OvertleyBadpickuplines
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Jun 3, 2025 1:09 PM
OvertleyBadpickuplines
22728
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Leaps
dying*
Iwouldbenick
Yup. And I'll buy subnautica 2 the moment it's available in early access as that's the only way to play it. I expect at least 3 years in early access.
whisky432
Steam had taught me to never buy an early access game
porcinechoirmaster
It's almost always pre-alpha testing.
Pre-alpha does not have all features implemented or even designed. It is active iteration on the design and development of the project. Alpha testing is typically internal with features finalized, but not necessarily fully functioning or stable. Beta testing is usually public and wide-scope and can be everything from a market test for a product to a stress test for infrastructure.
GrenithTheSkald
The idea was good when it was conceived for small indie-devs to fund their projects. Now, it is just an excuse for games to release unfinished.
Look at Starfield. Still not even out of Alpha after over a decade, the most expensive game EVER made, and they are still in debt. Even if it was to magically be released tomorrow in 1.0, it would immediately fail and have to shut down because it would require LITERAL millions of people to buy the game on launch day to break even.
GrenithTheSkald
Also I fucked up, I meant to say Star Citizen.
It's literally a scam at this point. So long as the game NEVER reaches 1.0, they can legally claim that they don't owe back the money they have borrowed. As the return to investors is conditional on the product being actually finished/released.
So, the running theory is the game is purposefully being delayed indefinitely since they are so deep in debt that they would be bankrupt and lose everything on release day.
youreathing
Why pay for testers when people will pay YOU to do that job?
Clockworkdancerobot
I remember spending summers playing free open betas that later gave the beta testers versions of the games. Friends and me would join one, get in, play, write up bugs and stuff. And half the time if we got a full version after maybe play that. Neocron was a laugh. Total joke.
chunkymasa
it's either invest in the studio so they can work on the game proper or let the devs be beholden to venture capitalists and then you end up with products that are incomplete at launch. pick your poison.
rihani3
Well, yes. But it is also a great way for small indie studios to actually be able to make a game without selling their souls to a big lootbox horny publisher... Doesn't mean you should just blindly pay for a early-access game, but there are a LOT of absolute gems out there.
vicvalour
Good point, bring in revenue so they can afford to finish game properly
goboltz
You spelled "Died" wrong, Been YEARS since there was any QA or proper Testing. Once things could be downloaded , the item on the Discs didn't Have to work as Designed (Or, paid for) . Now they push crap & Fix later. Sort of . . .
GraniteIvy
Or... maybe you could consider it supporting the development of the game?
OvertleyBadpickuplines
When they are honest about it, and I have seen a few indies games do it. Then I am down, because a lot of good games would of died otherwise. But AAA games can afford to take the time and properly role it out.
ropetopus
That’s… literally the intent, yes. Early Access is intended as a way to get access before the game is done. You pay because you also get the finished game. Devs get beta testers who are invested, interested people get to play a game early and save some money.
cuddleskunk
Yup. If it bothers you...don't buy it.
SapphireXK
As a game dev, and as one that released on EA: No. Not only did it help fund development, the players that were in EA gave me feedback which helped shape the final game, with many of their ideas being implemented directly.
Roqinn
I don't do Early Access. I'm not paying to beta test a game.
ImNotStalkingYouBTWYoureOutOfMilk
Beta testing for games has always been something you buy into, as it's predominantly to ensure that the game works on different infras
Roqinn
Wrong. I used to beta test games and I NEVER had to buy the game. I applied to them like a job. You must not have been around for the entirety of video games, like some of us.
ImNotStalkingYouBTWYoureOutOfMilk
Well no, most people aren't. My mum was less than a year old when pong was released, and she's in her 50's now.
djarcas
Beta is a long, long way down in development than the point Early Access should be.
ropetopus
Beta should mean “ready for testing by real users, but not final”. That’s exactly what early access is.
djarcas
Incorrect. In the games industry, Beta is feature complete and asset complete. Beta could be literal years after 'Early Access'|
What you are after is a basically finished and polished game. That's not Early Access.
