Sabre Interactive has cancelled its planned public beta test of the shooter Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2.

Registration for the Space Marine 2 beta first opened in August 2023, but that plan was derailed by a delay that pushed the launch from winter 2023 to late 2024.The announcement of a new launch date in December 2023 included signing up for the test, which could be played in co-op mode included an invitation to And, at least for now, you can still sign up at the Focus Test Zone website. However, you cannot actually play.

"Space Marine 2 is almost ready," the developer wrote on Steam. 'We are now focusing all of our efforts on optimizing, refining, and fixing any remaining issues in preparation for the September 9 launch.' This means that we will not be running a public online beta as the development team will be away from full launch preparations.

To make up for this "disappointing announcement," those who signed up for the beta before midnight Paris time on June 28 (which has already passed, so if you haven't already done so, sorry you missed it) will receive a limited edition bolt pistol skin when "Space Marine 2" goes live. They will be presented with.

While it is understandable that Saber and Focus would prefer to keep their attention on the full game rather than devote their efforts to supporting the beta test, it is also understandable that some fans are concerned about the cancellation now: on Reddit and Steam, there is some support for the move, but unmistakably wave of skepticism: some believe Saber and Focus Home are trying to cover up an unimpressive game before launch, while others worry that the lack of public online testing will lead to widespread server headaches when "Space Marine 2" launches.

I'm inclined to believe Saber's words. To use a sports analogy, the goal is in sight and the developers don't want to take their eye off the ball. However, the concern is not entirely unfounded. It is rare for a scheduled beta test to be canceled just before launch, and as far as I can remember, the last time this happened with a high-profile game was in 2017, when BioWare decided that a public technical test of "Mass Effect" was "not necessary": Andromeda was deemed "probably not necessary."

I'm not going to reiterate that turn of events, except to say that less than six months after "Andromeda" was released, Electronic Arts decided that the studio that produced "Andromeda" was also not needed.

Interestingly, while there will be no public playtest, a demo is playable at various locations on the Space Marine 2 North America Tour; Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is scheduled to be released in full on September 9.