My problems with "Early Access" games like DayZ, Rust etc...

[PrincessFrosty]

I'm not entirely convinced by it, obviously what the OP says is true, but to be a smart business you cannot give yourself a bad name by screwing fans over in your games, if you hope to take your profit and invest in more games down the road, so there's that to consider.

I don't think the total amount of content we'll see for these games will be bad for their price, although early access prices are ridiculous in a lot of cases (that's a separate issue), I just think that content will roll out over a longer time frame, it could be years before we see these games approach a "finished" state.

Like everything else in the world, some do it better than others, try not to tar all early access game devs with the same brush right now.

 

[KentState]

I made a mistake with BF4 and giving my money up front for future content. They have my money and can now not deliver content like expected as they work on the core game. At least with pre-orders, I can return my purchase if the released game doesn't live up. I will not being paying for unreleased/unknown content again and that includes earl access.

 

[imaheadcase]

I made a mistake with BF4 and giving my money up front for future content. They have my money and can now not deliver content like expected as they work on the core game. At least with pre-orders, I can return my purchase if the released game doesn't live up. I will not being paying for unreleased/unknown content again and that includes earl access.

But you can play that game, and you get all the content. Not sure what you thought..

 

[imaheadcase]

My only complaint about DayZ. I have been running around for 3 days now and all I have managed to find was a bikers helmet, backpack, some coat, a couple of sprites, and a wrench.

I laughed out loud because I was thinking you can do that in real life in less time.

 

[KentState]

But you can play that game, and you get all the content. Not sure what you thought..

You mean content like Second Assault which should already be out, but is delayed? With it being delayed, how much further back will the rest of the Premium content get pushed?

 

[Kneedragger]

Yeah I don't buy early access anymore. I have a back log to keep me busy.... I also stopped buying season passes since they seem to be rolling out the content pretty slow. I'd rather buy it as it comes now.

 

[Lonyo]

I'm not entirely convinced by it, obviously what the OP says is true, but to be a smart business you cannot give yourself a bad name by screwing fans over in your games, if you hope to take your profit and invest in more games down the road, so there's that to consider.

I don't think the total amount of content we'll see for these games will be bad for their price, although early access prices are ridiculous in a lot of cases (that's a separate issue), I just think that content will roll out over a longer time frame, it could be years before we see these games approach a "finished" state.

Like everything else in the world, some do it better than others, try not to tar all early access game devs with the same brush right now.

With at least some devs you can also just look at the track record they have for making and supporting games to get an idea of how secure your investment is.
BIS have a track record of releasing 3 games so far you can base your decision on re: DayZ.
If it's a random unknown developer (e.g. like Minecraft was) then it's riskier because you have nothing to rely on for whether it might get finished or not.

 

[Pr0d1gy]

There was not one mention by anyone that without crowdfunding many of these games would not be made. Things like Wasteland 2 and Shadowrun are old games that probably less than a million people played back in the 80's, so what big game company is going to take that risk?

As with everything, more options creates a more diverse and enjoyable market. Will people abuse crowdfunding? Certainly. That is why it is up to the crowd to do their research before supporting a funded idea. This, in turn, creates both a better product and a more informed consumer who is less likely to run to the internet to cry foul when they finally play the game. It really is a win-win in the long run, but there will surely be some speed bumps as with any new idea.

 

[spaceman]

im not buying anymore early access of any game

 

[TeknoBug]

^ yup don't bother with "early access", and DICE has become a bit lazy with Battlefield 4 and buying Premium doesn't change a thing. DICE said they'd be addressing issues with BF4, that was back in December and BF4 is still plagued with issues while it just received its third DLC Naval Strike (which is 100% not interesting to me).

 

[SMOGZINN]

There was not one mention by anyone that without crowdfunding many of these games would not be made.

Early Access is not crowdfunding. Early Access is intentionally deciving your customers in order to sell your game to them before it is ready.

When inXile put their game up on Kickstarter that was crowdfunding. Everyone there knew that they were gambling on this game being made. Steam Early Access is not the same thing. For one, as I complained earlier, Steam does not do enough to differentiate new games and Early Access games. They even named the system something that made it sound like you were getting a full game early. It is just another version of that old adage 'people will buy anything if you can make them think it is exclusive.'

Early Access is about trying to get the jump on the competition, and if we keep buying it will spiral downwards as each company tries to get their games out just a little earlier to beat the next guy.

 

[Lil Frier]

Yep, it's all really cute when stuff like DayZ and Starbound are the big-name titles, but how pissed will you all be when you get Call of Duty coming out as Early Access? Then those who are ignorant of the downside will get it. You're going to get an even-more-ghetto Call of Duty from Infinity Ward, and it'll sell millions anyway. Every 6 months, a new Call of Duty: Early Access Edition.

 

[TeknoBug]

Early Access is about trying to get the jump on the competition, and if we keep buying it will spiral downwards as each company tries to get their games out just a little earlier to beat the next guy.

Half the games I see with "early access" has no real competition, re Assetto Corsa and DayZ, who are they up against? Anyways, game "release" quality has already been dwindling down in the past decade, look at All Points Bulletin, SWTOR, Age of Conan, BF4, heck even Star Wars: Galaxies a decade ago had a bad quality release but SOE has improved on game completion before release like Planetside 2 and hopefully Everquest: Next. With early access it'll encourage devs to just not complete the game at set deadline as much because they already got your moneys, we'll see how DayZ turns out when it's released.

I just don't like the direction that the video game industry is heading into, I've been a part of PC gaming since the early 90's, The free2play model with cash shop was the start of the downhill ride.

