Beta Tests and Demos

5:02 There is no Ananta beta to sign up for: as of Oct 10, 2026, NetEase Games has announced no global, Western, open or closed beta, and no playtest or downloadable demo for PC, PlayStation 5, iOS or Android, so most players will first play Ananta at its worldwide launch on Jan 15, 2027. PC Gamer's guide said on Aug 28, 2026 that "there has never been an open beta for Ananta" and that none looked likely before the January launch. The creator Steparu, back from playing the gamescom 2026 build, put the same question to the team and his viewers: will the game have "a beta test or a closed technical test" at all, or launch like a console or PC game with only internal tests? The only tests so far were closed and in person in China, and the only public play came at Tokyo Game Show 2025 and gamescom 2026. Pre-registration, which is open, is a sign-up for launch news and rewards, not for a test (see Pre-registration and Rewards).

Quick facts

Is there an Ananta beta?

No beta has been announced anywhere outside China. None of NetEase's announcements mentions one, the Steam page lists no demo or playtest, and the PlayStation Store page offers only a wishlist button. PC Gamer notes that NetEase's live-service games tend to get closed private tests rather than open betas. Two statements point to more testing: NetEase told investors in February 2025 that more players in China would be invited to test when the time was right, and the lead producer told Korea's Inven in September 2025 that a test was planned soon and that Korean players would be able to join. Neither has led to an announced test outside China as of Oct 10, 2026.

Closed tests in China

The first test was an in-person closed technical test in China in January 2025. China's 17173 reported recruitment for it on Dec 5, 2024, the day of the Announce Trailer, saying NetEase had previewed it on its third-quarter 2024 earnings call. On the earnings call of Feb 20, 2025 a NetEase executive said this first offline closed test was finished with positive player feedback, development was on track, the team was still growing, and more players would be invited later.

A second test is reported but not confirmed. In July 2026, 17173 wrote that NetEase had held only "two rounds" of offline closed tests under non-disclosure agreements in about a year, and in May 2026 it reported that NetEase's February results said data from a January closed test had met internal expectations. NetEase has not announced the date, place or size of a second test, so it is dated only by 17173; the exact test dates that circulate on fan sites have no official source.

Tokyo Game Show 2025: the first public demo

3:23 The first time the public could play Ananta was Tokyo Game Show 2025, at NetEase's booth in Hall 6 of Makuhari Messe from Sep 25 to 28, 2025. The demo ran on PC and was split into two modes. MrPokke, who played it, explains: one was a single-player story quest, the other an open exploration in which you could do whatever you wanted as any of three characters, "the MC, the bunny girl as well as the police": the Captain, Taffy and Richie, as he goes on to name the two women. The story mode was a car chase like the one in NetEase's ten-minute Gameplay Video (see Trailers). Famitsu called it the world's first playable showing, and the demo city measured about 2 km by 3 km.

0:00 Exploration Mode was where the character switching showed. Steparu's recording of Sep 25, 2025 opens with the words "Exploration mode time", then the prompt to switch characters; moments later he is playing Richie, who stops a passerby on the street with "Excuse me. Show me" and frisks him. Later in the session he learns there is no fast travel: switching characters lets time pass, and the character you switch to is already somewhere else in the city doing their own thing.

0:30 A session lasted long enough to try both modes. Braxophone, who played for about 40 minutes, did the story first and the open world second, and was surprised: "Right off the bat, this game does not feel like a mobile game." His hands-on of Sep 27, 2025 goes on to describe parries, counters, telekinesis and a car chase with quick-time events. The show's crowds and the Japan Game Awards prize that visitors helped vote for are on Reception.

gamescom 2026: Nova City and Chongxiao

The second public demo was at gamescom in Cologne in August 2026, in the business area rather than the public halls. Inven Global played for about 15 minutes; Gamer Guides describes two story missions, one in Nova City and one in Chongxiao with Wei Yinglong playable, plus a short sandbox.

2:26 GameSpot's hands-on of Sep 4, 2026 describes the Nova City half: Nova City was the city shown at Tokyo Game Show 2025, and players could switch between the Captain, Richie and Taffy, with Richie stopping and searching anyone suspicious and calling a police car, and Taffy taking delivery jobs on her phone and racing off on her motorcycle. GameSpot also notes that the story mission and the open world were separate modes in the demo's menu, which "Rain, the game's international marketing lead" said will not be the case in the released game.

