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'Halo Wars 2' release date, news: PC beta coming after ongoing Xbox One beta

Jackie Villegas June 17, 2016 11:38 PM EST

A scene from the upcoming video game \"Halo Wars 2\" | 343 Industries/Halo

On Monday, June 13, Microsoft announced the release date for its upcoming RTS video game "Halo Wars 2" and kicked off a week-long public beta test for the Xbox One.

Now, 343 Industries Studio Head Dan Ayoub has announced that a PC beta test is coming after the ongoing Xbox One beta.

During the PC Gaming Show at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), Ayoub demonstrated how "Halo Wars 2" runs on Windows 10 and talked about the benefits of playing the game with a keyboard and a mouse instead of with a controller.

Meanwhile, the Xbox One beta, which went live right after Microsoft's keynote presentation at E3 2016 on Monday, is currently giving players a taste of the hotly anticipated game's multiplayer mode with up to six players. The beta will run until Monday, June 20.

According to Shacknews, Ayoub said that he feels that the term "beta" has lost some of its original meaning over the years. Now, it is used as much as a marketing tool as it is for actually testing games. As Ayoub told the gaming website, the "Halo Wars 2" Xbox One beta is a "true dev beta" that is being released in phases so that 343 Industries and Creative Assembly can "react to feedback."

"And it's great, people have been reacting, and we actually rolled out an update today based on user feedback," he said.

"Closer to launch, we will have another beta that will be PC that people can hop in on," he shared.

When asked if the PC beta will also be a "true dev beta," Ayoub answered, "This will be closer to launch."

"We will react to it, " he added. "We have really good tuning tools that will allow us to react to feedback quickly."

Ayoub did not provide additional details about the upcoming PC beta.

"Halo Wars 2" follows 2009's "Halo Wars," the first installment in the popular real-time strategy video game franchise.

"Halo Wars 2" will be available on Feb. 21, 2017 for Xbox One and Windows 10 PC.

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