 

[smackababy]

Yep, it's all really cute when stuff like DayZ and Starbound are the big-name titles, but how pissed will you all be when you get Call of Duty coming out as Early Access? Then those who are ignorant of the downside will get it. You're going to get an even-more-ghetto Call of Duty from Infinity Ward, and it'll sell millions anyway. Every 6 months, a new Call of Duty: Early Access Edition.

The only difference is I know that every November a new CoD will be released. I can't say the same for many other "Early Access" games.

I do agree that the name is incredibly misleading and should be stuffed in it's own section. Early Access is even worse than Kickstarter in my opinion (which is something, considering I am very against Kickstarter).

 

[SMOGZINN]

Half the games I see with "early access" has no real competition, re Assetto Corsa and DayZ, who are they up against?

All games compete with each other to some extent. Releasing your RPG game a week ahead of a COD release is much preferable to launching on the same day. Still, I know that DayZ has a ton of competition out there: Rust, 7 Days to Die, State of Decay, Dead Island.

I just don't like the direction that the video game industry is heading into, I've been a part of PC gaming since the early 90's, The free2play model with cash shop was the start of the downhill ride.

Nor do I. That is why I'm trying hard to advocate for more savvy consumers. I'm afraid that is the only thing that will turn it around.

 

[futurefields]

Dean Hall even announced hes quitting DayZ at the end of the year. I have to assume it's because he's already rich off the Early Access money, knows it's a terrible product, and thus has no motivation to continue.

 

[Midwayman]

I bought a couple games via kickstarter that are now early access on steam. The promised delivery dates were months and months ago, yet they are dragging on and on in beta/alpha states. I don't really want to play an unfinished game and I feel like I'm getting screwed by the development model. Early access seems to remove most of the pressure that devs feel to get something out the door. Hopefully that means less bugs, but many teams suffer from feature creep and have a tendency to dawdle without someone cracking the whip.

 

[mooncancook]

I like the idea of early access. To me the ideal early access model will be like this: you get early access discount from the full price of the game (say, $30 for a $40 game). The dev only gets half of the money, in this case, $15. The dev gets the other half when the game is finished. If the game does not gets finished by a certain generous time frame, then the other half should be refunded back to the buyer.

 

[futurefields]

Plus you lose out on the experience of playing a full polished game. You get it in pieces. The Wasteland 2 devs are even having the EA buyers help write the end of the game or something like that. As if i want to play a game partly written by a bunch of EA goobers.

 

[SMOGZINN]

I bought a couple games via kickstarter that are now early access on steam. The promised delivery dates were months and months ago, yet they are dragging on and on in beta/alpha states. I don't really want to play an unfinished game and I feel like I'm getting screwed by the development model. Early access seems to remove most of the pressure that devs feel to get something out the door. Hopefully that means less bugs, but many teams suffer from feature creep and have a tendency to dawdle without someone cracking the whip.

I'm doing the same thing, and it does feel like everyone but me is playing Wastelands 2 and Divinity:OS.

I tell myself that those games would probably have been released in their Early Access state as finished products if it was not for Early Access.

 

[Midwayman]

I'm doing the same thing, and it does feel like everyone but me is playing Wastelands 2 and Divinity:OS.

I tell myself that those games would probably have been released in their Early Access state as finished products if it was not for Early Access.

Its especially disappointing for Divinity:OS as what they showed for the KS promo looked like pretty finished work.

 

[Lil Frier]

I like the idea of early access. To me the ideal early access model will be like this: you get early access discount from the full price of the game (say, $30 for a $40 game). The dev only gets half of the money, in this case, $15. The dev gets the other half when the game is finished. If the game does not gets finished by a certain generous time frame, then the other half should be refunded back to the buyer.

Except "finished" can be claimed at any time. The developers could agree to that, half-ass it the whole way, then call it "Released" on the last day before refunds would be due. There's no definition of a "finished" game, so they have no way to determine when a game is unfinished vs. bad.

 

[mooncancook]

Except "finished" can be claimed at any time. The developers could agree to that, half-ass it the whole way, then call it "Released" on the last day before refunds would be due. There's no definition of a "finished" game, so they have no way to determine when a game is unfinished vs. bad.

True. Just wonder how does Steam right now determine if a game is ready for Early Access?

 

[SMOGZINN]

True. Just wonder how does Steam right now determine if a game is ready for Early Access?

They don't. There are games currently on Steam Early Access that literally will not load. Last week there was one that crashed Steam if you hit play (they pushed an update this week so it no longer crashes the Steam client, but still fails to load.)

 

[Pr0d1gy]

Early Access is not crowdfunding. Early Access is intentionally deciving your customers in order to sell your game to them before it is ready.

If you read my entire comment at no point did I mention Early Access. You're arguing with yourself.

Since you decided to chime in my direction, I will jump in and comment on it. Early Access is a good thing in the right hands and the worst of things in the wrong hands. You are definitely taking your chances, but really not any more than you would flopping down $60 for a release day game. It's not like you can return one and not the other dude. So what is the difference? Motivation.

If a company is motivated to stay in business and make the most money they can then they will actively participate in the development of the game even after they made the lion's share of their money on it, and especially while it is in pre-release. Of course, if Curt Schilling is running the company then it will probably end poorly for the consumer.

As a video game consumer, or really a consumer of any entertainment, you have no guarantee that you will get your money's worth......EVER. So why all the crying about this?

The downhill slide of gaming started well before Early Access was ever around guys, wake the fuck up.