Guilty Gear Strive open beta test includes rollback netcode & most of roster

Published , by TJ Denzer

Guilty Gear Strive has been a much-anticipated mainline entry to Arc System Works flagship fighting franchise. Although it was originally slated for late 2020, implementation of a new rollback netcode system for online play delayed the game into 2021. Now, Arc is ready to show off the work it’s done on Guilty Gear Strive’s online systems. A new upcoming open beta test for Guilty Gear Strive has been announced for pre-order PlayStation 4 and 5 players that will feature its new rollback netcode and most of the revealed roster.

Arc System Works announced the Guilty Gear Strive open beta test fairly recently on the developer’s Twitter. Downloadable on February 17, 2021 for players who have pre-ordered the game digitally on PS4 and PS5, the Guilty Gear Strive open beta test will begin on February 18 at 7 p.m. PT and continue until February 21 at 7 a.m. PT. Featured in the online beta will be offline play in Versus, Tutorial, and Training Modes, as well as online unranked play in Network Mode.

Perhaps most importantly, this will be one of the open demonstrations of Arc System Works’ new rollback netcode feature for Guilty Gear Strive, which should bring far more stability to online matches. It will also be the first time most players get to try 13 of the roster’s characters, up to and including all-new character Giovanna. Unfortunately, that doesn’t include the recently revealed Anji and the unrevealed fifteenth character. Also unfortunately, PC is being left out of this beta test, which has been a bit of a trend considering PC players will not be able to play with PS4 and PS5 players.

Regardless, the upcoming open beta test period for Guilty Gear Strive should be a telling time for what to expect from the game’s netplay as Arc System Works prepares to launch in April. Stay tuned for further news and coverage from Guilty Gear Strive and the upcoming beta and be sure to check out why it was one of our most anticipated games of 2021.