Guilty Gear Strive open beta dates revealed for PS4 and PS5

The Guilty Gear Strive open beta will hit PS4 and PS5 in two weeks, and everybody's welcome to play - even if you don't have PS Plus.

If you've already pre-ordered, you get a one-day head start: developer Arc System Works plans to open up the Guilty Gear Strive open beta a day early on February 17th at 7 pm PST / 10 pm / February 18 at 3 am GMT, and you can start downloading the beta client nine hours before then. Everyone else can download and play starting 24 hours after the pre-order players, and the test is scheduled to end on February 21 at 6:59 am PST / 9:59 am EST / 2:59 pm GMT.

Arc System Works already gave players an early turn at the game last year in a closed beta test. Among the many changes and additions for the Guilty Gear Strive open beta, the long-awaited arrival of rollback netcode stands tallest. Rollback does some very technical internet magic to make fighting games work better online, but the short version is that it lets you pull off combos without fear of shoddy connections breaking your flow. Fighting game fans almost universally love it.

Speaking of which, Arc System Works really wants to give its rollback code a workout, so matchmaking won't account for connection strength in the beta. You may end up in some janky matches, but hopefully that will mean fewer janky matches when the full release date arrives on April 9.

OPM went in-depth on how Arc System Works is pushing for the next evolution of its beloved fighting franchise with Guilty Gear Strive.