Xbox One prepares closed beta for its first MMO: Neverwinter

Perfect World Entertainment and Cryptic Studios announced that they will hold a closed beta test for the upcoming Neverwinter fantasy role-playing game on the Xbox One.

The beta runs from Feb. 5 to Feb. 8, and it means that the Chinese publisher Perfect World is getting closer to publishing the massively multiplayer online RPG. Neverwinter includes previously launched PC content and a living social world for players who are fans of the Dungeons & Dragons universe.

Neverwinter is currently available on the PC, and it will be available as a free-to-play title for Xbox Live Gold subscribers in early 2015. Cryptic Studios, a Los Gatos, Calif.-based division of Perfect World, developed the game.

Neverwinter on Xbox One makes use of console features like the friends list integration and optimized controls for the console. Perfect World plans to launch it in China, where localized games for Chinese players will be key to establishing the Xbox One in one of the world’s largest game markets. Microsoft launched the Xbox One in China last fall. It hasn’t talked about results yet, but creating games like Neverwinter will be key for that market.

Neverwinter launched on the PC in June 2013. In China, the PC online game market in 2014 generated $14.6 billion in revenues, according to Niko Partners. Most of that was from MMOs, Niko Partners said.