Leaving Early Access to Avoid Looking Abandoned

[Michael]

Why would an early access game suddenly leave early access without any update or announcement? Could this be a sneaky way to avoid the store page note that the game hasn't been updated in quite a while?

I've played a few early access games fully aware that if no further updates happen that is what it is, and I'm okay with that arrangement.

League of Maidens is a free game that was pretty active for news and development from 2021 to 2024, especially in their Discord, but after an update last November things have gone very quiet. I would not consider this game complete. It is playable enough and not broken but it feels more like a vertical slice of ideas and placeholder assets.

League of Maidens game silently "left" early access on April 2nd. Any questions about updates or any news on the Discord are deleted and moved to a "game status" channel full of arguments, but in application purchases and external monetary support is still present.

[rawWwRrr]

Make sure you point out those details in your review of the game.

edit:
693 hours played. you didn't get your money's worth out of it?
https://steamcommunity.com/id/remplex/recommended/557180/

[datCookie]

Originally posted by rawWwRrr:

Make sure you point out those details in your review of the game.

edit:
693 hours played. you didn't get your money's worth out of it?
https://steamcommunity.com/id/remplex/recommended/557180/

It's a free game, so they didn't need to spend any money. If they spent money on in-game purchases, perhaps.

But to the OP: best thing you can do is submit a review with your opinion on the matter. Include all the details, like them deliberately changing the release date to when it first launched on Steam and apparently removing all mention of it ever being in Early Access.

You can also try reporting them, but I doubt there's a valid case there.

[rawWwRrr]

I don't recall there being a requirement for a release update. If the devs feel they've reached 1.0, they can release it from EA at any time.

[nullable]

Sneaky? No. But the developers don't need to justify their release or version decision to you.

[Aluvard]

Originally posted by rawWwRrr:

I don't recall there being a requirement for a release update. If the devs feel they've reached 1.0, they can release it from EA at any time.

True. But in this case, it seems that devs manipulated the game's release date. Current one suggest that game was released in 2021 (also entered&left early access on the same day).

[wesnef]

With f2p live-service-y games, it's frequently hard to tell the difference between "early access" and regular development.

[Aluvard]

Originally posted by wesnef:

With f2p live-service-y games, it's frequently hard to tell the difference between "early access" and regular development.

I agree with what you said, but there is certain discrepancy here between game leaving EA and reviews still being marked as written during EA.
If they really left EA in february 2021, those reviews shouldn't have EA tag on them.

[Start_Running]

Originally posted by Michael:

Why would an early access game suddenly leave early access without any update or announcement?

Because the devs decided they were done and they either had no desire or ability to proceed further with development. This is something any dev can do at any time.

In essence, at the end of the day it's better to release a bad game than release no game.

Originally posted by Michael:

Could this be a sneaky way to avoid the store page note that the game hasn't been updated in quite a while?

Would be easier to just update. WHich basically means changing the contents of the install package in any way.remove a file, change the contents of a file, add a file....

[Ben Lubar]

Originally posted by Start_Running:

Originally posted by Michael:

Why would an early access game suddenly leave early access without any update or announcement?

Because the devs decided they were done and they either had no desire or ability to proceed further with development. This is something any dev can do at any time.

As recommended in the Early Access documentation:

Q: What happens if I don't complete my Early Access game?
A: Sometimes things don't work out as you planned, and you may need to discontinue development of your Early Access game before you are ready for a V1.0 release. If this happens, you can contact Valve to figure out the next steps. There are two options:

If your Early Access game is playable and well received, but you're unable to develop it to the point where you feel it warrants a full V1.0 release, then we can keep your game on the Store, but otherwise remove it from Early Access. This will remove the Early Access tag and Early Access Q&A displayed on your game’s Store Page, but not start the launch visibility that comes with definitively releasing your game out of Early Access. This would be a permanent change; we aren’t able to reenable Early Access again later, so please consider this option carefully before contacting us with the details. In this case, you should let your community know about your decision to leave Early Access via a forum post or news event.

https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/earlyaccess#12

[Michael]

Originally posted by Ben Lubar:

Originally posted by Start_Running:

As recommended in the Early Access documentation:



https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/earlyaccess#12

Excellent find, that sounds like the scenario that game has gone through. I've had plenty of fun with this game, and have no regrets with the time and money I've spent on it. I'm disappointed that it left early access silently, but they essentially followed the documentation.

Thanks again for the answer!

[Wolfpig]

Originally posted by Aluvard:

Originally posted by rawWwRrr:

I don't recall there being a requirement for a release update. If the devs feel they've reached 1.0, they can release it from EA at any time.

True. But in this case, it seems that devs manipulated the game's release date. Current one suggest that game was released in 2021 (also entered&left early access on the same day).

Niot sure in that matter, but i believe the games get defaulted to the first release date of the game...which is for EA Games which leave that status the first day it got sold in EA.