Gimme something to break
Playtests are supposed to be ugly
There was a time - long, long ago in the before-times - when game testing happened behind closed doors. A handful of QA testers, maybe some trusted community members under NDA, would poke and prod an early build until it either ran or exploded (or both). Playtests were messy, useful, and largely invisible to the public.
Then came the rise of the “closed beta,” which slowly morphed into the “open beta,” which eventually became the “pre-order bonus beta,” which - if we’re being honest - is just the game’s launch in a trench coat and fake mustache. Somewhere along the way, we lost the plot.
Today, large AAA games often promote their “beta” as a selling point. Pre-order the deluxe edition, and you get a week of early access to what is functionally the final build - complete with battle pass previews, microtransactions, and all the polish of a release-day product. Bugs? Sure, a few. Feedback? Maybe. But make no mistake: that’s not a test. That’s a soft launch with an NDA you probably didn’t read.
And this has warped expectations.
When studios like ours run actual playtests - where we genuinely want your feedback, logs, crash reports, and performance data - some players arrive expecting a demo. A slice of the final game, wrapped in hype, ready for a review on Reddit. And when they don’t get that? Well, it’s open season in the comments: “Feels unfinished!” “Why does it stutter?” “This is unplayable!”
That’s... kind of the point.
Recently, we kicked off public playtesting for Squad’s Unreal Engine 5 update. We’re doing this to test things. These builds aren’t marketing tools - they’re science experiments. We’re collecting performance benchmarks, hardware compatibility data, crash logs, server load metrics, animation bugs, AI hiccups, and about a thousand other things that help us ensure the final version of the update is actually ready for prime time. These builds are raw by design. We’re testing performance under live conditions. We’re logging crashes. We’re squashing bugs. This is software archaeology - digging through old code, legacy systems, and networking gremlins to bring the game into a new technical era. But that means these playtests aren’t showcases. They’re science experiments, and players are the lab rats (with love).
We’re asking players to jump into a work-in-progress and stress it to the breaking point. Thankfully, a huge number of you have done exactly that.
In fact, the response has been kind of amazing. Not only has the community shown up in force, but the quality of the feedback has been incredibly valuable. Even better, the general sentiment has been overwhelmingly positive. That’s not something we take for granted. In a world where “early access” can be a trap and “beta” often means “PR stunt,” seeing players embrace a real playtest with curiosity, patience, and support is a rare opportunity. That reinforces why we decided to do this upgrade in the first place.
To be clear, this UE5 version of Squad is a massive undertaking. It’s not just a facelift -it’s a complete infrastructure overhaul. There’s legacy code involved. There are weird edge-case bugs where your gun turns into a helicopter for no reason (not really, but perhaps a cool idea for a game mode). But that’s exactly what we’re here to catch. And we can only do that by opening the doors, letting players in, and saying: “Please break this. Repeatedly.”
That said, if you do decide to break it, maybe don’t review it like it’s a finished product? At least wait until the helicopter gun is fixed (or turned into a fully released game).
Public playtests are a collaboration. They’re not meant to be pretty. They’re meant to reveal problems before the spotlight hits. They’re how we actually build better games. And as long as we have a community willing to take part in that process, we’re going to keep doing it.
So to everyone who’s joined the playtest, sent in logs, flagged bugs, and offered thoughtful suggestions: thank you. You’re not just helping us polish a patch—you’re helping shape the future of Squad. If you would like to join one of our future playtests, check out our social media accounts @joinsquad for details.
And to the rest of the industry: maybe we retire the word “beta” for your pre-order demos. Unless, of course, you’re planning to read every crash log. In which case, welcome to the club.