PTE75: Early Access to a Brief Encounter?

[Neon Ignition]

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?

[eastyy]

well early access i have so far

Grim dawn (though i backed that on kickstarter) which is a pretty good rpg though a bit souless if you like titans quest worth a try

assetto corsa : Promising driving game but its very very early lots of work needed

Not sure if it counts as early access but the skull girls endless beta i post updates on my youtube channel but the game is complete the endless beta is just updates from the indigogo campaign and its really cool to see the game evolve

Got to be honest though there is a lot of rubbish on steam that i have no interest in and much of it is just far to early

Also getting sick of pixel art and there are so many games that use it and i really just do not like the design aesthetic i find a lot of them cannot be called "retro" as i remember even 16 bit games looking a lot better i know graphics should not matter but i want the hd 2d art aswell as good gameplay

[Neon Ignition]

I agree about the pixel art, it's used so commonly yet rarely with any real skill. Even getting full 16 bit replication would be better

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-07-15-microsoft-says-developers-have-been-requesting-an-early-access-option

Also, now Microsoft is saying Early Access is in their minds

[kryss]

They do that will their OS already just like EA do with games and Sony with consoles

BROFORCE!! Early access but still lots of fun.

I have early access to something else via a humble bundle but forget what. Starship construction or something. Kinetic Void! That's the one.

[VR46]

I think it's a good idea (assuming games get to final completion) and never stay in beta for years.

Was reading about Sunless Sea last night, another obscure game that really appeals to me

http://store.steampowered.com/app/304650/

I do wonder though, without Early Access would we see more demo's (once they're ready for general release) or do most early release projects get demo's too? not in to PC gaming so far.

[Brad]

In theory a good idea but it can go terribly wrong. Day Z for example. Amazing Arma 2 mod. I bought early access to the standalone. Broken to all hell (even moreso than the mod) and now I'll probably never play it again in its finished state so I've basically ruined the experience by going in early.

[Digfox]

Voted not fussed either way.

I've not purchased any early access games on Steam. Not intentionally just never at a price or hit the right buttons for me to buy (I have a few in my wishlist though). I did buy Minecraft though when it was in Alpha c.07/08.

I think it's a great funding method (like Kickstarter) and hopefully flourishes. However my concerns are the practice will be abused and like other forms of digital purchase there should be far, far greater legislative protection for the consumer (i.e. I like to see 7 or 14 day returns on digital goods, including f2p/in-app purchases).

I also think that there should be the scope of the consumer to be able to get a refund on an Early Access title long after it's been purchased. Whilst this might sound risky it would make developers really question what's the best route to market. Otherwise the even bigger risk is the bubble bursts.

[Kit]

Please stop titling these threads like this.

[Mr Ono]

Early access should have a considerable discount on prices to offset any risk that the game is never finished or turns out to be not what the devs promised.

An example, DayZ .... yeah, fun for a while but it is a real pain to play now due to its clunky engine and there is nowhere I can see it going to improve to a point where I would asctually play it much.

[Neon Ignition]

Please stop titling these threads like this.

It makes them incredibly easy to search for which can be very useful especially when I hit 100, the last one

[nakamura]

I like them. Good threads. The title is especially catches my eye because I know it's a poll on a relevant topic.

[Brad]

What this man said ^^^

[Digfox]

Early access should have a considerable discount on prices to offset any risk that the game is never finished or turns out to be not what the devs promised.

An example, DayZ .... yeah, fun for a while but it is a real pain to play now due to its clunky engine and there is nowhere I can see it going to improve to a point where I would asctually play it much.

Good point. Minecraft did this was only ?8ish whilst it was in Alpha.

On Steam though it appears to be the opposite - games are c.?15-30+ and don't generally get included in sales other than the odd 10% discount. I very much doubt these games will increase in price. So basically developers are charging you full price from the get-go.