Steams "Early Access" gimmic

[Funkman]

To keep it short, Steam is offering more and more "Early Access" games. These games are rarely ever developed to a finished product and contain very limited content for the money we purchase them for. The community I play with as well as myself no longer purchase these games because it's a waste of my time and money playing pointless buggy games that get next to no attention in development.

How about vetting the developers marketing games on steam better to only allow ones that are reputable and actually finish their builds. Or maybe add a developer score / review that we the purchasers can read through to decide if the developer is worthy of our monies.

[Funkman]

Escrito originalmente por Zetikla:

Escrito originalmente por Funkman:

I don't. If there are truly 900+ finished games out there, why is nearly every game in the store listed as "Early Access"? And why are the finished games I do run across once in awhile still shotty and riddled with bugs? I do understand the development process and how developers use Steam as a quick way to make an extra buck. I like Steam and the concept of allowing young developers a forum to build and sell freely. What I want is a way to eliminate the fraud that continuously run across while I look for games to purchase. What I want is a way to review a developers credentials before to make the purchase. What I want are professional developers that want to build a reputation of actually finishing a quality project.

As far as your obvious lack of respect, it would be nice to see a little bit of professionalism from you as well. The attitude you are showing me is EXACTLY the defensive type of attitude most unprofessional developers on Steam also present. Name calling and disrespect are excellent ways to avoid the real problem that there are a lot of developers on Steam that do horrible work and are out for a quick buck. But, hey, thanks for your response.

huge exaggeration and buzzwords that sounds cool but dont cover the truth in any shape or form, im afraid

". What I want is a way to eliminate the fraud that continuously run across while I look for games to purchase"- There is a wonderful thing called Google. Do your research before buying a game, not sure why some people act like using critical thinking its from the Devil itself

-. What I want is a way to review a developers credentials before to make the purchase.- Once again, Google is your best friend

-"What I want are professional developers that want to build a reputation of actually finishing a quality project " and there are still a lot of them. You simply cannot cease scumbags to exist, be it indies or triple a titles.

LMAO. Literally the only buzzword I used "Early Access".

[Start_Running]

Escrito originalmente por Funkman:

I don't. If there are truly 900+ finished games out there, why is nearly every game in the store listed as "Early Access"?

Well the finished games look like every other game that isn't Early Access and there are actually only 1000+ actual EAG's at the moment. Which more or less account for less than 10% of steams library.

And why are the finished games I do run across once in awhile still shotty and riddled with bugs?

Because of marketing and promotion. This happens even more commonly in AA releases. It's less costly to ship out a buggy game that you can patch than it is to miss a release window. This is also why it happens regularly to games released on PC and console at the same time.


Advertising spots and promotions are booked and paid for mopnths if not a year in advance and they can't simply be rescheduled.

I do understand the development process and how developers use Steam as a quick way to make an extra buck.

And thusly you disprove your statemnent of understanding the process.

As far as your obvious lack of respect, it would be nice to see a little bit of professionalism from you as well.

I extend professional courtesy only as far as I'm being paid. You're not paying me and I am not being paid to coddle your ego, ERGO, you get the same treatment as everyone else on the planet who isn't.

The attitude you are showing me is EXACTLY the defensive type of attitude most unprofessional developers on Steam also present. Name calling and disrespect are excellent ways to avoid the real problem that there are a lot of developers on Steam that do horrible work and are out for a quick buck. But, hey, thanks for your response.

And the attitude of dismissing critique of ytour criticisims as 'defensive' is actually what could be counted as defensive. I have hard numbers to back up my claim. You have your biased observations.

[Start_Running]

Escrito originalmente por thegrazzman:

I agree with funkman. Their should be a way to determine if the Early Access game is still in development or if the dev team has made their 5 bucks and disappeared. I've all but given up on steam because it's sooo polluted now with games that are never finished and never worked on.

Simple. The devs say they're still working on it. As said, game development can stall for months and even years at a time. But here's the thing. Nothing stops a dev from labeling the most recent build as the finished game. In fact it's actually more in their benefit to do so as far as making money so the fact that they don't indicates they are still working on it.

[Funkman]

Escrito originalmente por wuddih:

Steam has 2000~ in early access games right now. over 1000 are already out of early access and most of them you can call finished without a "but".

i'd rather have a dev telling me straight in the face "this game is not finished yet" then a dev releasing a game which is still a mess even months after it was released as "finished".

steam direct upped the ante of games released on steam in general but what i can say, your impression of everything is very subjective.

no one forces you to buy anything and Steam allows you to blend such games out of the frontpage and your recommendations.

how many early access games do you have? 3-4? all open world and survival? well, there is your problem.

Your feedback started off as quite helpful and informative. Thank you for that. I agree that having a developer tell me directly that a game is not fully developed is a positive thing as well. I am simply asking for a way for developers to present their credentials and track record as I determine if their games are ones I want to purchase. I am also asking for Steam to assist me in vetting out the developers and games that never leave early access nor have had any attention by the developers over lengthy periods of time.

