awayputurwpn said:

Well, if they've already done all the playtesting why do they need to release a "beta"? Let alone go through the process of printing an admittedly unfinished book and then charging for it? They don't do that with software. And the entire description of why they're doing this is the exact definition of playtest.

The fact that they ARE going to have to completely reprint, possibly reformat and pay for man hours makes this entire Beta thing even more inexplicable from a business route.

It's so people who don't want to wait several months until the official release can play it now if they chose to. They are labeling it as a "beta" because rules may change between now and then, and so people know exactly what they're getting.

Pathfinder started this a fair few years ago - running this sort of 'beta' release isn't an entirely new concept.

Plus, given that it's unlikely that there'll be changes that'll completely invalidate the book, you then have a handy copy of the book, sans fluff, for your players to use to check things, whilst you use the main rulebook.

Tensen01 said:

Actually they do this all the time with software.

Few companies, and I mean 2-3 tops, can hold a video game past it's distribution date. Day 1 patches that fix major, game killing bugs are common place, you just don't notice them with auto updates or slightly longer load times. Then you have the bugs that don't get found until after launch, that the companies and their playtesters missed or knew about and shipped anyway. These can be catastrophic bugs that happen only when ten to twenty thousand users or more start hammering at the product in ways that the testers wouldn't think of. 

Playtests are usually closed, small groups whose purpose is to hammer out game play and major issues. Small subtle things can easily go unnoticed and lead to problems when more eyes are brought on a product. Beta test are usually more open and allow for more eyes on a final product. Beta tests are about beating up the material in a way playtests can't.

Tensen01 said:

there are examples where you have closed betas that you get access to through purchasing another product. i believe the halo reach multiplayer beta required you to purchase ODST.

a paid beta saves having Non Disclosure Agreements, only the most interested and die hards will get involved -  they will have a really critical eye and are more likely to submit feedback. as an international (new zealand) and having limited time to commit to gaming i'm not going to be involved in the beta, but i'm sure glad that there are people going through the game so that when the final product is released there will be less jank.

Tensen01 said:

To quote Rodney Thompson, "No game survives contact with its player base."

Quite simply, by letting the prospective audience get an early go at the game, they get the benefit of having a whole mess of extra sets of eyes going through the rules and seeing where the system breaks.  it also curtails a lot of possibly negative rumor and gossip based around half-informed speculation by having a playable version of the final product out there for anyone's that interested in checking it out.  Even in the initial few days when information was light on the floor after FFG announced Edge of Empire at GenCon, there was some definite negativity, to the complaints about "needing special dice" to worries about a complete lack of Force-using PCs.  Now imagine if there had been several months instead of just a few days between the announcement of the product and anyone outside of FFG and the writers seeing the actual material.  We saw it with D&D and 4th edition, in which there was a huge negative backlash before anyone saw the first few official bits of the rules, and that's not counting the "they changed it, it sucks" comments.

Also, while it may not be the "finished" version, as GM Chris noted on the most recent episode of the Order 66 podcast (featuring long-time SW RPG writer Sterling Hershey as well as Lead Designer Jay Little), for 30 bucks you get a complete game; while the scope might be limited, you could run a slew of campaigns for years with just this one book.  So it's not like you're paying $30+S/H for something like the D&DNext playtest materials (which in no way comes close to resembling a finished product).

^ Well said!