Before I get into this, I want to say that I recognise the benefits of early access for smaller development teams, but I believe it's gotten out of hand as it's now a safety net for investors at the expense of player experience.
The memories you have in a game are more than just the sum of its parts, but you only get one first impression. If you go into a game that's not quite fully furnished or lacks the polish of a finished title, you might lack the desire to go back or consider it old news by the time it reaches the finish line. Considering game development takes years, I've found myself in this situation countless times.
Steam Early Access, in particular, has gone from a curated place of hand-picked games that meet specifications to a wasteland bombarded with games of varying quality. So many came out with more than 14,000 releases last year alone that discovering true gems is harder than ever.
It's essentially crowdfunding by any other name with the same risks involved. You might not get the features that sold you on the idea in the first place or even a finished game. Dressing it up as something other than crowdfunding tricks people into thinking they're buying a product rather than investing in something with true risk. I'm especially concerned for younger gamers who might not realise the difference.
The only solace is that Steam refunds exist, whereas Kickstarter and Indiegogo are far more touch-and-go with the idea. Sadly, this requires people to spend their first impression wisely, given the time restrictions demanding no more than 2 hours of game time to qualify for one.
Baldur's Gate 3 did it in a way I wouldn't mind seeing more of. Split a relatively polished introduction to the game off into a separate build and continue working on acts 2 and 3 behind the scenes. Unfortunately, this only works for particularly big narrative-driven games, so it's not a catch-all solution.
Whenever I see Early Access on a game now, I'm personally more cautious, only going with developers I trust. For example, I'll happily get Hades 2 when it comes out, but I probably won't play it until it reaches 1.0. It's an exercise in patience I probably don't have given my excitement, but I value both the team creating it and my first impressions.
What do you think of Early Access? Is it a dealbreaker or something you don't really mind?
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