I think because of unfinished animal models and gamescon frontier hasn't shared any news lately. Other than the boa and possible hyena and Gharial, the last major info shared was at E3 which was over a month ago and unfortunately it looks like we want be getting anymore info until a month from now at gamescon. Hopefully the beta will be released in September which we would be grateful for. However I am expecting a tiger reveal next Monday for world tiger day which would be great way to end July.
Info this month
- Thread starter Mopmil
- Start date
July has been really a calm month for Planet Zoo, unfortuenately. Doesn't feel too good, as I wonder if the game will be ready in november when it feels like there is not much to show yet... And I hope we get the beta in august, soon after gamescom. If it will be released more than two weeks after the beginning of septembre, I will honestly feel a bit tricked. It says summer at E3, no one ever corrected the info shared in the live stream (subtitle) or on steam and after that you couldn't call it a "beta". It will be not more than an early access. While I would still be happy I bought the deluxe edition for other things, I would consider a beta that is THAT late a marketing fail.
While I get you may feel disappointment due to the lack of clarity concerning the beta, you had the choice to pre-order the deluxe edition or not. I myself am interested in the deluxe edition but only for the extra animals and the beta. Due to the lack of release date, I've been waiting to purchase just in case it would be a very short beta and it wouldn't be worth the extra 10 EUR for me. The animals are a nice plus and I'm a sucker for having things "complete", but I don't really need those animals.
While Planet Coaster had a slightly different production process in regards to community participation (we had a playable alpha version months before official release), the beta was released just two weeks before the full game was released. I suspect it won't be this short of a beta for Planet Zoo, but I wouldn't expect it before September, given how long they're keeping silent right now.
Given the fact the game engine isn't entirely new, I suspect the beta really isn't so much for testing purposes and rather - like you said - an early access. I suspect they're still working very hard to just get the game ready in time and a lot of work has to be done before the beta can be released. I don't think we should worry about the November release date whatsoever.
It feels a bit unfair of Frontier to triumphantly announce the beta so early and then stay mum for so long, but they did say Summer after all, which might as well mean release on September 20 and they'd still be keeping their promise.
While Planet Coaster had a slightly different production process in regards to community participation (we had a playable alpha version months before official release), the beta was released just two weeks before the full game was released. I suspect it won't be this short of a beta for Planet Zoo, but I wouldn't expect it before September, given how long they're keeping silent right now.
Given the fact the game engine isn't entirely new, I suspect the beta really isn't so much for testing purposes and rather - like you said - an early access. I suspect they're still working very hard to just get the game ready in time and a lot of work has to be done before the beta can be released. I don't think we should worry about the November release date whatsoever.
It feels a bit unfair of Frontier to triumphantly announce the beta so early and then stay mum for so long, but they did say Summer after all, which might as well mean release on September 20 and they'd still be keeping their promise.
Last edited:
That would be reeeally stretching the definition of summer though. Here in the UK summer months are June July and August, the very first weeks of september maybe, but no further than that.
It's not. Again this is a simple case of expectations and reality.
It has been said numerous times when they told it was in Summer by several users that summer is a long period, and that it would be unclear how long this beta will last and when it will start. I guess it will be the same as with Planco. Where Beta started around 1 month before release (of course we also had Alpha, which lasted for 6 months prior to that, but that version of the game was very limited and the engine back then needed a lot of testing).
Because of this big ? I haven't pre-ordered the game untill those dates are made public.
And also, I'm pretty sure, as we've seen dozens of sceenshots of the game so far, it looks pretty complete. So, I'm not worrying at all, all I want to know is when the Beta starts, before deciding it would be the Deluxe or the Normal version.
Last edited:
You noobs, I just bought the Deluxe edition for bragging rights.
You have a very irritating habbit of sounding like you and only you know the truth of everything and only your opinion is valid and right. While, yes, septembre is still summer caldener wise, it's not defined as part of summer by most people. When you market a product, you make sure that you do not mislead expactations - for example by calling relase "summer", when it leans more towards fall and fall when it leads more towards winter.
A lot of players had voiced of what they understood of summer. IF we get the beta in septembre, it would have been wise marketing to clear things up right away and say "sorry guys, we won't releasing beta that early in summer, you should expect it more to the end of summer as in september".
What frontier did, however, was canceling the word "summer" in all communications without addressing it in any way- They could have said "we figured if we write summer, people get wrong expectations and we are not sure yet if we can serve the beta at such an early date" or whatever. Keeping silent instead is never a good idea.
You do you with pre-ordering or not pre-ordering. You feel about it the way you feel and it's fine and I feel different and that is fine. When I feel marketing-tricked I have valid reasons for it and you feeling different doesn't change my feelings.
Yeah same, everyday i click on planet zoo on steam hoping see "install" button showing up ^^
Bo already tweeted that there will be more information at gamescom, which kind of implys that we won't get anything before.
I tend to agree that if you promise in June to publish the beta in summer and then say nothing untill the end of august, it is a bit of a marketing blunder. And there very well might have been a blunder involved somewhere, since I'm fairly certain the "summer" info originated from PC Games and not from Frontier directly. The steam page doesn't say anything about it, and I don't think this was different in June, Frontiers own store doesn't say anything about summer either.
I tend to agree that if you promise in June to publish the beta in summer and then say nothing untill the end of august, it is a bit of a marketing blunder. And there very well might have been a blunder involved somewhere, since I'm fairly certain the "summer" info originated from PC Games and not from Frontier directly. The steam page doesn't say anything about it, and I don't think this was different in June, Frontiers own store doesn't say anything about summer either.
