Has early access soured Steam for you?

[endtherapture]

I can't be the only one in these Steam sales to see a promising looking game come on a daily or flash offer only to click on it and find it an Early Access game.

I really don't agree with the idea of an early access games being sold alongside finished products in the Daily Deals and promoted so heavily - they should have their own separate section of Steam. I just don't like the idea of buying a game and advertising it alongside AAA products.

What do you think of this? It's obviously only become a recent issue with Steam but it's still weird.

 

[Bravo Company]

I don't have a problem with early access. If you're excited for a game and want to play it now, and aren't afraid to spend some money on that, great. If you don't want to buy a work-in-progress then don't buy it. It is pretty simple.


Steam still offers finished games on crazy sales. Early access is an additional thing to have. Best case scenario, you get to support some devs and get a game you want early. Worst case scenario is you ignore it.

 

[Barbas]

Nah, I just ignore it. The Steam sales make it easier; you nab a great game and that's you pretty much set. Nothing can bother you. It's like being drunk, but without the vomity shoes.

My annoyance over the issue has died down over time.

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

I treat them like a pre-order, with a free demo. If they are cheap in a deal I will buy it on the hope it will be a good game in the future. Then I play what there is so far, and that usually lets me know that it is fun!

If I don't like the look of the game yet I will just ignore it all together. As long as it sticks to the Indie games then I am fine... I don't want to start seeing 'The Witcher 4 Early Access, only £39.99, play 1 level now before the company goes bust' or 'Croc 3: Wrath of the Gobbos, the gritty new reboot. Buy this test level now for £25.99, or for £35.99 you can have the original 2 games in SD and HD versions as well as your name in the source code of the new release.' That stuff irks me...

In fact... Why do they sell HD remakes with SD versions? Why would you choose to play the original bad looking one if you have and can run the updated version?

 

[Doom972]

It's a bit disappointing when a game looks interesting to me and then I find out that it's an Early Access game. I don't pay for unfinished games.

 

[Shpongled]

It's a bit disappointing when a game looks interesting to me and then I find out that it's an Early Access game. I don't pay for unfinished games.

To be fair, it's a bit disappointing when a game looks interesting to me and then i find out it's not very good. I don't buy not very good games.

I see no debate about whether games that aren't very good should be sold on Steam. I'd like to think that's because most people have the presence of mind to understand that a games playability is completely subjective, and as such deciding whether games should be sold to the general public based on their own personal subjective opinions of them is silly.

Unfortunately, a number of gamers appear to lack the mental capacity to wrap their heads around this concept, and have assumed that because they, personally, aren't interested in Early Access, that no one else is (or should be), and therefore their public sale on Steam is an affront some sort of imagined gaming standards agreement.

 

[Keoul]

I don't really mind.
Early access or not, if it's a good game then I have nothing to complain about. Putting them on the front page seems like a good thing to me too, sure some of em are shit but now they're getting the exposure that they wouldn't get otherwise which would help get them funds to grow even better.

 

[endtherapture]

It's a bit disappointing when a game looks interesting to me and then I find out that it's an Early Access game. I don't pay for unfinished games.

To be fair, it's a bit disappointing when a game looks interesting to me and then i find out it's not very good. I don't buy not very good games.

I see no debate about whether games that aren't very good should be sold on Steam. I'd like to think that's because most people have the presence of mind to understand that a games playability is completely subjective, and as such deciding whether games should be sold to the general public based on their own personal subjective opinions of them is silly.

Unfortunately, a number of gamers appear to lack the mental capacity to wrap their heads around this concept, and have assumed that because they, personally, aren't interested in Early Access, that no one else is (or should be), and therefore their public sale on Steam is an affront some sort of imagined gaming standards agreement.

Do you not think it a bit dodgy and unfriendly to consumers that unfinished goods are being advertised next to finished goods?

Imagine if on a menu at a restaurant they were selling fully cooked dinner alongside a plate of half prepared ingredients, and you had to read very small print to see which was which?

 

[AmberSword]

Well, I am not bothered by early access being on steam, that's subjective, for every game that does it horribly there's still that one game that gets it right, so if people believe the system is still beneficial then that's fine.

What I am bothered by though, is early access games being on sale, I believe buying into early access means you are essentially paying to play-test a game (for a slightly cheaper price), and are willing to bear with the risks associated with this. Such risks include huge bugs, incomplete features, and the drama associated with games like these. I heard Dean Hall, head developer of DayZ abandoned his game a few months ago, issue probably resolved, I didn't follow this closely, but I have no doubt this news gave some players heart-attacks at the time.

