DICE Considering "Early Access" System For Battlefield

[Steven Bogos]

DICE Considering "Early Access" System For Battlefield

You mean Battlefield 4 wasn't already early access? Could have fooled me.

The concept of "early access" games has really taken off on Steam in recent years, with developers being able to sell an early, alpha version of their game to eager fans, whose feedback will help develop the final game. There are some drawbacks, of course, such as some developers abandoning their games before they are finished [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/134285-Towns-Developer-Officially-Abandons-The-Game], leaving the early access buyers high and dry, but when it's done right, it can be a pretty good system. DICE and EA games are now, somewhat ironically, considering using such a system for its future Battlefield titles.

We have nothing to announce, but we are having discussions when it comes to [early access]," DICE general manager Karl Magnus Troedsson told Game Informer [http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2014/06/12/ea-and-dice-considering-early-access-for-future-battlefield-titles.aspx]. "It comes not from a business perspective, but more from a perspective of if it would help us have a stable launch of the game."

If early access were to come to a head, Troedsson said he would like to involve the players as much as possible in its inception. "We would ask our players in a controlled way," he says. "We probably wouldn't open the floodgates for everyone, but we might do it for geographical territories or people who bought the last game. Yes, it is something we are considering, not from a business standpoint, but from one of creating quality in our products."

The irony comes from the fact that many felt that Battlefield 4, with its halt DLC development [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/131770-EA-Speaks-Out-on-Battlefield-4-Post-Launch-Issues] so it could focus on fixing the broken game.

Source: Game Informer [http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2014/06/12/ea-and-dice-considering-early-access-for-future-battlefield-titles.aspx]

Permalink

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

Somehow I don't think DICE's first commitment recently has been a stable launch. Battlefield 4 had an open beta, but if you're not willing to actually fix the shit that's wrong in a timely manner, I don't know what to tell you.

 

[unstabLized]

Sure. From a quality standpoint. Definitely.

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

You mean Battlefield 4 wasn't already early access? Could have fooled me.

God dammit Steve, I was going to make that joke

Somehow I don't think DICE's first commitment recently has been a stable launch. Battlefield 4 had an open beta, but if you're not willing to actually fix the shit that's wrong in a timely manner, I don't know what to tell you.

Personally, I think the reason why this game is in it's current state is because of COD: Ghosts.
If EA didn't force DICE to beat it to the selves, it then wouldn't be in it's current state.

 

[mirage202]

EA with Early Access.

Oh man this is going to be a shit storm to watch from a distance with absolute glee.

 

[epicdwarf]

It takes a lot already to get me to just an indie team to finnish a early access game. EA would find a way to fuck it up. Probably by keeping the game in alpha for a good 2 years.

 

[Metalrocks]

are these guys for real? they didnt listen to other players opinions with the alpha version (which still worked better then the final product) and now they want to make early access for the upcoming BF title? how about they should take their time and finish the game off properly.
i still cant play BF4 after the new patch.

 

[vallorn]

Well...

Spoiler

I'm starting to think EA are a fifth column in the triple A world trying to be the most ridiculously anti consumer publisher of them all to turn people away from bullshit practices by taking them to extremes. Or maybe they are just a lot of colossal buffoons who don't think about how people will view things like this.

Well at least if they pull this shit they might turn people off of the Early Access scams like that Earth 2066 game.

 

[A-D.]

Well...

Spoiler

I'm starting to think EA are a fifth column in the triple A world trying to be the most ridiculously anti consumer publisher of them all to turn people away from bullshit practices by taking them to extremes. Or maybe they are just a lot of colossal buffoons who don't think about how people will view things like this.

Well at least if they pull this shit they might turn people off of the Early Access scams like that Earth 2066 game.

When you said buffoons..i just had to think of I am Weasel, in which case EA would be I.R.Baboon. Which begs the question who the weasel in that analogy is because i cant think of one. Long story short, there are no good publishers left, a few "decent" ones..but yeah they all pull this stuff. EA is just the kind of moron thats loud and proud about their fucking up..its like the little kid who yells loudly that he just shit his pants.

OT:
On the other hand, its hard to see how they could fuck it up more, i mean consider BF4's current state, for all intents and purposes, it might as well be Early Access already because its still not finished, yet its already sold. If done correctly, as a system, Early Access isnt bad, sure you can argue that "you pay for the right to beta" but actually you're paying for the finished future product, which might not come in case of some indies, but with EA and big publishers at the back, i dont think they'd just let some project rot in the cellar, at least it would be finished eventually, it might not be the best thing ever, but it would not get randomly abandoned.

Point being, if done right, it could work out, if done badly, its essentially the final nail in the coffin for early access.

 

[Mangod]

Well...

Spoiler

I'm starting to think EA are a fifth column in the triple A world trying to be the most ridiculously anti consumer publisher of them all to turn people away from bullshit practices by taking them to extremes. Or maybe they are just a lot of colossal buffoons who don't think about how people will view things like this.

Well at least if they pull this shit they might turn people off of the Early Access scams like that Earth 2066 game.

