Early Access Shouldn't be a Dirty Word for Gamers

[Merlin]

90% of my experiences with early access games have been bad. In most circumstances what I see is the developers taking money and then never finishing the game, or rushing the game to release when presales drop only for the game to be half-finished and full of bugs. Burn me once, okay shit happens - burn me 5-6 times and I start to learn my lesson.

I never did buy, but I am glad I didn't, and always felt bad for the people who bought into it initially.

Developers have burned the bridge at this point. I honestly have no more sympathy for people who buy into early access and get scammed anymore. After this much time we have had enough experience to know it isn't a good idea. Its like any investment, don't invest money you aren't willing to lose and don't complain when you lose.

[k4far]

Early Access stands for pay us money for incomplete game, we will ask you for money again before releasing full game, in-game payments might apply then we might decide we will be not shipping a full product sucks to be you dude!

[Spect3r]

No way i will knowingly pay for an incomplete product.

[Noobc0re]

It's an unfinished product. They used to have to pay people to test that shit, now they sell it!

Also, $20-$30? If a game costs $30 it better fucking deliver, it better be one hell of a game! An unfinished game for that price is basically unacceptable for me.

[Cattraknoff]

Unfinished doesn't mean unfun. Rimworld was a fun game worth hundreds of hours of play long before it was finished. The same goes for a fair number of other Early Access games. To me the question is, is it a playable and fun game at the point of early-access? If it's already a fun game, just incomplete and missing some content, then that's okay.

These days buying Paradox Games is like buying an Early Access game at a full-price pricepoint only to pay more for DLC as they finish the game over a span of years. I and others put up with it because no one can scratch the grand strategy itch like they do.

But many Early Access from indy companies arent so money-hungry. Some release an already-playable game but do need time, even years, to complete the vision while providing something pretty good in the meantime, and all for a reasonable price. There are some truly GREAT early access indy devs out there who deserve our support.

[TelperionST]

Cattraknoff

Very fair point about Paradox Interactive: you go to the forums and you will be regularly reminded that every time they release a full game or patch (and DLC) it is an Open Beta. Wait a month or two and the beta build will be hammered into a solid state - until they rip up the game engine again with another patch (and DLC).