Following the announcement that the Fallout 76 public beta will feature random selection for early access, Pete Hines has clarified things on Twitter. The slightly confusing statement suggests that beta access is random over time; it seemed to say that earlier access would be granted via random selection. Hines’ clarifications offer more insight into how the system will actually work.

How the Fallout 76 Public Beta Will Work

Anyone who pre-orders Fallout 76 gets access to the public beta. However, earlier this week, Bethesda stated that there would be an element of random selection; “Starting in October, we’ll be selecting people who have pre-ordered the game from a participating retailer to enter our B.E.T.A. We’ll start small and grow over time as we prepare for launch.” This statement appeared to suggest that it would be essentially random when players would gain access to the B.E.T.A. prompting confusion from fans.

Or just sometime before the full BETA. It could take place 5 days or three weeks before and still be in same month. Whatever the team feels it needs in terms of feedback and testing to get rdy for BETA. — Pete Hines (@DCDeacon) July 23, 2018

Pete Hines explained things further on Twitter, suggesting that there would almost be two separate betas. Asked whether testing could begin before October, Hines replied that it could start anytime before; “the full BETA. It could take place 5 days or three weeks before and still be in the same month.” When asked how the randomization would work exactly, he also clarified that access to the earlier testing phase would be randomized. However, access to the full beta appears not to be.

It’d just be randomized from folks in the BETA. You don’t have to do anything. It’s how we’ve done it before. — Pete Hines (@DCDeacon) July 25, 2018

In essence, there will be two stages to the Fallout 76 public beta; a smaller testing phase, and the full beta. Access to the testing phase will be based on random selection. The length of that stage could vary. At some point in October, the full beta will begin and everybody who pre-ordered the game will gain access. Presumably, only a small subset of Fallout 76 players will get access to the earlier testing phase.