Update:

After trying to fix the servers for the online beta of Street Fighter V, Capcom has decided to throw in the towel for now. This means that Capcom is indefinitely postponing the SFV beta for the sake of improving the game's servers before it tries again. Capcom still plans on doing three full beta tests and won't be counting this failed try against the fans. The House of Shadaloo promises that they'll release an in-game incentive for players who participated in this broken segment of beta testing, which will be unveiled at a later date.

Here's what Capcom's ComboFiend had to say about this past beta attempt:

To all of the players that participated and supported us through this initial phase, we cannot thank you enough.  We understand how frustrating it is to be so close to playing the game you are excited for, and to not have it working.  The whole team here is very disappointed that we were unable to deliver a proper beta experience this time. Thank you so much for your continued support, and we promise that we will have a better experience for you with the future betas.

Original Story:

Just as when we were finally going to get our hands on playing Street Fighter V's beta, Capcom has made it offline-only due to server issues.

Street Fighter V's anticipated beta was meant to launch on July 23 for PlayStation 4. After Capcom opened the doors for the beta, a multitude of fans started experiencing connectivity issues with the game's servers. As a result, most players weren't able to log in and Capcom decided to temporarily pull the Ethernet cord out of the beta and make it offline-only. The House of Ryu tried to reactivate the servers, only to find that most players were still experiencing the same issues, so they have pulled the plug again.

Here's what a Capcom representative said to Kotaku about the beta:

We apologize for the ongoing issues that users have been experiencing with the SFV beta test. In order to allow us to fix the issues as quickly as possible, we are going to initiate a period of extended maintenance, during which time the beta will be unavailable to all users. We will let you know the date on which the closed beta test will re-open once all problems have been fixed. We sincerely apologize for having to bring this unfortunate news to you. Thank you for your patience. Please stay tuned for further updates.

We hate to say it, but finding issues like these and taking the time to fix them are exactly what betas are intended for. Many players think that beta access simply means you get to play the game early. While this is true to an extent, betas are often used to find and diagnose in-game problems before a title is released (which probably helps with cutting back game tester costs). They are also implemented to stress-test servers if an upcoming game has any online functionality. We just hope that Capcom extends the date of the beta as a result of this hiccup.

Street Fighter V will launch for PC and PS4 in the spring of 2016 with cross-play functionality between both versions. The beta was scheduled to run for five days.

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