Public Beta Testing
On April 10, 2007, Bungie announced that a beta test of the multiplayer component of Halo 3 would run from May 16 to June 6, open to select members of the public. Players could enter the beta in several ways. Testers were selected from those who signed up on the Halo3.com website following the "Starry Night" commercial, or from the first 13,333 players to register after playing three hours of Halo 2 on Xbox Live. Players could also buy a specially-marked copy of the Xbox 360 title Crackdown, which allowed players to download the beta upon its release.
The public portion of the beta consists of matchmaking play on three multiplayer maps: Valhalla, High Ground and Snowbound. The public beta also contained a limited version of the "saved films" feature, which allows players to save and watch their played games. The day the public beta began, problems were reported from owners of Crackdown that they could not download the beta. Bungie announced that the Microsoft team found a solution and that the issue would be resolved shortly; a patch was distributed for Crackdown that fixed the problem. Bungie also extended the beta until June 10 to compensate for the issue. According to Jerret West, global group product manager, allowing users into the beta created "a psychological investment" in the game. "The idea was basically to make the beta launch huge and let the tastemakers make the launch for you... to really drive it beyond the gaming press." The beta caused a spike in preorders for the retail version of the game.
Read more about this topic: Marketing Of Halo 3
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