[Aestis]

It is mind numbing to me that some people believe a closed beta program could be about hype/marketing. The vast majority of casual customers have zero clue a beta is going on or care. The beta is something fairly hardcore players will want to engage in and actually provide quality feedback.

No marketing team would invest dollars in a beta. That is funded by the production/development/QA side. Some people will twist anything EA ever does to make them seem awful. I don't like being an EA shill because there's plenty of legitimate criticism to go around. But come on. Closed betas are common. Open betas are not. Closed betas serve a purpose and hype isn't it.