I propose 2024 is the year of early access games boycott.
Bring back completed games only.
It’s like when you buy something half finished with a big IOU stapled to it, you don’t know what you’re actually buying or something 😱
Some of the best games ever made are early access. Like Project Zomboid.
The worst buy I ever did, boring ass game
Why the fuck did you buy it then? Like haven’t you looked it up before wasting money?
I mean, just do a little due diligence, Jesus. I’ve bought PalWorld, Planet Crafter, Traveler’s Rest, and more in early access and had a blast with all of them. In fact, I’d say it’s some of the best bang for my buck in the last ten years of gaming. I’ve also not bought early access games because the five minutes of due diligence suggested that it was a garbage game.
I particularly think it’s fine with small, indie studios that don’t have a lot of devs or resources. No way in fuck am I buying an early access AAA release.
Yep. The indie boom that PC gaming experienced would not have been possible without early access funding, full stop.
Not every early access title has gone perfectly and there are some studios that have gamed the system.
Still, the stuff that managed to make it through the process and become successful has been some of the only stuff saving us from a live service hellscape
Eh, I bought Grounded in Early Access. Maye by Obsidian and backed by Microsoft. I think this should count as AAA. Also I think you don’t mean that “small, indie studio” cause those are few and far between. Sons of the Forest? They have a Publisher (literally the opposite of being independent). I think there are lots of games which you have put into that category that are not actually indie devs at all. Anyway, my point is just that it’s not a black and white issue.
Couldn’t agree more.
Games like Valheim or Satisfactory have also been great, despite technically still being in early Access. And, looking back, Risk of Rain 2, Hades and Dead Cells developers have all done excellent job at using early access to develop their games and listen to the community.
Early access, just like any other development model, is a tool. All depends on how it is used.
It’d be nice, if those AAA games were at least marked as early access instead of just being released and sold as something finished. But yes, you’re correct.
Pocketpair releasing Palworld into Early Access when Craftopia is still in Early Access leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth
Same. I love both, but when I purchased craftopia I was funding the development of craftopia, not palworld. They’re a small company so I kinda get it, but it still has me concerned that they’re not going to properly finish craftopia.
I think it unfortunately just comes down to money. Craftopia wasn’t popular enough to pay the bills to finish it.
We’ll see what happens with palworld. If they abandon it too then we’ll know they’re just scumbags. But if they finish it then we’ll know abandoning craftopia was a financial need.
I can’t say I’ve ever played Craftopia, but after hearing about this I went to the steam page to see for myself. They have released consistent large updates in the last 6 months and even since the launch of Palworld.
Most of the reviews from people who’ve played it mention it’s getting review bombed because of this mis-information and is actually quite good.
Seems to me if they can pull off making two games with multiple teams both which continue to have development, I say more power to them. I’m enjoying Palworld and will at some point check out Craftopia now because of it.
Same, I looked at craftopia and thought “palworld is an obvious cash grab”, which it might end up being. I’m glad people are having fun now, but I’m not buying into its future :)
I’ve read they also have a HollowKnight look-alike in the works as well.
The HK ripoff is called “Never grave” and they are stretching their resources thin on three unfinished products simultaneously
Satisfactory I bought for 30 dollars 4 years ago and it’s sitting at 1,600 hours for me. I think sweeping general statements are really the bad guy here
the journey of this game is wild.
it was super fun from the get go years ago, but somehow every single update made it better and better.
i haven’t seen a game with such a focus on quality of life updates before. that team is glorious
Right? People need to take a little responsibility. If you want early access, expect issues. If you don’t want to see issues, wait. Easy. What’s the point complaining about a company providing early access or other gamers purchasing it? You don’t need to make it your business, just don’t buy the game yet if it bothers you.
My rule is that it has to be an enjoyable experience in the game’s current state. Factorio was fantastic years before it left early access. I bought Space Engineers practically as soon as it hit, before there was even proper weapons in the game, and I had a blast building space ships.
I’m holding off on Palworld. I’m sure what’s there is enjoyable for many people, but I’d like to see the endgame fleshed out a bit first.
What do you mean? Suicide squad early access purchasers got their games automatically completed!
Spares them from actually having to play it.
RimWorld, Subnautica, darkest dungeon, streets of rogue, project zomboid, oxygen not included, starsector, skull the hero slayer, dead cells, caves of qud quasimorph and universim are games i bought in early access that I do not regret in the slightest.
I’d say the biggest problem is these big companies who release “finished” games that are clearly not finished and the people who keep pre-ordering them
Add Baldur’s Gate 3 and Hades to the list
And Factorio as well.
Valheim, Grounded, Satisfactory
I think the problem is that it’s a gamble, and there’s always potential to get burned.
Money up front for something you really have no idea how it is, is stupid.
I wait until the complete game is on sale and has mods that are stable. Just got firewatch for $2 and got the VR mod off itch.io which has its own single mod manager. Such a awesome game so far, story wise and with the vr mod.
Regarding pre-ordering games, I think Eric Cartman said it best
yall spend money on GAMES?
Regarding pre-ordering games, I think Eric Cartman said it best
Enshrouded too good
Ooh. It looks cool. Sell me on it.
Do you like Valhiem, the new Zelda games, RPGs, base building, crafting, exploring?
This game does a great job blending these elements together. Since it’s in EA you can already see the huge potential the game can have with the map size and sets of gear and items. Also, since it’s in EA it’s only $25.
Well worth the price.
