Dust 514 moves to open beta, kicking off '10-year plan'

Today, Dust 514 makes its transition from closed beta to open beta. But what does that really mean? We spoke to CCP executive producer Brandon Laurino about the EVE Online shooter, and their plans for the future--near and far.

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Today, Dust 514 makes its transition from closed beta to open beta. But what does that really mean? We spoke to CCP executive producer Brandon Laurino about the EVE Online shooter, and their plans for the future--near and far.

"For us, it really is a true open beta," Laurino told us. "It's not just a term for some indefinite period where we make excuses for why this or that isn't working," when we asked if this beta would be akin to Gmail.

Dust 514 has been in closed beta for well over a year now, which has given CCP time to come to terms with the PS3. According to Laurino, "literally every aspect of the game, from the balance to the actual feel and tuning of the weapons, the look, the graphics" has changed. When grilled about what the single biggest change to the game would be, Laurino told us that it has to be the graphics--an area CCP is continuing to focus. "With the next release, we've got another whole major upgrade, introducing vegetation into the landscape. It's going to look like a whole new game again."

Communicating Dust's continuing evolution has been a challenge for CCP, given console gamers are unused to a game that changes over time--especially a free-to-play title. To this day, Laurino says gamers are asking about "when are there going to be DLC packs?"--a concept that doesn't apply to the microtransaction-driven model of Dust.

The plan right now is to transition into a fully-released product by the summer. CCP is aiming to "turning on the fire hose" in time for EVE's ten year anniversary. Provided the integration between the two games goes as seamlessly as expected, the two games should be fully merged by the company's next fan fest.

While Dust's final push away from open beta will be a momentous occasion for the team, it's hard not to question if this release will happen much too late in the PS3 life cycle. Already, we're hearing murmurs about the next PlayStation, which is rumored to launch later this year. However, Laurino seems unfazed. Dust will continue to get support on the PS3. "We're really pushing the PS3, but we haven't pushed it as far as it can go. Believe it or not, the Cell processor does have a lot of room to grow with it," he told us.

But he also told us that "we've got a 10-year roadmap for Dust... In 10 years, we're providing a game as a service, and we want it to be as accessible to as many people as possible. And we're going to do that." If that meant moving to another platform, whether Orbis or PC, Laurino was mum. However, he noted: "I'm not just talking crazy when I say there's a 10-year roadmap. There's a plan behind that."

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    January 22, 2013 9:30 AM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, Dust 514 moves to open beta, kicking off '10-year plan'.

    Today, Dust 514 makes its transition from closed beta to open beta. But what does that really mean? We spoke to CCP executive producer Brandon Laurino about the EVE Online shooter, and their plans for the future--near and far.

    • reply
      January 22, 2013 10:37 AM

      Has anyone tried this game yet?.

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        January 22, 2013 11:42 AM

        I've been playing since last summer and while it has vastly improved since then,it still has quite a ways to go to be a AAA shooter.

        Right now,the game's potential is still better than the actual game. If CCP can tighten up the shooting mechanics,matchmaking,and a few other things,and this could be the best shooter ever.

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        January 22, 2013 10:03 PM

        I've been playing it for awhile now and it can be sure fun but only if your team mates are worth a shit.

        You are super fragile solo so ramboing on to a point gets you slaughtered and a loss of income.

        The gun mechanics need work but u think they will iron it out soon.

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      January 22, 2013 12:03 PM

      [deleted]

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        January 22, 2013 12:04 PM

        [deleted]

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        January 22, 2013 2:51 PM

        CCP choose PS3 because Microsoft wouldn't let CCP use their own servers.They wanted to be a console shooter to open up the EVE universe,that's why it's not on PC,but probably will be there in the future.

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          January 22, 2013 6:59 PM

          [deleted]

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            January 23, 2013 1:59 PM

            Honestly,that's something that I never thought about,regarding patching the game for multiple platforms,but as far as coding goes,not too sure.I was always under the impression that the reason that they decided to use the Unreal Engine for the game was because of the ease of use,on any platform.

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      January 26, 2013 6:00 PM

      CCP just announced a friend referral program for Dust where people signing up via a link get a free Recruit Assault Rifle and Skill Booster. Lots of fun to be had.

      https://dust514.com/recruit/wRLsEs/

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