Clue's in the world Early. Source : I'm a AAA game developer with 25 years in the industry.
DukeSliscus
Correct.
Also thank you for calling it a Beta and not an Alpha.
ModsSometimesHeedMyScamWarnings
There's no such thing as early access, only the release date.
zylokun
I can't. You are entirely correct.
phalanks
I only buy early access games if I think its current state is worth buying. Anything I get after that is extra.
zFUBARz
Yup, or I consider it an investment in a person or Dev I like and want to support, Like I'd give Concerned Ape money for Haunted Chocolatier right now if he needed it. But that's cause Stardew was great and has been for like a decade. If I get nothing, or it stays where I bought it at, fine. if it becomes a completed thing, then that's a bonus.
HumanCats
How else can we complain before everybody else? Worth the price.
Trelis
No-one, even developers, are disputing that? It's like say medicine is just chemistry and expecting people to contradict that.
(... that said, I assume that medicine is just chemistry, if I'm an idiot I will take the justly deserved mockery)
Plagen
There are a handful of Early Access titles that I've played and actually enjoyed playing. Satisfactory and 7 Days to Die, for example. The rest of them have been so bad/annoying that I refuse to buy any more early access titles for the most part.
Which is really annoying since 11/19 of the games on my Steam Wishlist that I can currently buy are in early access. And then there is the 109 other games that have basically been "Coming Soon" for years.
AngryBisexualWithAKeyboard
I only buy early access games from indie studios I absolutely trust. So Trese Brothers and Blue Bottle. That's it.
Dyamonde
I've stopped buying games before they hit 1.0, no matter how much i like them. I'd rather wait and get the true experience.
Dyamonde
Except when i support Devs on Patreon
HoChiMinge
Or any Bugthesda release really.
GratuaCuun
andexer
Enrichment of the tiger enclosure
TheLeanWolf
If we're tiger food, were going to need a lot more tigers..
CardeasIV
But thats on them, tho? They did bad job keeping us in check when they had the chance and look where it got them
xizar
Lately, it's been the leopards getting fed.
GratuaCuun
You heard it here first folks - buy more tigers
BixbyConsequence
The meaning of beta has certainly changed since my mainframe days, when testers were given perks or even paid directly for their efforts.
Zelor42
It depends how it is handled. Early Access can bring games to fruition that would otherwise never have been developed, or released. And the developer can use feedback to steer the ongoing development, unlike beta testing, where everything is already set and you just aim to squash bugs and add polish. Obsidian's "Grounded" is a good example of early access handled correctly.
FenwickFoxx
Except that I really don't think obsidian needed the extra funding brought in by early access. I'm good when small indie teams do it, but it's greedy as fuck when large corps do it. And it was published by microsoft
Zelor42
Grounded was not the only game in development by Obsidian back then (as you say: they are one of the bigger studios), so without the extra incentive of early access, they might've just scrapped the project, and go work on something else, with more promise.
Having it on early access enabled them to not only develop the game's ideas further, but also to gauge if and how big of a success it might become. So I wouldn't really call it "greedy", it's a useful tool to decide how to ... 1/2
Zelor42
... proceed with a project. Also take note of how they *handled* the early access. Lots of communication, regular updates, according to schedule, and no overpromised features. That is the way all early access development should go.
2/2
TheUnnamedPoet
Some games handle Early Access properly. You pay a little bit less for the game, get to play it as it develops, and the player input helps shape the direction of the final product. I think Satisfactory would be a good example of this.... And then you have other games that literally spend forever in early access and either never come out properly, or come out in an unfinished buggy mess, just to stop people complaining that it's been 7 years of early access.
alfrzernebog
Abiotic Factor is doing EA properly too. Love that game.
r0b074p0c4lyp53
+1 for satisfactory. When a game does early access really well you feel like you're PART of the dev team. It's BETTER than a finished product, it's a community experience
rusrsdude
Bunch of indie game devs even warn their customers with announcements that prices will increase once the game is released and when sales will occur, which is nice of them.
