Camelot Unchained has postponed its planned 4th of July beta launch in what Mark Jacobs is characterizing as a “short” delay.

“It’s not going to be a year delay or a three-month delay,” he told viewers on stream, reassuring them that he’s expecting it to be a matter of merely days or weeks. [Update: After the stream, Jacobs told Massively OP that he expects a clearer picture of how long the delay will be by Thursday.]

Over the weekend, studio reps said it was down to a list of 40 bugs it’s still crunching on; the company is asking existing backers to come help test this week. “The client crash rate is TOO DAMN HIGH!” is the mantra on today’s stream.

Longtime MMORPG fans will know that this delay follows several years of pre-beta testing. Last winter, City State Entertainment announced it had received a big cash investment and put the July 4th date on Camelot Unchained’s beta one. At the time, the beta was already three years late, as the studio struggled to find programmers, completely refactored large chunks of its ability system, and ultimately opened up a second studio in Seattle in order to make its RvR MMO vision a reality.

“The good news is, no matter what happens, whether we make beta one on Wednesday or we miss beta one on Wednesday, the version you get is going to be so much better than many other games have launched with in terms of stability, in terms of bugs,” Jacobs said Friday, stressing the importance of presenting a clean beta rather than “one that sucks.”

“We have no intention of launching beta one with the number of bugs that we had, […] and if we end of delaying, that will continue to be the focus. We have zero plans to add any scope.”

The stream is ongoing as of press time. [Update: Over now!]

With thanks to Hawkd!