This past November and December we conducted our Private Beta for Starhawk. It was incredibly valuable to our team at LightBox and SCEA Santa Monica. We really appreciate all of the time that players have spent uncovering bugs and glitches, we would have never been able to find this many of them without real-world gameplay. The Beta effort has been a true partnership with our community so we humbly thank you all. Without your help, we wouldn’t be able to progress to the next chapter in the development of the game: the Public Beta!

We’re now happy to announce that the Starhawk Public Beta begins this Tuesday, January 17th. This is a crucial step for us as we’ll be testing all sorts of things, including game balance, server traffic, and general bugs. This is also a chance for more players to finally see what we’ve been working so hard on. As we’ve been getting so much support and encouragement from fans and press alike, we’re excited to spread the love and get more input to make the best game possible.

That looks kind of fun, right? So maybe you want in the Beta now? Well, take a look below and see how to get early access. Either way, the Beta will be completely open February 21st!

(North American Starhawk Beta schedule)

January 17: All PlayStation Plus subscribers and all Private Beta participants (who haven’t erased their original Private Beta files). You can learn more about PS Plus here.

January 31: UNCHARTED 3 Beta key holders. These voucher codes were found inside of North American copies of UNCHARTED 3.

February 7: Visit GameStop and PlayStation on Facebook and see how you can get early voucher codes.

February 14: IGN.com (details to be revealed soon)

February 21: Everyone with a PlayStation Network account…in other words, everyone who wants in, gets in!

If I was in the Private Beta, am I in the Public Beta?
If you were in the Private Beta, you are in the Public Beta for the duration. DO NOT delete the Private Beta file from your PS3 or else you won’t have access. Worse, you will be…unhappy.

Is this a demo?
This is NOT a demo. You can expect to find bugs and the vast majority of the game features planned for the final game will not be implemented. Of course, many of you will not read this sentence and will expect the Beta to be final quality. We ask that the community help itself and remind players that this is a test. It happens to be a pretty fun test, but it is a test regardless. Keep an open mind and we’ll continue to regularly update the Beta with changes based directly on your feedback. Remember when you were a kid and you wanted to help make games? This is your chance!

When does the Public Beta end?
When the game is good and ready! :) Honestly, when we’ve learned all we can and feel we can deliver the best product to you. Basically, sometime after February 21st, BUT it’s our recommendation that you do not delay joining or you might find your window of opportunity passing you by.

What’s different from the Private Beta?
We’re going to reveal more about the content updates soon enough. Patience, Padawan…

Will you test out the solo campaign?
Nope! The Public Beta is solely based around the multiplayer experience. While we have a robust solo story campaign in the final game, we can get our testing done elsewhere for that.

How do you send us feedback?
This is very important…to give us feedback, please visit http://us.playstation.com/psn/ and use your PSN login to enter the Beta forums. If you are in the Beta, you can enter the forums. Remember though…with Beta testing comes Beta responsibility. We are on these forums hourly looking for bug info, so please use this. We need your help and this is the best way to give us info.

P.S. Starhawk is in Las Vegas at CES taking in the sun and showing all the tech lovers what Starhawk is all about. Come and visit us at the Sony booth (#14200)! For all other Starhawk news/info please visit www.StarhawkTheGame.com.