The Gwent closed beta has been delayed into October

I'm still not convinced that Gwent will ever fully replace drunken punch-ups as my favorite Witcher tavern game, but an awful lot of people seem to like it—enough to convince CD Projekt to turn it into a Hearthstone-y standalone game. Beta testing was originally scheduled to begin in September, but today the studio announced that it won't be ready to get things underway until the following month. 

Beta tests usually mean that a certain amount of bumpiness is inevitable, but “we feel we need some extra time with the game before we hand it off to you for testing,” CD Projekt said. “We know we can make a first impression only once, and want to be sure everything is ready before we blast off. Delivering a good game is more important to us than keeping a deadline. Still, that doesn’t mean we don’t realize that delays can be disappointing, and we apologize for making you wait.” 

The Gwent closed beta is now set to begin on October 25. Registrations to take part are still being taken at playgwent.com.
 

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.