The PlayStation 4 beta for Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn will be an open one, and publisher Square Enix will run it in two phases: one in February and another in April, the company announced today.
Phase one will begin Feb. 22, as previously announced, and will conclude on March 3. The second phase will run from April 4-7. Anybody who owns a PS4 will be able to download the beta from the PlayStation Store for free. While Square Enix will wipe all characters after the end of the first phase, any characters created during the April beta period will carry over to the full game, which launches April 14.
People who already have characters in the PlayStation 3 or Windows PC versions of A Realm Reborn can transfer them to the PS4 for the beta. In the final retail game, everybody — PS4, PS3 and PC characters — will play on the same servers. As Square Enix announced last September, PS3 players will be able to move their characters to PS4, but that transfer is permanent: You can upgrade from PS3 to PS4 for free, but you won't be able to play the PS3 version after doing so. Those who undergo that transfer will be able to get started early on the retail PS4 version from April 11-13.
Square Enix also released a trailer for A Realm Reborn on PS4 today, showing off features like 1080p graphics, PlayStation Vita Remote Play, mouse and keyboard support, functionality with the PS4's Share button and DualShock 4 touchpad support. You can watch it above.
