History Main / PerpetualBeta

* This is pretty much the case with ''any'' operating systems keeping up to the evolution of hardware. Sometimes developers can't simply make new drivers for new hardware (i.e. due to change of paradigm in hardware design), which means the developers must alter the core (the "kernel") of the OS itself. This is [[{{Egregious}} especially noticeable]] with open source operating systems such as [[UsefulNotes/{{UNIX}} Linux and the BSDs]], that requires you to update what is basically the soul of the system (not as painful nor as dangerous as it sounds).

* ThisVeryWiki ([[TheOtherWiki and others]]) for that matter. Pages are never really 'finished' and there are always new features and changes being made. The scope and the implications of perpetual WIP is discussed in [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_is_a_work_in_progress this article]]. This is mindboggling: for as long as new humans are born, there will always be something to add to the body of collective knowledge, assuming Administrivia/ThereIsNoSuchThingAsNotability.

* ArcenGames actually build their business model about this, but their site makes sure buyers know what they're in for. Games at release was feature-complete, fully playable and almost bugless. However, the company knows they could do a lot more and continues development for as long as community interest persists, constantly adding beta updates and periodically pulling back to clean out bugs and release a stable update. This has actually worked very well for them, AIWarFleetCommand has been operating like this for years (all the way to and past official ''6.0'' release, with patch notes approaching novel length in total), with occasional larger chunks of new content released as paid expansion packs to keep the company going.

* ''PAYDAY 2'' seems to be stuck in a state between beta and fleshed out final release. While the game had an actual beta for a short period of time, nearly every major update caused some GameBreakingBug to occur and the game's mechanics change almost frequently to the point where players don't bother getting too comfortable with their play style, knowing that the developers will change the rules again.
* [[NexusWar Nexus Clash]] has technically been in beta for years, although at this point it's a deliberate strategic move on the part of the development team to deploy drastic bug and balance fixes as needed and keep the series from ever becoming PerpetuallyStatic. The series explains the occasional rebooting of the game world with a plot driven by the occasional [[EternalRecurrence rebooting of the universe]].
* ''StarWarsGalaxies'' was plagued by this. A victim of being ChristmasRushed long before it was ready to go live, the game spent most of its first few years trying to play catch-up with issues that should have been fixed before launch while simultaneously patching in new content (and new bugs that needed fixing). Just when the game was starting to reach a stable state the developers tore the entire game apart and redesigned it almost from the ground up. ''Then they did it again six months later!'' The players were not amused.

** Windows XP wasn't widely adopted until after SP 1, and the diehard Windows 2000 faithful didn't come over until SP 2.

* After 7 years, ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'' is still in ''alpha'', and the [[GoodBadBugs bugs are considered all part of the game]], which includes [[{{Hyperspace Arsenal}} Quantum Stockpiling]] and [[ChunkySalsaRule the Dwarven Atom-Smasher]], and other bugs can be used to engineer unique traps, such as the combination of magma and the (now fixed) low boiling point of water to create a Dwarven Microwave. The typical DF release cycle is a major update with lots of new features and usually an equal number of bugs, followed by a flurry of bugfixes and minor additions and a long and more or less stable period while its creator works on the next bunch of new stuff.
** Unlike most of the examples on this page, there's a clearly-defined list of development goals on the game's website. It's just that WordOfGod estimates that achieving all of them, in addition to anything the userbase think up that Toady One deems sufficiently cool ([[TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything in the highly unlikely event he hadn't already thought of it]]), is probably going to take ''anything up to twenty years''.
* ThisVeryWiki ([[TheOtherWiki and others]]) for that matter. Pages are never really 'finished' and there are always new features and changes being made.
** The scope and the implications of perpetual WIP is discussed in [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_is_a_work_in_progress this article]]. This is mindboggling: for as long as new humans are born, there will always be something to add to the body of collective knowledge, assuming Administrivia/ThereIsNoSuchThingAsNotability.

* Website/{{Google}}'s mail service, [=GMail=], was in "beta" for so many years that, when it finally got to an official version, an experimental tool was eventually introduced for the sole purpose of restoring the "Beta" to the logo.

* ''{{VideoGame/Warframe}}'' entered open beta early 2013... And hasn't officially released yet, despite at least tripling in amount of content, and having had various large story events which are LostForever to new players. It continues to have large updates every few months, and there do not seem to be any plans to either stop developing new content, stop revamping existing systems or to actually officially release. It's gone so far that Wikipedia simply lists the open beta release day as it's actual release day.

* {{VideoGame/Warframe}} entered open beta early 2013... And hasn't officially released yet, despite at least tripling in amount of content, and having had various large story events which are LostForever to new players. It continues to have large updates every few months, and there do not seem to be any plans to either stop developing new content, stop revamping existing systems or to actually officially release. It's gone so far that Wikipedia simply lists the open beta release day as it's actual release day.

* ''VideoGame/PlaystationHome'' was been in open beta for just about its entire lifetime. Webcomic/PennyArcade once spent a podcast talking about how the program will never, ever leave beta so that it will be impossible to criticize; "I mean, come on guys, it's just a beta."

* ''VideoGame/PlaystationHome'' was been in open beta for just about it's entire lifetime. Webcomic/PennyArcade once spent a podcast talking about how the program will never, ever leave beta so that it will be impossible to criticize; "I mean, come on guys, it's just a beta."

