Elden Ring.
Preordering is not the same as early access.
Unless it's AAA EA, then it's just called getting robbed.
There are countless great games in early access, too. The right early access game that is regularly updated can be the same as getting a game with a shit-ton of free DLC. In fact, sometimes buying a game that will continue to grow over time is better than buying a game that is done and will no longer change.
Satisfactory is a good example of this.
It can be a viable model for a smaller studio to raise the income they need to complete their game. Of course, as with anything humans do, there are shitheads who exploit the model for financial gain.
DayZ comes to mind as a large studio that still screwed with this.
coughs Cloud Imperium / Star Citizen
Absolutely ridiculous level of feature creep!
I have no problems paying for early access indie games even if they never gets full playable game. I have problems with established game devs putting billions into advertising shitty half assed games
I guess I'm the problem for sure, I have bought well over 50 early access games. That said, I don't understand why people get their panties all in a twist about it. A lot of the time it is small developers, and they're up front about their plan and progress. I get being pissed at games being released as "complete" when they're definitely not, but it just seems petulant to shit on early access as a concept.
Personally, I really enjoy seeing a game grow into something which has been directly influenced by its users. It's a fun experience to me, and I rarely feel like I have been burned. So yeah, maybe chill out.
If developers didn’t abuse early access I might be more sympathetic but too many seem to think it’s a catch all excuse for not having to address problems in the game. Especially when it’s been early access for years.
Looking at you Rust...
Yeah, I get that there are some bad actors there, and its a gamble. Just feels like you're an old dude yelling at the clouds. It's an outlet for small developers, and obviously it's a popular avenue for that. People can invest in games they believe in, and if they can't take the gamble they can stay away from it. There's no logical reason why you care about what the rest of us do if you're not into buying early access games.
I've gotten bit by it a few times, and am generally annoyed at the incomplete nature of games lately.
It's at the point where I've sworn off Early Acess games. I don't dislike the concept, I just don't like using my free time on incomplete or in progress experiences. If I wanted to do that, I'd buy any AAA game that launches with a season pass...
It's not an experience everyone desires no matter how fun it can be. Really, Steam just needs to make Early Access games more visible as Early Access, and then hold them to a higher standard than the goons who ride it out for years and years with little progress. Or worse; constant ADHD change.
Leave the games-as-a-service thing to the MMOs, subscriptions, and donations, not ostensibly "normal", downloaded and installed games: Steam has allowed it to become too much of a crutch for those who aren't getting the ball rolling even after getting that Early Access money.
If they want to continue funding alpha-stage products or products without a vision, they need to make it feel less like buying a normal game, because that's what people will expect. It doesn't have to be drastically different. Just inconvenient enough to make it obvious you're not getting a complete product. Like the purchase doesn't download anything because it is quite literally a beta product that doesn't have a released version. Players could opt in to any released beta versions the normal way in the game's properties.
I say all of this as someone who both loves 7 Days to Die (a big offender of riding the status) and as someone who has sworn off getting any more Early Access games. They just aren't good enough experiences on average to justify being as easy as normal, complete games. Even the good ones you hear about early aren't worth it for me: I don't want to dig in and burn myself out on a game I cannot even finish, yet.
Same experience here, they must've only played the bad ones
well this is obviously all your fault
I'll buy indie games early access if I'll be satisfied with the price if it never gets finished. I never ever preorder and am generally in the patient gamers camp for triple A games.
Examples of EA games I got and were satisfied with:
Slay the spire
Risk of rain 2
Deep rock galactic
Hardspace shipbreaker
Peglin
Satisfactory
Phantom abyss
I read EA as in Electronic arts and I was like Bro how does ea own peglin
peglin is fantastic, play it all my phone all the time
True. The thing is, most of the people would never care and would preorder the next CoD, AC or whatever every time. Unless there's some huge scandal involved (the one that people talk about outside of Reddit)
I pre-ordered Tears of the Kingdom, though not until just a couple of months before it released, and do not regret it at all.
Not all game developers are like Nintendo. And Nintendo certainly has its problems. But releasing unfinished games isn't one of them.
I legit am scared about Microsoft attempting to acquire Nintendo. They're the only developer left that isn't on this enshittification train to hell. Even Nintendo-adjacent developers (GameFreak/"The Pokemon Company") are falling into these traps.
I just want to buy a $70 game that's feature-complete and isn't full of tricks of human psychology to try and wring another $150 out of me later...
Not every fucking game has to be a monthly service. Why the FUCK would I ever pay a console company $X/month to access my own fucking internet?
Fuck Microsoft. Fuck modern game studios. Return to monke. Buy Indie titles.
Factorio felt complete way before it left early access.
Pay for games? My local library gets at least a half a dozen copies of every new AAA game at release. I place a hold, get it for 3 weeks, extended to 6 weeks if nobody wants it right away. I don't like to pickup new games though, I wait for patches.
I have never had a bad experience with an early access game. I generally only buy early access games from indie studios I am already familiar with, and have never purchased an early access AAA game. I genuinely enjoyed the early access aspect of several games, playing them through different stages in development extends the playtime in my opinion. Every new update feels like free DLC, but the game I purchased felt complete already. In my opinion, early access is far better than kickstarter for games, since at least there is a game you are purchasing and gameplay footage is publicly available, but sometimes these are legitimately the only ways to fund a game.
Baldur's Gate 3
