Rennsport’s Closed Beta will no longer launch in January 2023

It’s been a big month for the upcoming, but still yet-to-be-released simulation known as Rennsport. A title that isn’t even publicly available yet is about to kick off what may be the biggest esports racing competition yet in just a few weeks with some of the biggest names in esports and sim racing involved.

Unfortunately, for the rest of us looking to get hands on the new platform, there was supposed to be a Closed Beta available at some point in January… keyword: WAS.

On Tuesday (31st January), the Rennsport social channels posted a letter from Rennsport CEO Morris Hebecker stating what some might have feared as late into the month as it is. The Closed Beta for Rennsport has been delayed once again, hopefully not for too long though.

“We know you have been waiting patiently for the Closed Beta to start,” Hebecker wrote. “The timing I announced in the last Discord Community Session is not going to be met. We’re sorry, but we won’t make it in time until beginning of February.”

Of course, many would question then how an esports competition is set to kick off in less than two weeks on the platform when the Closed Beta isn’t even ready to go. Hebecker does go on to address part of it in his note to the Rennsport community.

“I can completely understand if you feel treated differently when you see that our esports series ESL R1 is about to start and you wonder how this is possible to kick-off and the Closed Beta release is not,” Hebecker continued. “Let me quickly explain the difference: For a professional esports series, you generally need the same framework as for the Closed Beta, with a few exceptions. One is the server infrastructure.

“An esports race needs a stable running server – the Closed Beta needs a working system that allows users to create their own servers at any time and run them simultaneously with multiple other servers. Also, in the Closed Beta we would have a lot more players on those servers, which will be another challenge. So if you look at it that way, it is easier to have a game ready for a small group of esports teams than it is to have it ready for numerous Closed Beta players.

“We will always put gameplay first. Everything else comes second. This also means that we ask you for a little more patience to get the Online Multiplayer running stable – as this is the minimum we want to offer when releasing the current build to you. The upcoming ESL R1 launch will provide us with valuable insight that we will use to improve the current state of development that we will be sharing with you.”

Traxion.GG spoke to Hebecker about the upbringing of Rennsport, an interview we highlighted in one of our latest videos on the ESL R1 over on the Traxion.GG YouTube. “We are in a developing process,” Hebecker said. “I would never say that that there will not be an issue with our technical elements, we are in a process and that’s always risky. 

“But we feel quite confident. We have been testing the multiplayer since last year, a long time. To be honest, there have been problems, but that’s development. We’re working on it and there are some new technical ideas we will bring in.” 

While it isn’t uncommon for delays to happen in the gaming industry, especially in racing games and simulations, this is now the second time that this Closed Beta has been pushed back. In November, the team announced that the original December 2022 date had been pushed back to January 2023.

It should be noted that this shouldn’t be too big of a delay either – Right in the first paragraph, it says “until beginning of February”. I’d have to expect that it would come shortly after the first and second rounds of the ESL R1 series on the 11th and 12th of February, live at the IEM Expo Katowice in Poland.

At the end of the note, Hebecker says “I can understand that some of you feel betrayed. You can trust us, that’s a tough one for us as well. You can be sure that we will find ways to make up for this repeated bad news.”

What do you think about this latest news from Rennsport? Let us know in the comments below! We’ll keep an eye out for further updates on the title as they become available.