4:22 The Chongxiao mission was a change of scene. IGN's Simon, in the "We Played It" of Aug 29, 2026, describes traditional Chinese architecture and "a 15-minute escape sequence from some sort of temple": simple stealth (wait for the guard with the flashlight to move on), an underground temple, a fight, a stretch floating down a river and, last, roasting tea with the right stick. GameSpot names the heroine as Yinglong, "the 21st director of Lingyun", hiding with her younger sister from the men hunting them.

0:37 Footage of the new build was not allowed. Steparu, who spent much of the show at the booth, explains that he could only record himself playing; he explored part of the new area, found NPCs that now fight back, played a new character he felt he could not name ("she was a very interesting one"), and visited the small Chinese village from the trailers, with mini-games such as tea making.

Tokyo Game Show 2023 was not a demo

Project Mugen appeared at Tokyo Game Show 2023 only as a trailer at NetEase's booth, the developer video described on Project Mugen. A 17173 article of July 2026 says there were playable demos with long lines that year, but Siliconera's report from the 2023 show describes only the trailer, and Famitsu calls Tokyo Game Show 2025 the world's first playable showing. No appearance at Tokyo Game Show 2026 has been reported as of Oct 10, 2026.

Frequently asked questions

Is there an Ananta beta? No. As of Oct 10, 2026 Ananta has had no global or Western beta; its only tests were closed, in-person tests in China, and the game launches worldwide on Jan 15, 2027.

How do I sign up for the Ananta beta? You cannot: NetEase runs no beta sign-up for Ananta as of Oct 10, 2026. Pre-registering on anantagame.com, the App Store or Google Play, or wishlisting it on Steam or the PlayStation Store, signs you up for launch news and rewards, not a test.

When is the Ananta closed beta test (CBT)? NetEase has not announced one outside China. Ananta's known closed tests were in person in China, the first in January 2025, and the dates of a second one are reported only by 17173.

Is there an Ananta demo? No downloadable demo exists as of Oct 10, 2026. Ananta was playable only at Tokyo Game Show 2025 in Japan and at gamescom 2026 in Germany.

What was in the Ananta Tokyo Game Show demo? The Tokyo Game Show 2025 demo of Ananta ran on PC with a story mode (a car chase) and an exploration mode in which players switched between the Captain, Taffy and Richie, in a city about 2 km by 3 km.

What was in the Ananta gamescom demo? The gamescom 2026 demo of Ananta had two story missions, one in Nova City and one in Chongxiao with Wei Yinglong playable, plus a short sandbox, played for about 15 minutes in the business area.

Can I play Ananta early? Not outside trade shows. Ananta launches worldwide on Jan 15, 2027, and NetEase has announced no early access, beta or pre-launch test for players.

Sources

• ANANTA, NetEase, official site (read Oct 10, 2026)
• ANANTA on Steam, Valve (read Oct 10, 2026)
• ANANTA, PlayStation Store (read Oct 10, 2026)
• 《无限大》 offline test recruitment, 17173, Dec 5, 2024
• NetEase Q4 2024 earnings call, Yangtse Evening Post, Feb 21, 2025
• NetEase Games will feature Ananta and Sword of Justice at Tokyo Game Show 2025, RPG Site, Sep 10, 2025
• Ananta at TGS 2025, demo available, Pocket Gamer, Sep 16, 2025
• Ananta lead producer interview, Inven, Sep 26, 2025
• 無限大ANANTA producer interview, Denfaminicogamer, Sep 26, 2025
• 無限大ANANTA producer interview, Famitsu, Sep 30, 2025
• Ananta absent from NetEase's 520 showcase, 17173, May 20, 2026
• Ananta's year of silence, 17173, Jul 17, 2026
• Ananta release date, characters and gameplay, PC Gamer, Aug 28, 2026
• Chongxiao, a city alive with nature: Ananta's second world, Inven Global, Aug 30, 2026
• Ananta looks to cover all walks of life, Gamer Guides, Sep 11, 2026
• TGS 2023 Project Mugen trailer showcases gameplay, Siliconera, Sep 21, 2023
• Ananta Demo Gameplay, Steparu, Sep 25, 2025 (video)
• I played Ananta EARLY and it Blew My Mind, Braxophone, Sep 27, 2025 (video)
• My First Impressions of Ananta | Ananta Exclusive Demo Gameplay, MrPokke, Sep 28, 2025 (video)
• Ananta Is Weird, but Is It Good? - We Played It | gamescom 2026, IGN, Aug 29, 2026 (video)
• I Played ANANTA EARLY! (Gamescom Demo Da Wei Played), Steparu, Sep 3, 2026 (video)
• Ananta Hands-On Preview Impressions, GameSpot, Sep 4, 2026 (video)