Relic announced today that Company of Heroes 3 will be released next year, but the studio's latest World War II RTS is already being played by some members of the community who first picked it up a few years ago.

One of the advantages of Relic being a Sega studio is the opportunity to borrow things from the publisher's other strategy teams. This means that Relic has access to Amplitude's Games2Gether program, which was originally established for the "Endless" series, through which the community can play various builds, provide feedback, and get updates

However, the program is not a "one-stop-shop.

However, this collaboration with the community dates back to the formation of the Community Council three years ago. Executive producer David Littman tells me. 'And they've been playing the game for three years. He recalls that in the very early days of the game, players were assembled almost immediately. For the first couple of days it was just Rittman, but then several team members joined Rittman, and 10 of the top players in the world (modelers, mapmakers, and competitive players) were invited to join Relic. The studio used them to come up with the basic setting for Company of Heroes 3.

"When we invited the ten players and sat them down, we wrote on the board: 'What kind of theater do you guys want? We did not want a return of the Western or Eastern Front. So all that was left was the Mediterranean and the Pacific. We put those two on the board and it was just 10-0. Mediterranean over Pacific."

Since that first meeting, the council has grown and members have been able to playtest the game throughout its development, putting each faction through its paces. They are people who are deeply involved in the community, so you can expect them to have a good understanding of what makes "Company of Heroes" so much fun. In addition to the council, Relic sent out many surveys and received tens of thousands of responses.

The cat's out of the bag, everyone else will be able to take a look and provide their own feedback: an alpha demo is already available through Games2Gether, playable until August 3, with more slices to come as we wait for the game to launch in 2022. will be made available to the public.