Star Wars Battlefront is just about ready to kick off what’s going to be a watershed holiday season for Star Wars fans and the entertainment world in general. In recent weeks, EA Star Wars has teased several details about the game’s upcoming Beta, which will be open to everyone and function as a sort of teaser for the galactic bonanza in store for all of us. Though it’ll be just a taste of what’s to come, the Beta will allow players to live many of their Star Wars fantasies, including the 20-versus-20 player Walker Assault on Hoth, the 8-versus-8 Drop Zone on Sullust, and the cooperative Survival on Tatooine.

EA Star Wars has managed Battlefront’s hype train just about perfectly, releasing enough details about the game and its Beta each week to generate interest without revealing too much. The last morsel they gave us was a big one: the Beta’s release date, as well as other items of interest that relate to the Beta and the final game itself.

Star Wars EA has announced that the game’s Beta period will take place from October 8th through October 12th, next month. The company also announced that during the Beta period, players will be able to enjoy the Battlefront Companion experience, which includes a strategic card battler called Base Command. This, in turn, will allow players to gain in-game credits to be spent on weapons and more, and be a way for players to customize loadouts, connect with friends, and check on stats. Worth noting is that all experience and in-game credits players accrued during the Beta period will not carry over to the final or the final companion experience.

Unlike other games’ betas, in which the player base is used to iron out all sorts of gameplay concerns and which are often months long, the Battlefront Beta will be short and sweet and seemingly focused on smoothing out the game’s online infrastructure. Of course, it’ll also function as a teaser for the complete game, and will likely drive gamers nuts once they’re forced to part ways with it. The five-day window appears to be the perfect length to hook gamers and have them begging for the release of the complete Star Wars Battlefront game.

Our guess is that the Force will be strong with this one, and that most players who participate in the Beta will graduate to the complete game when it arrives, mid-November. Armed with everything from splitscreen co-op to epic online 20-versus-20 battles, and with the opportunity for gamers to play as iconic Star Wars heroes and villains in the midst of it all, Battlefront has what it takes (at least on paper) to be a dream come true for Star Wars fans. The Beta could be just the taste we need to tide us over for the real thing - meaning, those five days of October can’t come fast enough.

Of course, as always there are lingering fears that the game won’t deliver on all counts. Battlefront won’t have a server browsers, and many gamers are worried that there won't be enough environments in the complete game, and that myriad DLCs lie in our future. These questions will remain, for the time being.

Star Wars Battlefront will be available on November 17th, 2015 for the Xbox One, Playstation 4, and PC via Origin. The Beta will be playable from October 8th through October 12th.

Source: Star Wars EA