JustSittingHerePooping
I got more than 200 hours from BG3 before it was released. The amount of feedback from players made it even better. So yes, somestimes it's properly handled.
kahlas
What you're talking about isn't really anything to do with early access. It has to do with commitment to finish the game. 7 Days to Die was in early access for 11 years. For almost all of that time it felt like a finished polished game. In fact each new beta version changed gameplay quite a bit as they dialed into what they ultimately wanted to create. Plenty of AAA games feel like unfinished games released to make a buck just like some of the abandoned early access games.
unluckyandbored
I like buying early access games now and then because I enjoy watching the game grow and change with time. It's part of the fun for me.
Medionsinger
The one that I alwas thought did the Early Access well was RimWorld. The base game is so damn fun with thousands of mods, some of which slowly got released as official extra content later, all of which radically alter the experience.
MyOtherPetIsACat
And then you have Microsoft, who releases a flight simulator in 2020 that, almost 5 years and 1 sequel layer, still randomly crashes to desktop, stutters, etc. and was sold full price from day one when it was a bug ridden alpha-level PoS.
wizard07ksu9000
Also Factorio!
NateFrog
Hades I & II are pretty good examples of this too
Kehy
I will never play Hades II until full release and maybe post release patch.
Because I went into the original Hades with a completely blank slate and knew very little about it and ended up having one of the best gaming experiences I've had in decades. That feeling of discovering a game as you play is something I've been missing for a very long time. And I think the second deserves the same treatment as the first.
TheBigBadBonerBiter
As someone who bought Hades 2 the day EA opened up, I haven't really picked it up since the Warsong Update for this reason. I know there's stuff that won't be added until full release but I realized I was quickly burning through everything available and don't want to *only* have post-v1.0 stuff to unlock once it drops.
Kehy
I'm at the point of no early access for any game. And if it doesn't get out of early access, then I don't need to play it. Subnautica might have been fantastic, but games like Ark left a bitter taste
TheBigBadBonerBiter
Don't get me wrong, I'm normally a no early access/preorder/pay $70 base kind of guy. Hades 1 was just *that good* and Supergiant haven't yet proven themselves to be corpo-shitty like most other developers/publishers are so I was willing to make an exception for Hades 2.
GeneralWho
Steam is now putting labels on Early Access games that haven't been updated in a long time; absolutely a great idea.
ProbablyWrong524
Icarus has not been a disappointment in that regard either. Every few weeks a new cool thing is added to the game and I get to spend a few hundred hours creating a new open world because my last one crashed too often.
aducksayswhat
And similar for full/final release games, some handle it well, some don't. Trying to make blanket statements for a very diverse industry is doomed to failure.
wickednoreaster
Beamng drive is a fantastic example as well
hipifreq
This exactly. I've had a few early access games and for the most part have been happy with them
TheUnnamedPoet
TerraTech was another good example for me. I was there when the game was in it's early access phase and talked directly with the developers. With my input they made some changes to the game that are still present and help the balancing. These are games that do Early Access right.
hipifreq
Oxygen not Included, Core Keeper, Astroneer, and Valheim, just a few of the good ones I got in early access. All have had active user feedback that really helped shape the release. While I've had fun with a few runs of 7 Days to Die, it took FOREVER and has been underwhelming at full release. Potion Craft was cute and fun but their early access has been.... slow... with over a year between updates.
TheUnnamedPoet
7 Days to Die is one of my examples of Early Access done wrong. I used to love that game but the devs seem to hate their players. Every time players find a viable strategy, devs patch it out. Loot system too helpful? We've changed that. What's that, you're surviving the blood moon? Yeah we've patched that. This building too helpful? Let us just nerf that for you. When i finally had enough and stopped playing, the game had been in early access for over five years. I can't trust them anymore.
hipifreq
Ugh, the blood moon change made me so fucking mad. Oh, it's too easy for experienced players? Fine, we'll make it last ALL NIGHT LONG with zombies that have a perfect sense for where you are and the weakest point of your base.
