So, as I venture into the world of Steam I've been finding out much more about the world of Early Access.
The idea seems straight forward enough, a bridging of the worlds of demos and beta's into the world of full releases. You pay a discounted amount for the game months in advance and gain access to an early version which may be bugged or incomplete. Your feedback helps devs complete development and as the game progresses you get all the updates ultimately including the full game for the discounted price.
There's a risk reward aspect as you can get to try a wanted game early and cheaper. That very experience, or even just the length of the time to release, can mean your tired of the title before you've even played the full game.
It's something even Sony is said to have mulled, a handy way to monetise development.
What do you think of this emerging practise? A good way to involve the gamers in a games development or are we diluting the experience of a quality new release too much by this point and devaluing the hobby?
The idea seems straight forward enough, a bridging of the worlds of demos and beta's into the world of full releases. You pay a discounted amount for the game months in advance and gain access to an early version which may be bugged or incomplete. Your feedback helps devs complete development and as the game progresses you get all the updates ultimately including the full game for the discounted price.
There's a risk reward aspect as you can get to try a wanted game early and cheaper. That very experience, or even just the length of the time to release, can mean your tired of the title before you've even played the full game.
It's something even Sony is said to have mulled, a handy way to monetise development.
What do you think of this emerging practise? A good way to involve the gamers in a games development or are we diluting the experience of a quality new release too much by this point and devaluing the hobby?
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