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The Fallout 76 beta won't be available on Steam

Bethesda releases new information on the upcoming Fallout 76 beta: There's good news and bad news.

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In video game land, beta tests usually give players access to a restricted area of an upcoming game. A small taster to test online servers or game balancing.

Not so with Fallout 76.

If Bethesda has its way, the Fallout 76 beta will give players access to the entire game. And here's the kicker: Progress made in the beta will transfer over to the final game.

Bethesda announced this Monday in an update to its online FAQ.

"Our current plan for the B.E.T.A.," explains the FAQ, "is it will be the full game and all your progress is saved for launch. We hope you join us!"

E3 2018: Fallout's Vault 76 has opened! (Walk-through)

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Interestingly, the PC version of the beta will not be available on Steam, and launched exclusively on Bethesda's own platform on Bethesda.net. This is a surprising one. It makes sense for Bethesda to promote its own service, but Steam is such a ubiquitous platform when it comes to PC gaming.

As reported earlier, the Fallout 76 beta will launch on the Xbox One first before additionally being made available on PlayStation 4 and PC at sometime in October.

For everything you need to know about Fallout 76, head here.

Bethesda did not immediately respond to a request for comment.