** Notch he has stated that he wants to include a variety of base features, then release a finished game and essentially turn it over to the modding community. With Mojang announcing their next game, ''VideoGame/{{Scrolls}}'', and ''Minecraft'' quickly reaching beta 2.0 status, some fans have speculated that this will happen sooner rather than later.

** Windows XP wasn't widely adopted until after SP 1,and the diehard Windows 2000 faithful didn't come over until SP 2.

* Microsoft is often accused of this with varying levels of truth. With its monopoly weakened by users outright refusing to adopt Windows Vista when XP still works just fine (repeated with Windows 7 users refusing to upgrade to 8 and 10), and the increasing popularity and variety of alternatives, the company might be starting to clean up its act. They have been through more than one DorkAge before, though. (see: Windows ME)

* Pretty much every {{Facebook}} game has a big, shiny "Beta" on their logo.

** ''EveOnline'' features an interesting variation on this. Aside from taking game-changing patches and enormous content additions UpToEleven the developer runs a test server available to all subscribers and actively encourages players to help them beta-test the next patch, making the test server a literal PerpetualBeta. This comes partly due to their development strategy, which treats the game as a constantly-evolving entity rather than a 'box' that will eventually be replaced by another box.

* [[NexusWar Nexus Clash]] has technically been in beta for years, although at this point it's mostly an excuse to correct bugs and balance issues as needed. The series explains the occasional rebooting of the game world with a plot driven by the occasional [[EternalRecurrence rebooting of the universe]].

* Microsoft is often accused of this with varying levels of truth. With its monopoly weakened by users outright refusing to adopt Windows Vista when XP still works just fine (repeated with Windows 7 users refusing to upgrade to 8), and the increasing popularity and variety of alternatives, the company might be starting to clean up its act. They have been through more than one DorkAge before, though. (see: Windows ME)

* Pretty much all of Tony Stark's ''IronMan'' suits seem to be constantly modified, repaired, rebuilt and replaced, which is handy for writers who [[DependingOnTheWriter have trouble keeping his powers straight]].
** Also true in [[MarvelCinematicUniverse the movies]]. He went through three versions in ''Film/IronMan'', three more in ''2'', by the end of ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' he was on number seven and in ''Film/IronMan3'', he was up to number forty-two!

* Website/ArchiveOfOurOwn, a {{Fanfic}} site which launched in 2008, is still in beta as of 2013. Creating an account requires an invitation by an existing member or adding your email address to the invite queue (which could range anywhere from a couple of hours to a few weeks depending on how busy the site is).

** This was a case of ScrewedByTheLawyers - Bethesda basically forced them to make the game in 14 months with virtually zero time to get any beta testing in. Then when [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]] was about to debut, Bethesda again demanded they cease all official patches as to not [[OvershadowedByAwesome overshadow Skyrim.]] Lead Content Designer JE Sawyer went the extra mile and has over the few years kept an additional Unofficial Patch mod with features intended for New Vegas (again, screwed by the time limit) added in and increased difficulty. Combined with the most up to date patch and the latest JSawyer mod, New Vegas has nearly '''''four years''''' of patches from Obsidian.

-->-- Anonymous

-> "It's not a proper patch unless it breaks something."

** Also true in [[MarvelCinematicUniverse the movies]]. He went through three versions in ''Film/IronMan'', three more in ''2'', by the end of ''Film/TheAvengers'' he was on number seven and in ''Film/IronMan3'', he was up to number forty-two!

* ''Website/PlaystationHome'' was been in open beta for just about it's entire lifetime. Webcomic/PennyArcade once spent a podcast talking about how the program will never, ever leave beta so that it will be impossible to criticize; "I mean, come on guys, it's just a beta."

* This is a recurring issue with Creator/{{Stern}}'s {{pinball}} machines. ''Pinball/BatmanStern'', for instance, had few modes, instead opting for simply giving the player points. This included the WizardMode, which was intended to be the climactic duel against the Joker but instead gave the player 100 million points, then reset everything back to the beginning. ''Pinball/{{Metallica}}'', ''Pinball/{{Mustang}}'', and ''Pinball/TheWalkingDead'' were all released with lights indicating modes and statuses that never activated during gameplay. ''Pinball/StarTrekStern'', once the player completes Kobayashi Maru Multiball, became UnwinnableByDesign as the programming never got further than that. In all of these cases, Stern DID release patches that made the games feel more complete. On the other hand, ''Pinball/{{ACDC}}'''s normal edition never made use of any of the lights on Angus Young's face despite the face being huge and in the middle of the playfield.

** And {{M|ultiUserDungeon}}UDs before them; since they're free to play, they could openly admit they're a perpetual work in progress. In reality, the vast majority of MUD projects die out without ever reaching anything like an even baseline feature-ful, balanced and fun-to-play status; only the real dinosaurs or clones thereof tend to reach the modern polished MMO level of "all systems go, now let's start dreaming up new content." By contrast, MUSHes, their roleplay-intensive counterparts, tend to have established mechanics from the outset that resist change, partly because many directly yank their rule systems from tabletop {{Role Playing Game}}s.

* ''Website/PlaystationHome'' has been in open beta for ''over two years''. PennyArcade once spent a podcast talking about how the program will never, ever leave beta so that it will be impossible to criticize; "I mean, come on guys, it's just a beta."

** Windows Vista Service Pack 2 is pretty much rock solid. All of those nagging bugs are gone and it just ''never crashes''. The only problem is that it was released on the verge of Windows 7, which is essentially Vista with said service pack and a new taskbar. In fact the whole reason for Windows 7 was to get rid of the Vista name and start with a clean review slate after they fixed all the errors.