Following the success of the closed beta, the New World Open Beta begins this week. For players looking to jump in as soon as possible, we have all the details on whether you can preload it.
How to Access the New World Open Beta
Getting access to the New World Open Beta should be pretty easy. From 3pm BST/10am ET on September 8, you can request access to it via the New World Steam page.
Just head to the page at the right time, select the Open Beta option, and you should be able to download it. We'll confirm the steps once the option is live.
Start Date & Time
The New World Open Beta period will then begin at 10am ET/3pm BST on September 9.
That's when the servers will go live, so you can jump in from that point. The capacity should be larger than it was for the closed beta, so you shouldn't have too many problems getting in.
If you do, though, just be patient and wait for a spot to open up, especially if you're jumping the moment the open beta begins.
Can You Preload the New World Open Beta?
At the time of writing, you cannot preload the New World Open Beta. Since it's a file that's different to the one you might have used or the closed beta, you cannot download it early.
However, it's not clear yet whether you will be able to preload the beta once your register for it the day before servers go live.
Presumably you will be able to, since you'll be getting access to the game, but we'll confirm here as soon as that time rolls around.
The closed beta was about 35GB in size, and we'd expect the open beta to be about the same.