Board Game Arena

Hello, I am developing currently my own game which I have yet to find a publisher for.
The BGA here is also for playtesting the game balance with more people than I can organize offline.
Can I invite other player (friends) to the game (or game group) that is not yet in private alpha, or I need private alpha for this?

Private alpha is designed for that. Studio is only for game devs.

But i understand that game cannot be moved to alpha without a license, and without an official publisher there is no license yet?

You can move a game to private alpha without a licence. If the game has no publisher, it will stay in private alpha and will not move to public alpha.

Ah ok thanks for clarification, I mixed those two steps

If it's your own game, shouldn't you be able to just directly negotiate with BGA to give them permission to use it?