumably come out in a timely manner soon if the game is to meet its February 2017 launch date. Nothing has been revealed about what is in the beta, but it's safe to assume that multiplayer will again be the main draw card rather than the game's single-player campaign.
Nevertheless, the success of the For Honor closed alpha test is a good sign that the game will be a big hit come release day. Hopefully, though, Ubisoft will be able to avoid any launch day server issues this time around.
For Honor is scheduled for launch on February 14, 2017 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
Source: VentureBeat, VG 24/7