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Early Access Goes Downhill Even More
syntax42
Member UncommonPosts: 1,385
If you are like me, you are probably fed up with the "Early Access" titles on Steam. Some are great, but most are so far from being finished that you regret the decision to give money to them.
Now, even AAA developers are attempting to cash in on the Early Access phenomenon.
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/aaa-publishers-now-eyeing-steam-early-access/1100-6417174/
I think this is where I draw a line and never give money to another early access game again. Most of the ones I saw were barely playable, and might qualify as being called a tech demo. They have no realistic timeline for development and rarely get enough money from the attempt to actually produce something worth selling. There are a few exceptional games which turn into great games, but those are as rare as finding a needle in a haystack.
Big developers have no excuse for demanding money for their unfinished product. They can afford to pay for beta testers, and host servers for open-beta phases. In the end, "Early Access" is only hurting gamers as they squeeze money out of people sooner in the development cycle.
Comments
I started a thread on Steam pointing out the problems of early access and got berated by a horde of angry fanboys saying I was telling them how to spend their money and if they wanted to buy early access NO ONE was gonna stop them! etc.
The reason these things exist is because so many pople have so much need to show loyalty to something. Unlike with Kickstarter very few of early access games even from indies actually need money to come out. It is just a pure cash grab but when people are throwing money in a certain general direction you can't blame devs and publishers for going and catching some of it.
This is all going to all probably blow up when the first one of these Early Access games spectacularly fails to deliver (I say when not if. It will happen). I just hope it doesn't blow back on other crowdfunding too much since people conflate the two even though they are nothing alike.
I don't see any problem with early access. It just give consumers more options for buying games.
It seems like your problems stem from your own faults. If you regret your purchases because the game sucks then you have no one to blame but yourself. I'd advise you not to buy into all the promises developers tell you and look at what they actually can show you. Most games sound amazing in writing but few can deliver their promises.
I don't mean to sound berating at all, these are lessons I've learned through countless horrible purchases on my own part as well.
Bottom line is Early Access can be abused, but even then it is up to the consumer to hit the buy button. It can also be a great tool (5 out of the Top 10 games on steam are early access). Do extensive research before you buy any Early Access game so you know what your getting yourself into because they stem from super early pre-alphas to very playable betas.
^This
Do some research and you will rarely go wrong.
Your posts sounds like Kickstarter isnt going to encounter the same thing. It will. I wager some of these big crowd funded games are going to go belly up and the millions given will be gone and poeple left hold their arse instead of a game.
Yep, Drake summed it up pretty nicely.
And you can't really blame the big guys for jumping on the bandwagon... if people are that eager to pay for early acces, why wouldn't they want a piece of the action too?
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
https://www.ashesofcreation.com/ref/Callaron/
Makes you wonder what else we can get early money for doesn't it?
I have a stone, with enough of you throwing money at me it could one day become a bridge. Any takers?
My line was when I first saw an early access game that wasn't finished. I laughed and thought why would I buy it now when I can just wait and play when it's finished ? My idea of a crappy game I wish I didn't buy would be a buggy unfinished one....not really sure why anyone chooses to pay and play something like that.
It is certainly the responsibility of the developer to provide a solid product even if released early but also the consumer must do their research.
For mmos though I can see this as an excellent opportunity to spread out the population around release. Everyone here knows how brutal a 1 day only release can be. There is little chance that a game will be much better releasing a week or two later anyway. At best they can only throw a few fixes out because the likely was content complete months prior.
I'd be very suspicious though if the early access build isn't the same as the release build (or very very close). That just screams money grabbing.
You stay sassy!
True there's always a risk but a lot of early access just seem to me like "sure we could wait til the game was finished to release it but people will buy it early so why not?" Whereas with a crowdfunded game it probably will never exist if it doesn't meet its goal.
I'm willing to concede some cases like if the dev runs out of money with game almost done where early access is warranted but usually it just feels like a cash grab, not actually crowdfunding. Of course that's obviously true if we're talking AAA companies who would never actually need donations to finish their games.
Quite a few developers will sell their game for cheaper during Early Access, that's one of the draws, also many like myself enjoy getting to play the game early and being involved in the development process.
A lot of us bought Minecraft before it was finished... obviously that didn't work out at all. Someone wants to buy an unfinished game, big deal? I don't care if it's a AAA dev or Alcoholics Anonymous selling it! As long as they make it very clear what stage the game is in buyers have their own choices to make.
I mean really, what's it to you? Unless you think the game won't get finished after that, but then that company certainly stands to be pretty ruined after that.
The problem is that nobody holds the developers responsible because they can release a game as "Early Access" then get away with not finishing it. Careful wording of their game description ensures they are not bound to do any work past the early release. This isn't always the case, but I do want to see developers held responsible for their products instead of being allowed to take money for an unfinished product and never truly finish it.
What is happening now is the equivalent of me selling you a car, except the radio, wipers, and headlights don't work. Don't worry though, because the car still drives and it is street legal as long as you don't drive at night. I'll promise to finish it one day, but not give any binding timeline.
