During a livestream from Jump Festa, that is being held at the Makuhari Messe in Chiba, near Tokyo, Dissidia Final Fantasy NT Director Takeo Kujiraoka and Producer Ichiro Hazama announced the open beta.

According to the developers, the beta will be split into three different phases. From December 23rd to December 24th, from December 30th to December 31st, and from January 6th to January 7th.

During all three timeframes, the beta will be open between 6 PM and 11 PM Japan Time, which translates into 9 AM to 2 PM GMT and 1 AM to 6 AM PST. At the moment, the beta has been announced only for Japan, but being open, you're going to be able to access it regardless of your country of residence, by using a Japanese PSN account. It remains to be seen whether the beta client will be made available on the European and North American PSN as well, or not.

The open beta will have the following features available: Class Match, Rush Battle, Customization, Story Mode, and Treasures.

In case a Japanese PSN account will be needed, you can find out how to make one, alongside with a few housekeeping tips, in our dedicated article.

On top of the beta announcement, we also get some gameplay, in the form of a boss battle against Ifrit and a cutscene from the story mode.

You can check out both below. If you want to see more, you can enjoy the latest story trailer released to celebrate Jump Festa, more gameplay footage showcasing the game’s many features, a trailer from a few days ago focusing on the rosterthe opening cutscene by Visual Works, a recent trailer featuring Materia and Spiritus, and a batch of screenshots from the story mode.

Of course, you shouldn’t forget to read our interview with Director Takeo Kujiraoka and Producer Ichiro Hazama.

 Dissidia Final Fantasy NT will release in North America and Europe on January 30th, 2018 exclusively for PS4.