When you said buffoons..i just had to think of I am Weasel, in which case EA would be I.R.Baboon. Which begs the question who the weasel in that analogy is because i cant think of one. Long story short, there are no good publishers left, a few "decent" ones..but yeah they all pull this stuff. EA is just the kind of moron thats loud and proud about their fucking up..its like the little kid who yells loudly that he just shit his pants.

OT:
On the other hand, its hard to see how they could fuck it up more, i mean consider BF4's current state, for all intents and purposes, it might as well be Early Access already because its still not finished, yet its already sold. If done correctly, as a system, Early Access isnt bad, sure you can argue that "you pay for the right to beta" but actually you're paying for the finished future product, which might not come in case of some indies, but with EA and big publishers at the back, i dont think they'd just let some project rot in the cellar, at least it would be finished eventually, it might not be the best thing ever, but it would not get randomly abandoned.

Point being, if done right, it could work out, if done badly, its essentially the final nail in the coffin for early access.

... could you imagine Capcom doing Early Access? "Here's the new Megaman! Buy it on Early Access!" 6 weeks later: "Oh yeah, the next Megaman has been canceled. See ya!" *drives away with all the money*

 

[Ipsen]

Is EA simply emulating any trend in the gaming industry involving consumer transaction? This...just looks like some weird (and blatantly insidious) grab for relevance.

DICE shouldn't need to Early Access its projects; I was under the impression Early Access was (read:SHOULD BE) a payment method for developers who had little to no funding to at least get an alpha/concept build into the wild, and consumer feedback + money would help the game develop properly. DICE should be getting funding for whatever they do through EA's approval (unless they're striking it independent now). With that, both EA and consumers expect a certain amount of presentation value out of DICE's work out of the gate. This can only smack of DICE and EA reaching into consumers' pockets.

 

[Dandark]

No guys it all makes sense.

If Battlefield is early access then EA can just blame that for the reason it's a crappy barely functioning game! Even years after it's release!

 

[Michael Tabbut]

Well...

Spoiler

I'm starting to think EA are a fifth column in the triple A world trying to be the most ridiculously anti consumer publisher of them all to turn people away from bullshit practices by taking them to extremes. Or maybe they are just a lot of colossal buffoons who don't think about how people will view things like this.

Well at least if they pull this shit they might turn people off of the Early Access scams like that Earth 2066 game.

When you said buffoons..i just had to think of I am Weasel, in which case EA would be I.R.Baboon. Which begs the question who the weasel in that analogy is because i cant think of one. Long story short, there are no good publishers left, a few "decent" ones..but yeah they all pull this stuff. EA is just the kind of moron thats loud and proud about their fucking up..its like the little kid who yells loudly that he just shit his pants.

OT:
On the other hand, its hard to see how they could fuck it up more, i mean consider BF4's current state, for all intents and purposes, it might as well be Early Access already because its still not finished, yet its already sold. If done correctly, as a system, Early Access isnt bad, sure you can argue that "you pay for the right to beta" but actually you're paying for the finished future product, which might not come in case of some indies, but with EA and big publishers at the back, i dont think they'd just let some project rot in the cellar, at least it would be finished eventually, it might not be the best thing ever, but it would not get randomly abandoned.

Point being, if done right, it could work out, if done badly, its essentially the final nail in the coffin for early access.

... could you imagine Capcom doing Early Access? "Here's the new Megaman! Buy it on Early Access!" 6 weeks later: "Oh yeah, the next Megaman has been canceled. See ya!" *drives away with all the money*

I think that if Capcom did that they would finally go bankrupt or at the very least be sued to hell and back.
OT: Dear EA,
Quit while you are ahead. As much as I despise you already for a myriad amount reasons already said by everybody who has an opinion, I at least want to see something positive from you guys. An Early Access program with your track record would just piss people of the vocal minority/majority off even further.

 

[zehydra]

Early Access for a AAA developer is laughable.

But that's okay, because even if they did that, it would bite them in the ass so hard they'd never think about doing it again.

 

[42]

Jim Sterling called it.

 

[james.sponge]

Hey EA! How about early access with bonus DLC packs?

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Jim Sterling called it.

Everybody with a brain called it. Publishers have no shame. They will do whatever they think is going to make them more money. And people will still buy their shit.

 

[Floppertje]

They can do with battlefield whatever they want, I stopped caring about 3 games ago. But DO NOT screw up Battlefront! Seriously. no microtransactions, no early access bullshit, no always-online DRM... just give me battlefront 2 HD and I'll be happy. bonus points for improving on it, neverending fury for screwing it up.

 

[KaZuYa]

Too late Battlefield 4 killed the franchise, I'm never going back and now they are trying to sell a new Battlefield game less than 12 months later with the current game still utterly broken and I'm going put money on that Hardline will run the same code as BF4 and have exactly the same issues and EA will know and still sell it.

 

[RealRT]

EA games on early access is like puking on a pile of shit. If those were what they considered finished games, I dread to learn what they consider early access.