6.8m gamers took part in Ghost Recon: Wildlands beta
It beats Ubisoft's internal record set by The Division last year
Over 6.8m gamers took part in Ubisoft's beta for the upcoming Ghost Recon: Wildlands.
It's Ubisoft's biggest beta to-date, beating the record set by The Division in 2016 (6.4m) - which remains the biggest beta for a new IP. However, it's a far cry from the 13.2m that played the Battlefield 1 beta.
Although betas are primarily designed to prevent launch issues for ambitious online games, another advantage for publishers doing one so close to release is the potential marketing impact. Titles such as The Division and Destiny benefited hugely from their betas, driving up pre-orders and ensuring both games would break records for sales of a new IP.
Of course, a poor Beta can also backfire, as we've seen with the likes of Street Fighter V.
Ubisoft proudly boasts that the total playtime on the beta was 34.3m hours, which equates to about 5 hours per person on average - which is a decent playtime. Ghost Recon Wildlands is a major project for Ubisoft, and developed primarily by the firm's French studios. The game is due out March 7th, and is part of a big first few weeks for AAA game releases. Ghost Recon will be battling for PR share-of-voice against the likes of Zelda, Horizon and Nintendo Switch.