"Closed beta is a critical phase in the successful development an online game," said Marc Laukien, President of Mutable Realms. "With the Themis Group's experience on our side, we're confident our testing process will be both effective and successful."
Wish defines a new category of online game, the "Ultra Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game" (UMMORPG). Unlike existing MMORPGs that confine players to a server with only a few hundred other players, Wish's highly-scalable server cluster infrastructure allows the game to support tens of thousands of simultaneous players in a single shared world.
"A game as ambitious and innovative as Wish will demand a rigorous and comprehensive beta test," said Alexander Macris, CEO of Themis Group. "We look forward to meeting the challenges ahead."
Wish will begin a limited closed Beta in November, 2003, expanding to 10,000 users by early next year. The game is planned for release in Q4 2004. More information about Wish can be found at the Mutable Realms website.
"It's always a goal of mine to make certain that we as developers listen to the players," said Dave Rickey, Lead Designer of Wish. "I'm now confident we'll hear everything they'll have to say."