ring of death

Elden Ring gets free closed network test, coming to consoles in November

Bandai Namco has announced that Elden Ring is getting a closed network test ahead of the game's (delayed) launch next year.

News by Dom Peppiatt Editor-in-chief

Published on Oct. 18, 2021

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FromSoftware's Elden Ring is getting a closed network test in November, publisher Bandai Namco has revealed today.

The test, which is being held in order to "improve the quality of the product" will be completely free to all who get in, and will run as five sessions. You will need to register for a chance to play the test before November 1 and – at the time of writing – there isn't a massive amount of detail on what will actually be playable when it goes live.

From the registration page, it looks like the test will only be playable on Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4 and PS5 – there's no beta for PC mentioned at the time of writing.

As per a dedicated Closed Network Test site from Bandai Namco, the game will be playable in five sessions from November 12-15:

・Session 1: 3am-6am PT, 6am-9am ET, 11am-2pm UK, November 12, 2021
・Session 2: (November 12) 7pm-10pm PT, (November 12) 10pm-1am ET, 3am-6am UK, November 13 2021
・Session 3: 11am-2pm PT, 2pm-5pm ET, 7pm-10pm UK, November 13, 2021
・Session 4: 3am-6am PT, 6am-9am ET, 11am-2pm UK, November 14 2021
・Session 5: (November 14) 7pm-10pm PT, (November 14) 10pm-1am ET, 3am-6am UK, November 15 2021

For fans of the game that have been waiting since the initial Elden Ring announcement to get their eager hands on the game, this announcement is certainly going to be good news.

The bad news, though, is that publisher Bandai Namco has also announced that it'll be pushing the game back by a month to February 25, 2022. The developer has noted "the depth & strategic freedom of the game" as the reason for the delay, with a touch more development time being needed. The start of next year really is looking quite intense for gaming fans, eh?

In the meantime, at least you can look at the first gameplay trailer for the game and maybe read about some of the in-depth gameplay details we've been told about.

Elden Ring is out February 25, 2022 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.