Alpha testing is, by definition, testing on unreleased code. Even though they are offering the testing to some select group of people, it’s still considered un-released.

I go out of my way to explain how alphas are typically done as a games industry professional, and you're still out here spewing the same nonsense? get outta here. This is not a defensible action by a corporation. When a game reaches alpha, the whole of the game is unready but the part used in the public playtests are extensively reviewed by QA and gets as polished as possible. When a game is at alpha stage, it's by definition gone through multiple release candidates.

[–] EatATaco@lemm.ee -2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Are you arguing that alpha testing is not considered in house testing? It's literally the definition.

The alpha phase of the release life cycle is the first phase of software testing (alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, used as the number 1). In this phase, developers generally test the software using white-box techniques. Additional validation is then performed using black-box or gray-box techniques, by another testing team. Moving to black-box testing inside the organization is known as alpha release.[1][2]

Alpha software is not thoroughly tested by the developer before it is released to customers. Alpha software may contain serious errors, and any resulting instability could cause crashes or data loss.[3] Alpha software may not contain all of the features that are planned for the final version.[4] In general, external availability of alpha software is uncommon for proprietary software, while open source software often has publicly available alpha versions. The alpha phase usually ends with a feature freeze, indicating that no more features will be added to the software. At this time, the software is said to be feature-complete. A beta test is carried out following acceptance testing at the supplier's site (the alpha test) and immediately before the general release of the software as a product.[5]Wikipedia link

I'm sure parts of the game are well polished. I'm sure some only release a small part of the game for advertising reasons. They are doing something different here maybe. I don't really know. But this is such a non-issue that the outrage over it is laughable. Not surprising, at all, however, considering I've been a gamer all my life and I know how unreasonable we can be.