So what this means is, I believe one should never buy this sort of game unless they are willing to subject themselves to these risks. The trade-off being the privilege to try the game early, often times accompanied by close ties to its development, at a slightly cheaper price.

When you put an early access game on sale, you essentially attract the wrong sort of crowd, you shouldn't be encouraging people to get your game in this way, its against the very principle of early access.

The mentality should be: "Alright, I'm gonna buy this game, I'll probably encounter lots of problems, but I'm willing to support the devs and help them sort this out"

and NOT: "Wow, this game looks good, oh thumbs ups everywhere in the reviews, OMG its on sale!"

You can probably guess where I'm getting at. It still is personal opinion, I expect many to disagree with me, and I respect anyone who does.

 

[Shpongled]

It's a bit disappointing when a game looks interesting to me and then I find out that it's an Early Access game. I don't pay for unfinished games.

To be fair, it's a bit disappointing when a game looks interesting to me and then i find out it's not very good. I don't buy not very good games.

I see no debate about whether games that aren't very good should be sold on Steam. I'd like to think that's because most people have the presence of mind to understand that a games playability is completely subjective, and as such deciding whether games should be sold to the general public based on their own personal subjective opinions of them is silly.

Unfortunately, a number of gamers appear to lack the mental capacity to wrap their heads around this concept, and have assumed that because they, personally, aren't interested in Early Access, that no one else is (or should be), and therefore their public sale on Steam is an affront some sort of imagined gaming standards agreement.

Do you not think it a bit dodgy and unfriendly to consumers that unfinished goods are being advertised next to finished goods?

Imagine if on a menu at a restaurant they were selling fully cooked dinner alongside a plate of half prepared ingredients, and you had to read very small print to see which was which?

Very small print? Where are you looking? When you mouse over a game it'll say if it's Early Access under Genre. When you go on a games store page theres a big blue box telling you that it's early access. When you scroll down to read the blurb, you will be informed that the game is in Early Access.

You are informed at literally every single point of information about Early Access.

If some restaurant opened up that found they could stay in business by offering both full, ready-made meals, and partially made meals, and made a point to inform consumers which meals were which, then i would have no issuewhatsoever. In fact i'd be happy that people with a fondness for half-made meals finally have somewhere they can enjoy their hobby.

 

[endtherapture]

Very small print? Where are you looking? When you mouse over a game it'll say if it's Early Access under Genre. When you go on a games store page theres a big blue box telling you that it's early access. When you scroll down to read the blurb, you will be informed that the game is in Early Access.

You are informed at literally every single point of information about Early Access.

If some restaurant opened up that found they could stay in business by offering both full, ready-made meals, and partially made meals, and made a point to inform consumers which meals were which, then i would have no issuewhatsoever. In fact i'd be happy that people with a fondness for half-made meals finally have somewhere they can enjoy their hobby.

I don't believe in early access as a thing anyway. You shouldn't have to pay for the privelege of playtesting a game that may never come out or be finished properly. I also agree somewhat that my restaurant analogy was bad, but can't they keep early access games in a different section of the site to other games?

You see games like Bioshock, Far Cry, Half Life, Skyrim, AAA finished games alongside completed indie games such as Bastion, Chivalry etc. in this sale, which is fine. To stick the "Early Access" games jumbled in with these on the Steam sale is not something I agree with. They should be categorised better.

 

[Eve Charm]

Ya it's a little bit of bs. The whole idea is " Your buying the game to help with the development on it blah blah blah" So why would this show up on the sale page? why would it be on sale to get devs less money to help build there game, It negates the whole point of early access not getting devs their money. They don't need to push sales, they need to finish their damn game first.

 

[Sanderpower]

Personally I do, I never buy early access games. There is no guarantee that the creators will finish the game, or if they do finish, WHEN they actually will. Hell I know games on Steam that have been on early access for about 2 years now. 2 YEARS OF DEVELOPMENT TIME AND STILL IN EARLY ACCESS.

To me, Early Access is an excuse. An excuse for a developer not to finish a game and still get money for it because people are willing to spend money for a game only partially done. What's worse is that I keep seeing these Early Access games on the Steam front page. Games that a have a good chance of never being completed are being shoved onto the front page instead of games that are actually done.

That little rant being over...
Can somebody actually name me an Early Access game that ended up completed? I mean ones on Steam specifically, not other games such as Minecraft

 

[Summerstorm]

Eh, i like early access games. I REALLY like them, even though i bought about 2 or three which were wasted money and a few others which are good, but are very slow to develop and thus frustrating to play. But overall i have a highly positive experience. The games are usually of higher complexity and have innovative and creative components AND higher quality and production values of the usual "I build a game over the last year in VBA/Flash/RPG Maker2000"- games which come out finished and creative but lacking in scope, art assets or testing.

