Cryptic Studios has announced that the closed beta for its heavily anticipated sci-fi MMO Star Trek Online has officially launched, but it's not without controversy.

At approximately 10.30am today (New Zealand time), Cryptic made the announcement on the game’s official website. The developer encouraged applicants to keep an eye on their email inboxes for an invite as applicants will be invited periodically to try out the beta from today.

However, many Star Trek fans who believed they’d secured exclusive early access to the closed beta by purchasing a six-month or lifetime subscription to Cryptic’s recent MMO, Champions Online, have since discovered this is not the case.

In the Star Trek Online forums, a community rep by the user name of StormShade has confirmed that a lifetime subscription merely guarantees the user entry into the closed beta at some point. “If you have been guaranteed a beta slot, you are guaranteed to gain access during the course of the Closed Beta. Due to our requirements you may not make it into the first round or two of invites,” writes StormShade.

This has angered many fans, who feel misled by the special offer. Many forum goers purchased the offer solely to participate in the Star Trek Online closed beta from the start. Hocking74 writes: “While expecting to get in first through the subscription package is in my mind a little presumptuous, you do make it sound as if we're the bottom of the barrel. To those of us that purchased the packages purely based upon the guaranteed access, it's quite a kick in the teeth.”

User Thram adds: “The beta offer was misleading because most betas don't invite in stages like this. I think we all rightfully assumed we would all get in at once. We spent over (US)$100 on this logical assumption and are rightfully upset at the prospect of waiting a few more weeks or even months.”

At the time of writing, Cryptic Studios is yet to officially respond to these disguntled fans.