The Destiny beta kicks off this week on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 before coming to Xbox 360 and Xbox One next week, but developer Bungie has not yet decided if the progress you make in the pre-release period will carry forward to the main game.

"The beta is a test. It's extremely unknown as to what the outcome will be," Bungie community manager David "Deej" Dague told Eurogamer. "So, it's certainly not a promise or an announcement that we're making at this time. It all depends on what we learn and how things shake out. So, we're certainly not telling players they can carry their progress over, but we haven't made any announcements either way."

The Destiny beta (which follows an earlier alpha for PS4 owners) begins July 17 for PS3 and PS4. The beta comes to Xbox 360 and Xbox One on July 23, before closing for good--for all platforms--on July 27. You can guarantee yourself a spot in the beta by preordering the game. Bungie is still not saying exactly what will be on offer in the beta, but it will reportedly include four story missions, four maps for competitive multiplayer, and a cooperative Strike, among other things.

Also in Eurogamer's interview, Dague pointed out that the Destiny beta is a true beta, meaning that Bungie hopes to gather meaningful feedback to improve the overall game.

"We're launching our most ambitious project ever on September 9, and we certainly don't want that to be the first time anybody gets hands on with this game," he said. "Every time someone plays a build of Destiny we learn something about what we create. We learn how it can be better. We learn how we can better support it behind the scenes."

The Destiny beta will also serve as a network test of sorts. Bungie said last month that it is optimistic that Destiny's full launch in September will go smoothly, saying at the time that the developer has been planning "for a long time" and making significant investments to ensure a good experience at launch.

Destiny is published by Activision Publishing, the company behind billion-dollar franchises like Call of Duty and Skylanders. According to Activision, Destiny could become the company's third billion-dollar series. For more on Destiny, be sure to check out GameSpot's previous coverage.