It’s usually unacceptable to break a game. Now is not one of those times.
Developer CD Projekt Red has announced a series of stress tests for its upcoming Gwent: The Witcher Card Game. Gwent is a card minigame from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, one of the most popular titles from 2015, and it’s getting its own spinoff release. The server tests will take place on September 23 and September 27. The final release of Gwent will come out for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. It doesn’t have a release date, but a closed beta begins October 25.
It makes sense for CD Projekt Red to turn Gwent into its own experience, with the card game market worth $1.2 billion. That’s largely thanks to Blizzard’s Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, which makes $20 million in revenue each month.
Tests like these are designed to see how many players a game’s online servers can handle before crashing. While having a game go offline is usually a bad thing, causing that problem is the goal of a stress test. Players can sign up for the events here, but keep in mind that you should expect connectivity problems.