The role-playing game Baldur’s Gate 3 is considered a masterpiece today. But it could have gone wrong. Because on Steam, they chose a path to release that has caused many games to fail and has often frustrated gamers: Baldur’s Gate 3 was released in Early Access – and that already 3 years before the official release.
What is so dangerous about Early Access? Many promising games have died during the Early Access phase on Steam. The sequence of events is roughly as follows:
- A game is released with potential, but it is still unfinished: players buy the game, jump in, provide feedback, but then stop playing and hope to return to a better version later.
- The developers have made money for the first time and can breathe easy; they start improving the game and implementing player feedback, but progress is slow. The first updates they release are only minimal improvements, and neither old players return nor can they attract new ones.
- The team runs out of money and stamina. Player numbers stagnate or decline. It seems as if the market rejects the game, as if there is no interest in it. The game is discontinued while still in Early Access. The team is down and out. The players, who had started with so much hope, are bitterly disappointed, angrily demanding their money back.
We have seen this sequence of events time and again in the past. Early Access games are now critically scrutinized and have a bad reputation. One sad example among many is Scavengers.
“You sold someone the game – you have to improve it now”
The boss says about Early Access: The Early Access model worked well for Baldur’s Gate 3. 9 major updates were released between 2020 and August 2023.
The head of the studio Larian, Swen Vincke, is a fan of the Early Access model, but only under certain conditions: “For us, it was really good, but you have to take it seriously when you go in there. You have to work with players to improve your game; otherwise, you shouldn’t do it.”
However, Vincke does not recommend an Early Access period lasting 3 years: it tires out the fans and the team. One must persevere and certainly not include broken features in an Early Access game.
The narrative director of Baldur’s Gate 3 agrees: players have paid for a game, after all. So they teach them to improve it. You cannot neglect Early Access. It’s a lot of work and really difficult.
That’s the most important thing, says the boss. Vincke says that Early Access must be taken extremely seriously:
“You should absolutely not approach it with the attitude of, oh, it’s just Early Access. People are playing this who take it seriously, and you have to treat them with respect.”
Baldur’s Gate 3 had weak months in Early Access, but strong backers
Here’s what it’s all about: Yes, the developers of Baldur’s Gate 3 have been on a victory tour for several months, explaining how they managed to make such a hit during dark times. However, this should be viewed critically. Because Larian is not, as it sometimes seems, a small underdog studio that somehow managed, but has Tencent as a powerful business father behind them.
Baldur’s Gate 3 also had some droughts in Early Access in 2022 on Steam: months where they had only 1,070 average players, where interest in the role-playing game seemed to dwindle.
Perhaps other teams would have faltered here, or the backers would have lost faith in the team, but Larian could afford these downturns – an additional factor played into Baldur’s Gate 3.
Many games find it extremely difficult to generate any hype for release after 3 years in Early Access, as people feel the game is “old” and already “over”.
But Baldur’s Gate 3 was able to overcome this problem of an Early Access title through a daring and viral moment. However, this was probably not planned: Developers of Baldur’s Gate 3 comment on the bear incident and TikTok ban: “They hate it”
