Beta?

Recently when talking about an upcoming project, I was asked whether we were going to put “Beta” on it.

I’m not even sure what that means now.  What does it mean to say your game or app is “in beta” these days?

It used to be that “beta” meant “not quite ready for a full launch” or “we’re still working out the bugs” or even “we’re not taking your money for this yet” or “this may change a lot.”  Somewhere along the line though, the meaning morphed into something much more ambiguous.   Major companies (Google, et al) now have products that are in beta for so long people forget about it and it becomes essentially meaningless.

So, is there any purpose in slapping a “Beta!” tag onto your product?  Has this just become meaningless (if somewhat self-defensive) marketing hype, or is there some kernel of meaning left to it?

When do you put something into — and more significantly, take it out of — beta?

Explore posts in the same categories: practice, social games