SlightlyStoopidBear
*vomits in stat citizen* the eternal grift
CyberHexx
I've been playing Satisfactory since Update 4. It's an amazing game and I only had to pay like 20 bucks for it because I jumped on early. Space Engineers is another good example.
zFUBARz
Oh man I put so much time into Spengineers when there was no point but to build fun things in space.
cheesedogs
I haven't played it in a few years. Is there a purpose to the game now?
zFUBARz
No clue. We mostly built ships in co op and then crashed into each other and other things. I believe there's a #2 in the works now as well.
Rivalyn
Spengineers has NPC encounters on both planets and in space but the system is very limited at this time, even with the recent updates to increase encounter variety and density. Space Engineers is at its heart a sandbox game and you'll need to find your own fun most of the time. I still highly recommend it and the game has a fairly robust modding scene. The DLC is completely optional and essentially strictly cosmetic.
CyberHexx
There's adventure scenarios and whole goddamn planets, now. And Space Engineers 2 is in E/A now. I believe their goal is to basically recreate Space Engineers without the clunky mistakes they made in the first game, and go even further with the new game. For example, there's no longer 2 different grid sizes. You can put large size blocks on small size ships and vise-versa. There's only one grid size now. And I think they're going to try and make everything much more intuitive from now on.
EmailFail
I agree with this. I've done a few early accesses and it really has been a spectrum of an experience
sirwolfyy
I feel like half the games released should be considered early access and are released as a incomplete game with a lot of bugs so really its game dependent as you said.
DidaChikDumaChum
Also Baldurs gate 3. Had a long early access, turned into one of the best RPGs ever
JamJarre
This just proves OP's point though. Regardless of how the game turned out, the BG3 really access period was absolutely just using players as beta testers
resodeliveryog101
Yeah but I got bg3 for $30 and not $70 or w/e retail was bc of early access
zFUBARz
I mean if that's what they're signing up for is that a problem? and in BG3's case they even said hey, our first release is just the first chapter of the game if I remember correctly.
serpx
I actually don't understand OP's point. We knew that. Thats literally the point of early access when used properly. It provides monetary support to the devs while allowing players to provide feedback. Hades, BG3, Palworld, etc are just examples of it done well. Early access also gives new devs an avenue for funding when they might not. Problem of course is projects can fail. Without early access they might fail and we never know. With it, leaves a bad taste.
DarkBusterBaron
Some games are practically finished but still stay in early access im looking at you factorio.
MrIndubitably101
Also Subnautica. They almost went under but due to early access and Markiplier/Jacksepticeye it is now getting its 3rd game
ProbablyWrong524
What? Tell me more of this third game! Or don't and make me look it up. I'm not picky.
MrIndubitably101
Subnautica is the 1st. Below Zero is the 2nd. The 3rd is the multi-player subnautica coming.
ProbablyWrong524
Thanks! I have 1 and 2, and at least in terms of 1 have really wanted a multiplayer version since the beginning. High hopes for this.
MrIndubitably101
Same! I loved the 1st one. Below Zero was pretty good.
ProbablyWrong524
I see now, after looking it up, that I have Subnautica and Below Zero but not Subnautica 2 since of course that's what they named the THIRD game...
Vergenbuurg
BeamNG.drive is one of the greatest early-access games out there. I actually don't imagine it'll ever be "finished", but it's fun.
14NipplesAndSomeGin
That's probably the only kind of "abuse" I see with the Early Access programs that I don't mind. It manages expectations, and it tells me you care enough about the game that you want it perfect before you hit version 1.0.
unluckyandbored
And in BeamNG's case the game does still get regular updates. Every few months there's new content, or heavily reworked older content. So they are still in active development. That said, I don't think any game should be in 'early access" for as long as they've been.