With all the pre- and post-E3 love Bungie showed to Sony, the big debate was how long non-PlayStation owners would have to wait for the Xbox One Destiny beta and Xbox 360 Destiny beta. Turns out, the timed exclusivity isn’t all that long.
The Xbox One Destiny beta and Xbox 360 beta will both begin at 10:00am Pacific on July 23. Both Xbox betas require an Xbox Live Gold subscription.
By comparison, the public Destiny PS4 beta and PS3 betas will begin one week earlier, at 10:00am Pacific on July 17. As with the Xbox betas, the Destiny PlayStation beta will require a PlayStation Plus subscription “for some features.”
That last phrase is an important one, as it appears even non-PS-Plus members will be able to get in on the action at least to some extent. Xbox One or Xbox 360 owners will have to be an XBL Gold member just to get their hands on the Destiny beta.
Whether you participate in the Xbox One Destiny beta, Destiny PS4 beta or either of the “last-gen” systems, the beta will conclude on the same date. That means PlayStation owners will have an extra week to play. The Destiny beta will be live until 11:59pm Pacific on July 27. Xbox One owners get to play the beta for four days only, so play hard and play often during that window.
The only time PlayStation beta participants will be unable to play is July 21-22. Bungie has said the beta will be offline during those days for “scheduled maintenance.”
In addition to announcing the dates of the Destiny beta, Activision today also unveiled the full details of the Destiny Ghost Edition and Destiny Limited Edition. Long story short: the Ghost Edition is epic. If you pre-order one of those packages, or even the “normal” version, you’ll be guaranteed access to the Xbox One Destiny beta, the PS4 Destiny beta, or the public beta for whichever platform version you pre-order. Just get in there soon and do it, so you can really maximize your beta play time.
Bungie also released a new Destiny beta video today, which you can watch below.