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What do you think about Early Access games?
fivoroth
Member UncommonPosts: 3,916
Very long post ahead! TLDR: What do you think about Early access games? The rest is mostly my thoughts on it.
Probably quite a few grammar/spelling errors, will correct them later.
I have recently been reading a lot of topics surrounding games are in their early access stages. Do you guys think it's a good thing that companies are charging us the full price of the game for essentially a game which is in an alpha stage? I have even seen indie games charge full AAA prices for games which are around 20% complete.
Back in the day when games were in alpha, everything was kept under the rug. There were NDAs to ensure people who actually tested the game did not share info. THis was because if people saw games in their unfinished state they might get the wrong impressions of the game. But in the last few years we have been drowned with early access games which ask you to shell out $30-60 for a game which is unfinished.
I personally never pay for early access games. There have been a few which have interested me and I have kept an eye out on how they develop but disappointingly none of them were ever finished (a lot of them went on sale over a year ago). Are we as players essentially throwing our money away as so many early access games never get finished? Arguably the game developer gets a huge chunk of their prospective customers already locked as they have already paid. So what incentive does the developer have to finish the game?
Another trend which I've recently noticed is established businesses using early access funding. I mean I always thought the point of early access funding was to help new start ups who have great ideas but have no money to build their games. IN these cases I think early access is great because the game would not be developed otherwise.
However, I don't understand why established companies are beginning to use early access too. They don't need the funding! Why is SOE charging people to essentialy quality check their game? SOE has created EQ and EQ 2. Don't tell me they need this to fund their project. To me this looks like pure greed. If tomorrow Blizzard said they are going to develop a new MMO and they're going to do early access so that they can fund their game, would you pay for it? In my opinion, self respecting companies (e.g. Bioware, Blizzard) will never charge you for an unfinished product. Blizzard don't even show people much before the game is pretty much developed.
Another point which I have seen a lot of people debate. Can we have standards when we are playing an early access game. I mean people can always say that the game is unfinished and all the GAMEBREAKING bugs and issues are to be expected but if I am paying $60 for the game, do I have not the right to criticise game and be unhappy that the game is broken 1 year after I paid for it?
What is more, because you are not seeing the finished game, what if the developer makes game breaking for you changes. FOr example, SOE say that they won't be selling guns and next thing you know, they are selling guns. Should developers be held to their promises? But then doesn't that hinder the development process as you can't do whatever you want because you made a promise to your customers who have paid you $60.
A final point is that a lot of these games never get finished. It feels like that for every game that makes a successful release through early access there are 20 games which never make it. ARe customers not entitled to their money back if they never receive the prodcut they paid for? Shouldn't developers be held responsible for releasing the game? In which other industry you pay for a product and the company never delivers it. If I ordered a custom made car which the retailer said I will get in 5 months, can he get away with never delivering my car? If I pay my insurance company pension contributions over 40 years, can my insurance company then come back to me and say, sorry, you are not getting anything? I know these are a bit extreme but I don't think game developers should be able to cash in and run away.
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
Comments
i'm fine with early access games,but don't even get me going about SOE and their BS!
i have bought many single player EA games and dont regret it but i did my homework and waited awhile as well and just followed the game.to get a halfway decent idea how things devoloped over time.
I also have rules when it comes to them i refuse to pay over 20 bucks,i follow them for a reasonable period of time before i even consider spending money.i look at the whole package not just gameplay. Dev experiance,gameplay,communication from devs.
I have seen and heard BS from AAA games down to 1 man team indie EA games,we all have.tons of BS in the video game industry these days.not all EA games are cash grabs just like not all AAA games are not cash grabs.
But when there are thousands of gamers out there willing to throw money at games just based on o that looks cool, some devs just like publishers see dollar signs and will say anything to make a buck and sadly some take the money and run.
Not sure why you had to highlight and bold "like a grownup".
Early access games wipe out all progress so not sure how you reserve your name.
16 years ago the expectation was that MMOs would be buggy at launch but a certain game which has been extremely successful had very few bugs at launch and showed people that MMOs don't have to be a buggy mess that lacks any kind of polish.
Early access games don't even have a fraction of the content in there. They promise you the world, then deliver nothing.
If I played a buggy game after playing WoW, I would just delete it. WoW had less bugs at launch than a lot of singleplayer games. Gamebreaking bugs are not okay in my book.
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
Let's first get this straight: The idea of funding a games development has nothing to do with Early Access. That's what Kickstarter or similar are for.
Early Access is a way to make a lot of money with an unfinished product that you NEVER have to finish if you think the sales are not going the way you expected or the cash shop is not making you enough money, you can just close shop and point to the fine print that states:
"This Early Access game is not complete and may or may not change further. If you are not excited to play this game in its current state, then you should wait to see if the game progresses further in development."
That is all it is, a way to make a quick buck with no strings attached. H1Z1 and DayZ SA are prime examples of 2 games that would never sell in the state they are in and would need a lot of time and money to reach a point where you could sell them as a final product. So they decided to release them as Early Access and make as much money back as possible now since the Zombie hype is still fresh all the while they have no obligation to ever finish the game.
If you think that it's a good deal then by all means spend your money. It's your money after all. No one says otherwise.
However saying: "Developing a game costs money" or "They need to make money somehow" is not going to fly because up until now big companies had no problem financing games and they still don't because they release other games finished.
So why do you think they do this for some games and not for others?
