The King of Fighters 15's development has been a long and winding road. First announced in 2019, SNK was forced to delay the game to 2022 due to Covid-19 complications. But the wait is almost over, with the February 17th release date rapidly approaching.

In anticipation of the game's upcoming release, and to test The King of Fighters 15's rollback netcode, SNK is hosting a free open beta for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 users. Players won't even need a PlayStation Plus subscription to try this new entry.

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Despite it being open, getting into The King of Fighters 15's beta might be more difficult than expected. Like Guilty Gear Strive's open beta, The King of Fighters 15's open beta might not appear in the PSN search results. Thankfully, it's easy to find once the player knows what they're looking for.

King of Fighters 15 Character Select

Finding The King of Fighters 15's Open Beta on the Console's PSN Store

If the player is on the PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 5, inputting "The King of Fighters 15" into the search bar might not bring up the open beta, instead only showing the pre-order pages for the game's standard and deluxe editions. Searching here is not a lost cause, however. Clicking on one of these pages and scrolling down should reveal a related link to the open beta.

Finding The King of Fighters 15's Open Beta on the PSN Website

If the above doesn't work, or if the player can't access their console at the moment, then they can add it to their library via their browser, at store.playstation.com. The open beta appears easily in the website's search results, and if the player logs into their account, they can add it to their library from there.

What The King of Fighters 15's Open Beta Offers

The King of Fighters 15's open beta begins on November 19th, at 10:00 PM EST, and ends on November 22nd, at 6:59 AM EST. For online play, it includes casual match and room match modes, and for offline play, it includes versus, training, and tutorial modes. The open beta features 8 playable characters, and features fan favorites such as The King of Fighters' long-awaited Team Orochi. The roster is as follows:

  • Chizuru Kagura
  • Chris
  • Dolores
  • Iori Yagami
  • Kyo Kusanagi
  • Shermie
  • Shun'ei
  • Yashiro Nanakase

While it only features one completely new character and doesn't let players try the entirely new draft mode, it's still a good chance for players to dip their toes into the series. More importantly, testing the netcode will be very important for the game's launch.

The King of Fighters 15 will release on February 17th, 2022 for PC, PS4, and PS5.

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