So i wholeheartedly support steam as long as they mark them (as they do)

 

[Sanderpower]

I see games that have been on Early Access for two years now. Two years of development and if a developer still hasn't finished a game, he's either incompetent or running a racket.

I can't think of a single Early Access game has has came off Early Access. There is no time limit or guarantees or anything.

Early Access is sort of making me lose respect for Steam. I mean you see so many rip offs and scams on their website, and often times they don't do anything about it. You have to scroll down to the reviews on a steam page just to make sure the game isn't a scam.

 

[endtherapture]

Personally I do, I never buy early access games. There is no guarantee that the creators will finish the game, or if they do finish, WHEN they actually will. Hell I know games on Steam that have been on early access for about 2 years now. 2 YEARS OF DEVELOPMENT TIME AND STILL IN EARLY ACCESS.

To me, Early Access is an excuse. An excuse for a developer not to finish a game and still get money for it because people are willing to spend money for a game only partially done. What's worse is that I keep seeing these Early Access games on the Steam front page. Games that a have a good chance of never being completed are being shoved onto the front page instead of games that are actually done.

That little rant being over...
Can somebody actually name me an Early Access game that ended up completed? I mean ones on Steam specifically, not other games such as Minecraft

Divinity Original Sin is going to be released soon. But that has a really weird history. It stated off as a normal Larian game, then went to Kickstarter and added a load of stuff, then finally got released as Early Access. I still wasn't a fan of Early Access in that case, because they seemed really on track to finish the game, but since the beta got released they just added stuff to the game and updated it and pushing out upates, and the game slipped release date by 8 months...so yeah I'm really not sure. It should come out fully soon though. I backed it on Kickstarter and wasn't expecting the alpha/beta rather than buying it on Early Access though.

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

it doesnt affect me really, and there are more than enough spots on the front page to go around

 

[sanquin]

I don't have a problem with early access as a whole, but I do have a problem with how steam handles it. Now, when I go through the sales I skip any game that even looks like an early access or shovelware game. I get that starting indie/unknown developers don't have much resources most of the time. But there is no excuse for releasing a game that looks like it was put together in a few days just to get some quick cash.

I want early access to go back to what it meant at first. As in, pre-ordering to be able to play the game a few days before the official release date. Not the bullshit it is now, where blatantly unfinished or garbage games can already be bought. All while a lot of these 'early access' games stay in early access for months, even years. That's not early access. That's trying to grab as much money as possible from gullible people. And very often I also see an undertone of "let's hope they buy our unfinished game that will probably be crap when it's finished, so we can make some quick money before they realize it's crap."

 

[AmberSword]

I suggest people take a look at Valve's own take on early access, especially "When will these games release"
Long story short, Valve's response is that they may never be finished.

http://store.steampowered.com/earlyaccessfaq

I've already made my point, and I don't know about others, but I wouldn't offer sales on these games.

 

[Valkrex]

Personally I do, I never buy early access games. There is no guarantee that the creators will finish the game, or if they do finish, WHEN they actually will. Hell I know games on Steam that have been on early access for about 2 years now. 2 YEARS OF DEVELOPMENT TIME AND STILL IN EARLY ACCESS.

To me, Early Access is an excuse. An excuse for a developer not to finish a game and still get money for it because people are willing to spend money for a game only partially done. What's worse is that I keep seeing these Early Access games on the Steam front page. Games that a have a good chance of never being completed are being shoved onto the front page instead of games that are actually done.

That little rant being over...
Can somebody actually name me an Early Access game that ended up completed? I mean ones on Steam specifically, not other games such as Minecraft

Contagion released recently, and its actually a rather interesting zombie game. I wouldn't have bought into it during the early access phase, but as it stands it has enough content and polish to warrant a release and the devs agreed apparently. As to whether or not its worth full price, that's up to you. I got it for $5 on a daily deal, and I'm certainly happy with my purchase.

OT:

Most of what I was going to say has already been said. I tend to stay away from early access as there are a large number of bad games exploiting it, and I'd rather have a full game when I drop some money on one. There are some good devs that are honestly doing it make a good game, I mean look at BroForce. That games a BLAST, but its still got a ways to go until completion, and the developers are pretty transparent as to what features are currently missing, in development, and planned for the future.

I just want a way to filter them out of the front page in a similar way that there's that little tick-box for showing DLC.

EDIT: Also Insurgency. That games a ton of fun, and it went for a full release and dropped the Early Access title several months ago.