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Friday, January 19, 2024
Early Access is increasingly meaningless
In the previous thread there was a discussion on whether you should buy "early access" games. As my thoughts on that, as usual, are longer than fit in a comment, I decided to write this post.
I can understand a certain reluctance versus early access games. I recently cleaned out my Steam wishlist, and it contained a number of games that hadn't been updated for over a year. Not all of those were early access, but I sure deleted all early access games with no visible development ongoing from my list. But I played a bunch of early access games over the last year, and they ranged from visibly half-finished to "I wouldn't know it was early access if it didn't say so on the tin".
Nearly a year ago, I bought Phantom Brigade, a mech combat game with simultaneous turns. It was "released", not "early access", but on playing it turned out to be rather unfinished and half-baked in several aspects. Since then the game only got 1 patch and a few hotfixes, and nothing since August. My hope that this will ever become a finished game is slim.
In December I bought another game on release, Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader. While the developer is known for patching their games frequently, the release version had tons of bugs, and I decided to wait until the game got better. City Skylines 2, which I didn't buy but could access via Game Pass, was also visibly unfinished on release in October last year. I'll wait until the console release in Spring 2024, because by that time the PC version should be optimized enough to run on my machine. These games, Rogue Trader and City Skylines 2, never went through "early access", while in fact being less finished than some early access games I played.
A number of Paradox games, including my favorite Age of Wonders 4, are "playable" on release, but often still have visible weaknesses in some game subsystems, or lack balance. But they do get major patches, which are usually accompanied by a DLC. Age of Wonders 4 with 2 DLC is pretty nice, and I'm sure it will be even better with 4 DLC. But at what point do we consider a game "finished"?
The problem is that games aren't books or films, where a missing chapter or end would be extremely visible. The latest patch of Cosmoteer added a new PvP mode, and that is something I'll never play anyway. Other items on the Cosmoteer roadmap, like a dynamic supply & demand economy, would be nice to have, but aren't things I feel are really missing right now, taking away from a full game experience. The whole roadmap reads more like a letter to Santa, with everything on it you could possibly wish for. That is more a problem of good project scope management than finishing an unfinished game.
I would absolutely say that it is important when reading up on a game to find out how finished it is, whether there are lots of bugs and performance problems, and whether major game systems aren't working correctly yet. Unfortunately I don't think that the label "early access" is a good indicator for that. There are games that carry the "early access" label, and are pretty complete, while other games carry the "release" label, and are not.
- posted by Tobold @ 1:18 PM Permanent Link
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Like the term Beta test, it became meaningless as companies have misused the terms over time. For some people Early Access has become a derogatory term meaning unfinished games just looking to make a quick buck. Even studios who legitimately use Early access to improve the games as intended like Larian and Supergiant Games got met with some criticism when BG3 and Hades had their early access status announced.
Tobold: "The problem is that games aren't books or films, where a missing chapter or end would be extremely visible."
Is it?
How many books or films have cliffhangers to stitch on another book or film?
The one that comes to my mind is the Eragon triology that was extended to five books during the third book.
I think early access or beta mode is a good way for authors to gauge interest and get sales in.
The alternative could be a Diablo 4 or Cyberpunk hype cycle where the game falls flat (while still generating good numbers) - but will people buy the next title? I'm for sure no longer a Blizz fanboi for a while now, so D4 was never something I cared about.
A constant update cycle like in early development can also keep people interested as new shiny stuff is coming out constantly. Other addons or DLCs take a while to develop and people might find other things to do and no longer care about an update to a semi interesting game.
Is it?
How many books or films have cliffhangers to stitch on another book or film?
The one that comes to my mind is the Eragon triology that was extended to five books during the third book.
I think early access or beta mode is a good way for authors to gauge interest and get sales in.
The alternative could be a Diablo 4 or Cyberpunk hype cycle where the game falls flat (while still generating good numbers) - but will people buy the next title? I'm for sure no longer a Blizz fanboi for a while now, so D4 was never something I cared about.
A constant update cycle like in early development can also keep people interested as new shiny stuff is coming out constantly. Other addons or DLCs take a while to develop and people might find other things to do and no longer care about an update to a semi interesting game.
I agree with this - in fact I was going to post something similar yesterday in response to a comment, but I didn't bother for some reason.
Some early access games are effectively 'complete'. And some are not.
In the roguelike genre, people often start calling a game 'dead' if it is no longer being updated - in other words, if it is actually finished!
Some early access games are effectively 'complete'. And some are not.
In the roguelike genre, people often start calling a game 'dead' if it is no longer being updated - in other words, if it is actually finished!
Besides the possible quality issue I think that it is a problem with knowing how developed the game is. You can spend sometimes hundreds of hours on the game and then something else is added to the game and you either missed it or have to play it again. Sometimes your saved games will not even be possible to use.
These are the main reasons I really avoid early access games.
These are the main reasons I really avoid early access games.
Would you be willing to babe the steamer. I wouldn't mind seeing some gameplay but I really struggle to find good streams on Twitch.
Tobold: "There are games that carry the "early access" label, and are pretty complete, while other games carry the "release" label, and are not."
Agreed. Which is why currently I often choose to wait to play a game until after development on the game has ended. Then consider the condition of the game and decide from there. Exceptions for certain genres such as MMORPGs and live service games, for the obvious reasons.
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Agreed. Which is why currently I often choose to wait to play a game until after development on the game has ended. Then consider the condition of the game and decide from there. Exceptions for certain genres such as MMORPGs and live service games, for the obvious reasons.
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