Sorry, digital-card warriors, but Hearthstone’s open beta won’t begin this month as developer Blizzard had originally planned.
The open beta for the collectible-card battler will now go live in January. Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft is a free-to-play card game similar to something like Magic: The Gathering. Players can build decks in different classes and then go online to face off against other real-world opponents. It’s Blizzard’s first major foray into selling microtransactions in a game it gives away to the player.
“At BlizzCon, we mentioned that we hoped to get the game into a state where it’s ready for open beta this month, but we’re just not quite there yet,” Hearthstone production director Jason Chayes wrote in an a blog. “The development team has been working hard to get this out before the end of the year, but our highest priority is that Hearthstone has an awesome launch when all gates are lifted and everyone can download it and play at the same time.”
Hearthstone is currently in a invite-only closed beta. Chayes is calling on players currently in the test to continue to report game-breaking bugs.
“That’s the best way you can help the team get Hearthstone into everyone’s hands as soon as possible,” he wrote.
If you’re still not in the beta, don’t get bummed about the continuing wait. Blizzard revealed that it recently sent out invites to everyone who signed up to participate in the test. You can still sign up until Jan. 7.