Techtonica is early access and looks like it’s going to be amazing.
The real problem is old companies like EA and Bethesda releasing crap on Launch Day and expecting its customers to be its beta testers for the next couple of years while they slowly patch the game into a playable state. (Or not. Why should they care? They got your money.)
The only redeeming quality with Bethesda is they release mod tools. That’s also how all their bugs end up being fixed.
Where does “buying it 10 years later so that it can run on whatever the modern equivalent of a teacup is” fit in?
Playing witcher 3 on steamdeck for the first time.
Relevant XKCD
This is exactly what I’m doing. Games still look great, they run great, and chances are there are a bunch of quality of life mod improvements.
Days gone released on gog not long ago, the first thing I got was the mod for silencers, what a bullshit idea to only use it for five shots and then it’s gone.
And I forgot: I never buy a GaaS! They will shut down The Crew soon, a game I play on a regular basis and one of the most relaxing titles ever made. I don’t care how great a game might be, you won’t get any money out of me ever again dear companies.
That’s how (many) suppressors work in real life though. Each shot erodes the baffles, and after no more than a dozen it’s just a flash hider.
I’m making a note here. Huge success.
It’s hard to overstate my satisfaction.
But you wouldn’t know, would you?
I’ve only just got a computer that can play games from 2005 onwards (no kidding my netbook could handle sims 2 at the most). I’ve also started playing Witcher 3 (got the complete collection for £8) and just bought a controller the other day. I don’t care about fancy cutting edge graphics; good storyline and gaming experience is what matters.
I did witcher 3 like 3 years ago. What a great time I had. My previous PC was barely mid tier in 2012. When I built a new one in 2019 it was a piece of cake to run in an ultra wide monitor with cranked settings.
I upgraded my PC in Oktober with a RX 7600, enough for older games, silent and efficient. I really looked forward to enjoy Witcher 3 at highest settings. A few days later rumors about Witcher 3 Next Gen. How dare they! Now I can’t push every single slider to max and enjoy 120fps!
In all seriousness: The update is great of course and I applaud CD Project Red for releasing it free. Besides the better graphics (Which even the 7600 can handle at Full HD without high RT settings) they also included tons of fixes and quality of live improvements the community made over the time. I can really recommend it.
I even bought it at full price years before I played it because I enjoyed Witcher 2 so much and was certain they will make a good game.
What’s hilarious about this is I was previously using a community mod that did all this already. The official update fucked my performance so hard I rolled it back. I couldn’t really tell a difference. They later fixed it but it does run worse still than the mod version.
I ran it on a mid range business machine from 2014 with mostly mild upgrades and a 1060 6GB. I’ve since upgraded everything but the GPU, need to have another stab but I keep playing CS2 instead. When I’m not playing that it’s TOTK on the Switch.
Ah yes, sunk a lot of hours into totk too.
I have 10 times more full release fail buys than early access. While early access often costs half of a AAA title. So you better switch those images.
Preordering is a bigger issue than early access. At least with early access there is an existing game people can review.
Buying early access makes you an investor. Which has the possibility of the product failing. It is a bet, treat it as such.
What % of profits do you get if the game is a success?
That’s the neat part, you don’t!
You son of a bitch! I’m in!
Sometimes they’re cheaper than launch price? Or you may get exclusive cosmetics? Idk
(Not saying it’s worth it)
It’s more like an investment in infrastructure. The city isn’t making a dime from repaving roads, but they certainly are useful. It’s a bit of a gamble if they’ll develop potholes or even get finnished sometimes, but people want roads.
What? City is absolutely making money from repaving roads. The businesses that use those roads pay taxes, people that work in those businesses pay taxes. Good infrastructure brings more businesses and more people and let’s city grow. You put money in it and it brings benefits later. That’s exactly what investment is.
And people stay productive by enjoying hobbies and playing games. It’s an investment in infrastructure, just like fire, healthcare, police, power, water, transportation, etc.
Also, most roads in North America are cash negative, with many cities building new suburbs with high tax to pay for the roads in the previous suburb which are falling apart, which were built to pay for the next last suburb, on and on until the first car-centric suburbs were built in the 50s and 60s. Low density housing rarely pays for it’s public utilities directly, needing to essentially be subsidised by city centers to be worth it, and then you replace business with parking lots and everything gets so much worse…
And people stay productive by enjoying hobbies and playing games. It’s an investment in infrastructure, just like fire, healthcare, police, power, water, transportation, etc.
You can enjoy hobbies without paying for unfinished games, early access is completely besides the point here. You can buy games when those are ready and be equally productive. If you like early access games you’re free to buy them, I have nothing against it. But it’s not an ‘investment’. It just a discount.
You’re investing in the quality of the game, not money.
None. The ROI is getting access to the game early (ha!) and often times also the chance to provide feedback early, therefore influencing the development (Enshrouded comes to mind).
If only they were cheaper to reflect the value that you’ve contributed to the product
Aren’t they cheaper in general when compared to the price on release? That should cover that, granted that most people dont actively engange with the devs.
Beyond that tracking contributions and reimbursing after the fact - because you have to buy it first before you can contribute - would be hell of a lot of paperwork lol.
You get 100% of a successful game and hopefully helped the small studio to be in a position where they can make more good games thanks to the success of the first one.
Your profit is not weighted in money but a more diverse landscape when it comes to games.
And if you like games and see what AAA does to the scene, you should see that als something to strife for. Or am I mistaken?
Removed by mod
