THQ announced that a multiplayer beta for its upcoming real time strategy game, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II – Retribution, is scheduled to launch in late January.
Featuring all six multiplayer races including the new Imperial Guard faction, this beta is expected to run from the end of January through the end of February to test the new Steamworks networking and matchmaking features and to help balance the multiplayer mode. All new units for each race will be available in the beta along with the new multiplayer maps which ship with Retribution.
The beta is scheduled to go live on Monday, January 31st when global press and key Dawn of War® community members will be given access. It will then broaden to include everyone who has pre-ordered Dawn of War II – Retribution on STEAM to date on February 1st. Finally, anyone who has bought aDawn of War game through STEAM or has registered a Dawn of War II product on their STEAM account will automatically receive an invite on February 8th. There will be no open registration phase to this beta.
The Dawn of War II – Retribution multiplayer beta is currently planned to run until midnight on February 24th, at which point the developers will take all feedback into account to create a day-zero balancing patch.