It was different in june, even they somehow managed to even delete the cache files. I double-checked when I bought the day tbe E3 demo went live or one day later.
for me the beta will be available just after gamescom, they will tease it during the event I think 
We already know thatfor me the beta will be available just after gamescom, they will tease it during the event I think
Well, no. Some of us just assume it will be available right after Gamescom. We don't know for sure if it won't take another month or two.
If frontier say at gamescom that the beta will be released in october, that would be very cheeky. For such a beta date you don't need a gamescom, the date would be so far away that you could announce it directly.
I wonder why the communication is done this way. will hype be generated if the beta date remains secret? Or would just as much hype be generated if we all knew when the beta would appear?
Anno 1800 was moved, but at least all closed and open beta dates were announced early. Did it reduce the hype? No, it did not.
On the other hand, the game was in such a good condition that the hype increased even more. For me, the only explanation for this communication here at frontier is that the game is not yet beta-capable and currently nobody knows when the beta will be made available.
I wonder why the communication is done this way. will hype be generated if the beta date remains secret? Or would just as much hype be generated if we all knew when the beta would appear?
Anno 1800 was moved, but at least all closed and open beta dates were announced early. Did it reduce the hype? No, it did not.
On the other hand, the game was in such a good condition that the hype increased even more. For me, the only explanation for this communication here at frontier is that the game is not yet beta-capable and currently nobody knows when the beta will be made available.
Last edited:
I have to say I'm very dissatisfied with this way of communication too.
If the beta doesn't come out until late September I'm probably canceling my deluxe edition. I'm on holiday for half of October so it would hardly be worth it for me then since the actual game is released early November already. I was really looking forward to playing it earlier and also to be able to help make the game better before the actual release, was even planning to take a few days off from work for it. But that's only possible if I know the date way ahead and that doesn't seem to be happening.
Yes, I know it's my own fault for buying the deluxe edition without knowing all the information, but I trusted Frontier to give out the information shortly after that. It seems that trust was misplaced and I'm really disappointed about that. And I know there's more than the beta in the deluxe edition, but the rest isn't worth that price for me.
- Don't announce and immediately sell a deluxe edition that includes access to a beta and then be quiet about the date of said beta for two months. That's just selling an empty promise really, since a lot of people bought the deluxe edition mostly for the beta access, while expecting said beta to be in July/August.
- Don't say summer if you don't mean July/August as most people will assume. I know September technically still counts, but at least say late summer then for more clarity.
- If it wasn't Frontier who said summer, at least be clear about it and immediately say that's false information.
- If they did say summer but a delay was caused, at least communicate it.
- Just.....communicate. Being quiet about this is just the worst thing they can do, since I really just don't see any reason for hiding the date except for really scummy ones.
If the beta doesn't come out until late September I'm probably canceling my deluxe edition. I'm on holiday for half of October so it would hardly be worth it for me then since the actual game is released early November already. I was really looking forward to playing it earlier and also to be able to help make the game better before the actual release, was even planning to take a few days off from work for it. But that's only possible if I know the date way ahead and that doesn't seem to be happening.
Yes, I know it's my own fault for buying the deluxe edition without knowing all the information, but I trusted Frontier to give out the information shortly after that. It seems that trust was misplaced and I'm really disappointed about that. And I know there's more than the beta in the deluxe edition, but the rest isn't worth that price for me.
Didn't they say that beta will probably start in September?
Anyway, this is nothing new from Frontier. They were always like this and only release info once it's solid and everybody internally agrees it can be published. You will never see a Frontier employee discussing rumors or promising something they are not sure of.
If you don’t like not knowing anything... then just wait? I think we’re all way too demanding in the gaming community these days. I see it here, I see it with Pokémon for example. Have a little bit more faith in the people who produce the games and take everything with a grain of salt, especially rumors. If you want something done, do it yourself and go study to become a game designer and level yourself to director of a game, then you can decide how the game will look like. You’ll learn soon enough people will always find a way to complain or spread hate. Think about that next time. I think they are doing their very best to produce the game we will love, even with its limitations. It looks so promising already!
While I admit that new information has been almost non existent for a while now and hype appears to have dropped as these forums are barely seeing activity in comparison to a while back, I can't help but feel a lot of people are going in a little harsh on frontier about the beta.
Personally I don't remember seeing any mention of a summer release and I admit I may be wrong but as far as I'm aware it's only ever said "exclusive beta access" which we should all be grateful for because before announcing this, frontier were under no obligation to give us beta access whatsoever. So even if the beta isn't available until the day before release, you're still getting what you've paid for, albeit a little disappointing, it still is early access. Yes, they should announce when the beta is out, so people can judge whether or not its worth paying extra for, but for those who have already paid, you only have yourselves to blame. Again, this is going off the premise that they never mentioned "summer" which I don't believe they actually ever did. IF they did then I'll gladly hold my hands up and admit my argument is mostly invalid but until then, the beta comes when the beta comes, let's just be grateful we'll get to play the game early, whenever that may be.
Personally I don't remember seeing any mention of a summer release and I admit I may be wrong but as far as I'm aware it's only ever said "exclusive beta access" which we should all be grateful for because before announcing this, frontier were under no obligation to give us beta access whatsoever. So even if the beta isn't available until the day before release, you're still getting what you've paid for, albeit a little disappointing, it still is early access. Yes, they should announce when the beta is out, so people can judge whether or not its worth paying extra for, but for those who have already paid, you only have yourselves to blame. Again, this is going off the premise that they never mentioned "summer" which I don't believe they actually ever did. IF they did then I'll gladly hold my hands up and admit my argument is mostly invalid but until then, the beta comes when the beta comes, let's just be grateful we'll get to play the game early, whenever that may be.