We are asking you today: What do you think of Early Access?
With Early Access, players can gain access to a game early on. The games are often still in a pre-alpha phase. The developers explicitly point out: This is not for everyone. The game is still raw. If you buy this, you must know what you are getting into.
For some players, this process is exciting. You have access to a game that is early in development. You can give feedback to the developers and help steer the game in the direction you prefer.
Is Early Access the plague in gaming?
For others, Early Access is the plague in gaming. Developers collect money early on and then have no motivation to finish the game when they are already raking in money for unfinished nonsense, they claim. Games like DayZ or the zombie shooter H1Z1 are cited as cautionary examples of Early Access titles that may never be released.
ARK Survival Evolved as an example of how to do Early Access right
One of the most successful Early Access games is ARK Survival Evolved. It came into Early Access in the summer of 2015 relatively complete, but still suffered from severe performance issues. Since then, ARK has improved considerably and aims to “fully release” after 2 years – in the summer of 2017.
However, even the highly praised ARK has its drawbacks with Early Access. Many took issue with the game developing a paid expansion while still in Early Access instead of doing everything possible to finally fully release it.
Established studios also seek the path into Early Access
These days, more and more developers are seeking a way into Early Access. In addition to small indie games like Project Genom, for which Early Access is essential for survival to earn money at all, even previously established studios like Funcom are exploring new paths with Early Access.
Conan Exiles, which has been in development for a relatively short time, entered Early Access last week and despite mixed Steam reviews already had 40,000 concurrent players.
This way, the studio already has revenues in a phase that they otherwise would not have until years later – until the “Full Release.” For Funcom, who were on the brink of bankruptcy in 2015, this is certainly an important factor.
Schuhmann says: I see mainly psychological problems with Early Access. Do players really know what they are getting into? Or is money being made from their enthusiasm in an unscrupulous manner?
The studios know very well that fans are eager to play a game. People ignore all warnings and concerns when they want something. People smoke even though the packages say “This can kill you” because they simply want to smoke.
And players want to play a game because in their imagination it already seems great and fantastic.
In the phase before Early Access, all the developers’ plans are already known, live streams have been watched, and they have listened to them rave about their ideas and plans. This enthusiasm is contagious.
The actual game, however, is still far from that. And you only realize how raw it still is after you have already spent the money for Early Access. The curiosity of the players and the fact that many simply cannot restrain themselves are exploited to make good money.
When I think of Early Access, I first think of H1Z1 and that is a negative example.
A game like H1Z1 would normally not have made any money yet. The studio would do everything possible to finally finish the game and bring it to stores. Instead, it languishes in a strange in-between stage. Meanwhile, it has drifted far from the idea it started with because the developers realized that they could make more money and attract more attention on Twitch with a raw, half-finished shooter than with a survival MMO it was originally meant to be.
What do you think of the phenomenon? Are you clear on what you are getting into when a game goes into Early Access? Or have you been surprised negatively before?
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