What does early release even mean anymore!?

[SP2244]

I think it means spend all the money making things look great for only a very small portion of game, do a lot of advertising (Hype), take all the people buying early (which many times end in disaster)..... and if give up half way through .... no big deal , still made a lot of money. There needs to be criteria for Status: Alpha , Beta, Early (1-6 Month to completion, no more of these multi-year BS). I don't buy any game early unless a great sale and no for sure will buy..... AND it is coming out with 1.0 within 6 months or less.
Early paying just incentives developer to take their time and live off the cash cow, and to even drag out the development..... need a stricter criteria. Just like taking risk in stock, if someone pays for game say over 1 year in advance, they get the offer price of the 1.0 at half price now. And say at later stage, then 25% off vs 50% ..... the incentives need to reflect the wait time.

Hades: December 6, 2018 (early access) - September 17, 2020 (full release)
Baldur's Gate 3: October 2020 (early access) - August 2023 (full release)
Subnautica: December 2014 (early access) - January 2018 (full release)
Many many more examples.............

[Insanitor]

Funny you mention Subnautica, which was changed drastically throughout its development phase due to Player Feedback during Early Access. Same for Hades, which is now one of the most successful games on Steam.

Early Access can be an amazing tool for developers. As long as there is an understanding between them and the community, that they will change things people are disatisfied with, as long as it doesn't change it too far from the developers original vision.

Like all the people who want PoE2 to basically be a PoE1 clone, but that is clearly not what the developers want.

[Wild]

I don't know exactly what you're saying but all games you listed there are very successful releases that the devs didn't ran away with the money.

[BiggieWrangler]

Listen, I agree with you!
But what you say doesn't matter, these industry practices work(They make money which is all that matters).

In our case all we have is to hope GGG will fix the issues we are experiencing in the near future.

[Tazz]

my money my game so what??...i play whenever i want to play....early access or not as long as it good to play.....merry Christmas have a nice holiday and play POE on this holiday season

[BiggieWrangler]

Originally posted by Cereal Guy:

Originally posted by SP2244:

I think it means spend all the money making things look great for only a very small portion of game, do a lot of advertising (Hype), take all the people buying early (which many times end in disaster)..... and if give up half way through .... no big deal , still made a lot of money. There needs to be criteria for Status: Alpha , Beta, Early (1-6 Month to completion, no more of these multi-year BS). I don't buy any game early unless a great sale and no for sure will buy..... AND it is coming out with 1.0 within 6 months or less.
Early paying just incentives developer to take their time and live off the cash cow, and to even drag out the development..... need a stricter criteria. Just like taking risk in stock, if someone pays for game say over 1 year in advance, they get the offer price of the 1.0 at half price now. And say at later stage, then 25% off vs 50% ..... the incentives need to reflect the wait time.

Hades: December 6, 2018 (early access) - September 17, 2020 (full release)
Baldur's Gate 3: October 2020 (early access) - August 2023 (full release)
Subnautica: December 2014 (early access) - January 2018 (full release)
Many many more examples.............

Not your personal blog.

Your comment adds zero value to the conversation.

[JohnMiller92]

it means bending over the gamer as much possible. star citizen and plenty others send their regards

[Plum]

Originally posted by SP2244:

I think it means spend all the money making things look great for only a very small portion of game, do a lot of advertising (Hype), take all the people buying early (which many times end in disaster)..... and if give up half way through .... no big deal , still made a lot of money. There needs to be criteria for Status: Alpha , Beta, Early (1-6 Month to completion, no more of these multi-year BS). I don't buy any game early unless a great sale and no for sure will buy..... AND it is coming out with 1.0 within 6 months or less.
Early paying just incentives developer to take their time and live off the cash cow, and to even drag out the development..... need a stricter criteria. Just like taking risk in stock, if someone pays for game say over 1 year in advance, they get the offer price of the 1.0 at half price now. And say at later stage, then 25% off vs 50% ..... the incentives need to reflect the wait time.

Hades: December 6, 2018 (early access) - September 17, 2020 (full release)
Baldur's Gate 3: October 2020 (early access) - August 2023 (full release)
Subnautica: December 2014 (early access) - January 2018 (full release)
Many many more examples.............

Trash take, clearly you have no understanding of GGG. It is Christmas, they are on holiday.

[Werdna]

Cashgrabbing without getting the job done.
Getting paid early.
Advance payment.

[Barry MaCockiner]

GGG EA is better than a lot of them have been, it's a very playable game.

If your saying it's a money grab or were paying to be beta testers then you're wide of the mark.

Everyone knew the conditions before you signed on, EA is not a new thing after all.

It's a playable title, with some balancing happening right now, with a roadmap. All good.

[Blackjade]

Sir, this is a Wendy's.

[Astral Projection]

Originally posted by Wild:

I don't know exactly what you're saying but all games you listed there are very successful releases that the devs didn't ran away with the money.

IKR? "Early access is bad" but lists 3 incredibly popular and successful games.

[moody]

It's means your being hustled my friend.

that's what it is. Simple. True. And really scummy.

[Panthaz89]

Pretty solid sarcasm you had me until you mentioned all the early access games that were basically invested in that worked out really well.

[Hiroko]

What does trolling even mean anymore!?

[SK]

We know what content was included and what wasn't.
We don't have an exact roadmap, but we know what will be added over the stated 6-12 months before release.