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PS: You can quote me on this. DayZ and H1Z1 will never be finished or of an acceptable quality. They will be abandoned because the whole zombie survival hype is already on the way out.
I know I'm buying early access so expect to file lots of bug reports and test lots of features, especially if the developer is advertising early access as slpha or beta. The several games I've bought early access for in the past couple of years have been worth it, and I have no regrets.
Having said that, the one thing I've gotten a little "burned" on (and I use that term advisedly) is that some of the early features I loved about the games never made the final cut or were so radically changed that they now bear no resemblance to the original. I know my opinion is in the minority and that games need to sell and make money in order to remain available to players. But the 2-3 times this has happened now has made me wary.
I really appreciate the originality and creativity of the devs who make games, so I enjoy being able to have early access. Edit: I should qualify that I only buy early access from AAA studios.
If you feel you can get your money's worth of fun directly out of the early access phase, then go for it.
If you can't, then don't.
In both cases, try inform yourself about the game and the devs first. (helps to avoid the few black sheep that are around in every potentially lucrative business category)
I highlighted like a grownup because gamers nerd rage to quick over common problems. As for 16 years ago games were expected to be buggy and they should know better now. Games today launch with 10 times more content and systems then say EQ1 did 16 years ago. More systems and types of content means more chance of bugs and stability problems. Also means more ways to exploit and hack.
As for WoW being an awesome launch, WoW was one of the worst MMO launches I have played. The game was so messed up at launch they were handing out free game time hand over fist. Myself I had just over 3 weeks free game time said and done the end of the first month. We look back with rose colored glasses and forget how bad even out fav games launched. I have played almost every triple A MMO launch in the past 16 years and I can only think of 1 MMO that launched smoothly, not many bugs and the quest system was nicly flushed out and also had a decent end game.
Anyone pays for Alpha and demand a working game, their a fool. Pay for beta and expect a working game, still a fool. Pay for headstart of a launch of a new MMO, launching all those massive systems for the first time live and expect things working perfect, still a fool. No one knows how a game as big as an MMO will function when it goes live. Most MMOs take 3-6 months to get working after launch. If you cant handle that, dont play new MMOs. Wait 3-6 months.
EDIT: Nerd raging over early access not being a fully functional game would be like my wife making a cake asked me to taste the cake batter for flavor and I yelled at her because the cake was not fluffy and light.
This guy knows what he's talking about.
They do early access and charge for it because they can. I have a few I'm looking at but never get overly excited till I see the product........which sometimes you never do.....Let's face it , most of us that betaed in the old days did it to get a jump on learning the various areas and game features, not because of a grand desire to further the game. (Those that want to tell me they are pure of heart.....fine, I don't believe you , but then could be because I'm more cynical than I should be
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Now they suck money from us to play......I figure turn about is fair play, because we will pay to get in. If no one would they would stop, but then we will. Some are easier to take than ohters. I paid to get into Landmark to get to play the beta for eqn..........after building till I was blue in the face, I have finally decided eqn is going to happen about the same time as I win the lottery, and have moved on.
Bottom line mate is we can not play till games go gold and stop the early access/beta/alpha tests by not paying into them....then they would go back to letting you play for free to find their bugs, but don't hold your breath.
I know I won't buy another one, till I see that one that could be the next BIG one to win my heart and mind, then I will cough up and most likely be disappointed again (g).
Good luck to you though.
I have never seen a company pay people to beta test, Im am honestly asking, what MMO do you know that paid people to test?
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
It is not good or bad.
People need to understand that just because it's there isn't an insult to them. They don't need to be offended by the idea of it. They can pretend it doesn't exist. It's not like pre ordering from ea or ubi and getting kicked in the ass literally every time for it. This is a way to say "hey... I like the direction that these guys are going. I want to see it through".
With that said... I am against pre orders though. Have been for only a few years. I'm only a little surprised that others haven't figured out the scam yet. But only a little. Considering most people don't know or can even fathom what mmo stands for.
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My only real problem with early access to a game is that when the game come out i will not be playing. I have done a bunch of early access games. I play them for a month or a few months but then stop. If it ever launches I have no idea. When I buy a normal game I play for a month to a few months then I quit for a while like a year or longer depending on the game off and maybe come back.
So for me early access just means that I will most likely not be playing the game a launch or ever. Bad part about this is they loose out on money from me in the long run. I would have spent $60 on there game at launch but they did a early access for around $20. If I play the game at my normal pace I will not make it to launch. For a game company I would think that this happends a lot. I wonder how much money they are missing out on in the long run?
Time to stop this
and back to closed/open beta without need buy
Actual early acess just f*** concepty
Just google it, man!!! There are tons of paid beta jobs out there, you just need to buy the start-up package for $19.95 ;P
Crazkanuk
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I like that it is an option but annoyed that it is "the thing to do in the industry" now. It started with small dev studios that didn't have the funds but now it is this. Also very annoyed with the outcome of the thousands of unhappy gamers that expected more from alphas.
Because they don't publicly talk about their alpha or beta tests. Developers do in house testing with their own QA team. Not as much now.
there are worse cash grabs .. like KS ... getting your customers to pay BEFORE they develop the game.
Disclaimer ... I do NOT use early access ... but i don't see the problem of it as an option. If someone else want to waste their money, it is their problem, not mine.
Don't really care...
From a dev perspective, why not get people to pay to test your game?
From a gamer's perspective, why not play something earlier for a small price?
No one is forced to pay for them, so it's fair.