Xbox One/PC Cross-Platform Game Gigantic Gets New Beta Update This Week

Gigantic, the upcoming Xbox One and PC game from new developer Motiga, is getting a major update to its ongoing beta this coming Wednesday, January 20. DualShockers reports that Beta 2.0--which was announced at the end of 2015--will come with a range of new features, the first of which is the ability to access to the beta 24/7. Previously, beta testers could only play during certain times.

The Gigantic 2.0 beta also apparently unlocks cross-platform play between Xbox One and PC (a true rarity) and opens up European servers. Addition, a new hero is included (a fact mentioned in a teasing Facebook post), while Motiga has also pledged to update the beta more regularly going forward.

A previous version of Gigantic's beta client is being replaced by a new one for this new update. Motiga will dispatch new redemption keys and installation instructions this week. People already in the beta can learn more about the upcoming Gigantic changes in the forums here.

The free-to-play Gigantic was supposed to launch in 2015, but was delayed to 2016 in part because of feedback that Motiga received from the game's closed testing periods. As part of this delay, Motiga cut 16 jobs at the Bellevue, Washington-based studio.

"Undeterred, the team fights on and the work continues," Motiga later said. "As always, there are challenges. Some challenges require us to adapt. Some we master with ease. Some take blood, sweat, and tears."

Motiga explained that some or all of the 16 job cuts came from a publishing team, while the game development division remains "fully staffed and moving forward at full speed."

Gigantic pits two teams of five players against each other in a single map. Each team has a guardian, an enormous creature that can move around the map and possesses its own skillset. The goal of each team is to destroy the enemy team's guardian. Killing enemy heroes powers up the guardian and eventually prompts it to go on a rampage, wounding the enemy guardian and providing an opening for the team to deal some extra damage to it.

For more on Gigantic, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.