Personally, I have only given a handful of "Early Access" games my money. I'm more concerned with the trend continuing down this dark path than I am with getting my money back from the couple that didn't deliver on their promises. If AAA developers are allowed to use "Early Access" as an excuse for a money grab, where does it stop? Soon, we will be paying to see art and 3-D models with no concept of a game in sight. Oh, right, that's already happening with Star Citizen.
The only problem with early access is that so many people don't seem to understand what it is or how it works. They purchase the EA game, then immediately post about bugs or missing features, etc. People who try to explain the concept to these folks are shouted down by low-IQ trolls who scream about being ripped off, how they want the game now, and blah blah blah.
There's a reason several threads have popped up on the Almost Human (Legend of Grimrock) forums begging them not to go the early access route for any possible beta version of LoG2, and thankfully they listened.
Sadly InExile didn't, and now the EA forums for Wasteland 2 are filled with hate and accusations of ripping people off, and overall the whole thing has done more harm than good for the game IMHO.
Steam users it seems are no smarter than the console gamers they continually hold themselves over...
AN' DERE AIN'T NO SUCH FING AS ENUFF DAKKA, YA GROT! Enuff'z more than ya got an' less than too much an' there ain't no such fing as too much dakka. Say dere is, and me Squiggoff'z eatin' tonight!
We are born of the blood. Made men by the blood. Undone by the blood. Our eyes are yet to open. FEAR THE OLD BLOOD.
#IStandWithVic
Can you provide evidence of games that were early access that got canceled and refunds were not given? My understanding was that in order for you game to become early access, you go into a contract with steam. In the event that a game does not finish within a certain time frame, steam would refund its customers their money, and probably sue the developer for breach of contract. This is just my speculation, i have no evidence.
Also, which AAA games are on steam? im really curious about this.
I believe the reason they are currently able to get away with Early Access releases is because people are simply starved for something new and different than what is currently released.
Offer me early access to TESO or Wildstar and I'd pick it up in an instant. I've installed and uninstalled many current games (WOW, Rift, AC, SWtOR, Vanguard, LotRO, UO, AoC, ect) in search of something that will keep me entertained for a while, but they all get old real fast.
I doubt once some quality titles are released there won't be much of a market for this for a while.
Acolytes Gaming (forums.acolytesgaming.com)
Sheep or Shepard- Make up your own damn mind.
It is true, the older you get, the less patience you have for those who watch a Youtube video and from that believe they know it all.
Main Game: Eldevin (Plat0nic)
2nd Game: Path of Exile (Platonic Hate)
No one forces anyone to buy early access so how the hell can you complain about voluntarily paying access for a game you know isn't finished? When buying the early access for any game on Steam it states the game isn't finished.
There are a lot of things people complain about on this site, but this is pretty close to the most ridiculous complaint I have ever heard.
Isn't that what crowdfunding is for? Unless the game is really close to being finished and they can tell you what they need to add and how long it will take. Promising someone a game (which early access implicitly does) you may not be able to deliver isn't very straightforward.
Isn't that what crowdfunding is for? Unless the game is really close to being finished and they can tell you what they need to add and how long it will take. Promising someone a game (which early access implicitly does) you may not be able to deliver isn't very straightforward.
I remember when companies funded their own games with only a few silent investors. The games were not as feature lite as today's. I find crapstarter just keeps fueling the engine to produce more greedy garbage. /shrugI've never bought into an early access game yet, but I wouldn't say I never would.
If I was hyped enough for something, I would buy in to invest in the early development of the game.
It's gotten to the point where some MMOs have been reduced to little more than success dispensers. Don't think. Don't challenge yourself. Do as little as possible... but still be rewarded for it. Yeah.. *that's* fun.
-- WSIMike
Whenever i step outside, somebody claims to see the light
It seems to me that all of us have lost our patience.
'cause everyone thinks they're right,
And nobody thinks that there just might
Be more than one road to our final destination--
...And a lot of good game ideas never got funded in those days. But if you're happy with the state of AAA published games they're still there for you. I'm happy Kickstarter gives an alternative and increases competition. Early access is different though, mostly it does just seem like a pure cash grab for no reason.
At least for now I do not see Kickstarter as a problem. It is still more of a solution but by it's very nature (meaning anyone can attempt to use it) it will have an extremely high percentage of failures. It is pretty much throwing ideas at a wall and seeing what sticks. This is where consumer research is required along with some restraint.
The risk to the consumer is minimal if they invest with moderation into projects with solid backing and professional development. I see few other methods allowing the consumer to effectively vote for the direction of development they desire and not something constructed by big business to satisfy quarterly reports to their investors. That method does not breed originality and it never will.
If a project looks fishy then for God's sake let it die and don't invest in top tier pledge options on a hope and a prayer. If 5 great games are made out of 50 attempts everyone profits ... because even if you lost money on a failed project you may enjoy the few seeds that sprout into mature products. I'll gladly walk a path littered by mmo corpses to find a true gem. I've already been on that journey for 15 years and will gladly tread upon 100 dead fetuses from failed KS projects instead of more $100,000,000 dead still born whales the developers drop in front of us.
You stay sassy!