It appears that the beta for "Battlefield 2042" could begin within a week.

As spotted on Reddit, Italian retailer Mediaworld claimed that the early access beta would begin on Monday, September 6, but the listing has been removed; thanks to the Way Back Machine, it can still be seen here.

If you don't understand Italian, Google Translate gives you this: "If you purchase this product on presale before 09/03/2021, you will have access to the early beta of the video game from 09/06/09 to 09/11/09."

Inconvenient, to be sure, and somewhat confusing since Europe uses the DD/MM/YY system for dates, but it is hard to argue with its meaning.

It is a bit odd that this listing was removed, given that the pre-order deadline is so close; one would think that EA would be hyping up this pre-order bonus, but apparently not.

The company previously clarified that you can pre-order any version of the game and still get access to the beta, but would neither confirm nor deny the exact date in question. According to Videogame Chronicles, the company simply reaffirmed in response to questions that "the open beta release window is September."

Beta access comes with all pre-orders, but there are specific perks that EA reserves for more expensive packages: paying $90 to $120 for the PC and console versions of "Gold" and "Ultimate" will get you access to the game one week before it goes on general sale on September 22, October Early access to the game will be available beginning on October 15.

Since "Battlefield 2042" is multiplayer-only and the only single-player option is against bots, this seven-day extension could be a very important exercise, only if you play on PC, Xbox Series X/S, or PS5, but unfortunately the last generation players will have to make do with "only" 64 players.