Please don't make assumptions about me personally though. I own several games that are currently listed as "Early Access". In fact the majority of my catalog is listed the same. Very few, if any, of the games in my catalog have moved out of "Early Access". I am also proud to support young developers by buying their games. However I want games options that are developed by people who care about their content and not just to make a quick dollar over night. I want game options with more than a few hundred players online at any given time. Looking at the track record of the majority of Steam games being offered I find most of these games start off with high interest. But due to lack of consistent and quality development, these same games tend to dwindle to a few hundred players active at best in a very short time. That is because their developers seem to be less concerned about quality of product and more concerned about quantity of sales.

These are the reasons I want to spark discussion about a better vetting process of developers. I would like to see Steam implement a way for consumers to review developers credentials. That may even present an opertuntity for good developers to build a positive healthy reputation among the community and improve their sales in the long term.

[Tito Shivan]

Escrito originalmente por Funkman:

Your feedback started off as quite helpful and informative. Thank you for that. I agree that having a developer tell me directly that a game is not fully developed is a positive thing as well. I am simply asking for a way for developers to present their credentials and track record as I determine if their games are ones I want to purchase.

If you consider the Early Access FAQ.
http://store.steampowered.com/earlyaccessfaq/

What should I look for?

First of all, look for games that are interesting, exciting, and that you want to play. Then, there are a couple things you should consider before making your purchase:

What is the game like to play right now?

When you buy an Early Access game, you should consider what the game is like to play right now. Look at the screenshots and videos to see what the game looks like in its current state. There are a lot of ways a game can go as it develops over time, so if you aren't excited to play the game in its current state, then hold off and wait until the next update--it shouldn't be far off.

How often is this game getting updated?

Take a look at the recent update announcements from the developer (shown on the store page for that game) to get a sense of how active the developer is. Does it look like that game is getting updated a lot? Are they valuable and interesting updates?

You've already been shown the game and developer credentials. You can see the game actual state, and the frequency and content of the updates. Steam can't tell the future. It can't tell you if the game will find a development wall 3 days after your purchase and won't advance further. But you have all the historic info right before you. And that shouldn't matter since your purchase decision would be based on the actual state of the game.

The main issue is people largely disregards that and focus on the future state of the game.

So, in a TL:DR version of the issue many face when buying Early Acces is that people:
-Buy then wait for the game to improve.
instead of
-Wait for the game to improve then buy.

[Pocahawtness]

Escrito originalmente por Funkman:

To keep it short, Steam is offering more and more "Early Access" games. These games are rarely ever developed to a finished product and contain very limited content for the money we purchase them for. The community I play with as well as myself no longer purchase these games because it's a waste of my time and money playing pointless buggy games that get next to no attention in development.

How about vetting the developers marketing games on steam better to only allow ones that are reputable and actually finish their builds. Or maybe add a developer score / review that we the purchasers can read through to decide if the developer is worthy of our monies.

People will vote with their wallets. After the third ( or so ) Early Access I bought I came to the conclusion I will never buy another. I am sure other people have done the same thing. If enough people stop buying them then valve will stop selling them.

[Ocsabat]

Escrito originalmente por aiusepsi:

Step 1: Go to: https://store.steampowered.com/account/preferences/
Step 2: Uncheck "Show Early Access"
Step 3: There is no step 3!

Step 3. is complain that step 2 is useless.

[Gorganthos]

Early Access is a unique experience for consumers, mainly in the demonstration of how a game can change over the course of time. Full releases have the benefit of closed development, usually aided with flashy marketing campaigns and the timing of precise game information to keep certain facts back should consumer feedback prove unfavorable. While it is easier to predict certain games' failures over others, it isn't as simple as giving a possible good mark to a kickstartered AAA company backed project over a passion project from a two person team.

People can buy into a game and discover the development path takes a sharp turn, such as with the ADS changes made to Days of War that turned away a decent player base or the recent publisher addition to We Happy Few that has left many regretting the purchase. Hindsight is always 20/20 though. If you are not willing to take the risk, then it is best to avoid it all together, but as Godus and Spacebase DF-9 have shown us, reputable people doesn't ensure a finished, satisfying product. Also, there are games exiting Early Access weekly. They just aren't big names like The Long Dark, Divinity: Original Sin or Darkwood.

[Funkman]

Escrito originalmente por aiusepsi:

Step 1: Go to: https://store.steampowered.com/account/preferences/
Step 2: Uncheck "Show Early Access"
Step 3: There is no step 3!

So i have officially turned "Early Access" off in my account as you have suggested. However, this doesn't actually remove "Early Access" games from the content in the store. Instead it only removes them from the Recommendations Steam offers me.

With this said, I return to my original complaint as I have stated so many times before.

[Pheace]

Escrito originalmente por Funkman:

With this said, I return to my original complaint as I have stated so many times before.

The one that was flawed from the getgo? That EA games are rarely finished?

[WorkingLikeADog]

I would totally play $5 for early access.

$20 and above. Developers ban you for commenting. It never launches. I'm done.

[Gwarsbane]

Escrito originalmente por DarkOvcharka:

I would totally play $5 for early access.

$20 and above. Developers ban you for commenting. It never launches. I'm done.

And yet I have a number of early access games, that were all over 20 dollars, I never got banned from them and they all launch and they all finally got out of early access, though some took longer then others.

Killing Floor 2
Planetary Annihilation (Got to get around to playing it)
Wasteland 2 (Got to get around to playing it)
Kerbal Space Program (don't have but looks fun)
Prison Architect (Don't have)
Dirt Rally (Don't have but want)


And lots of other ones.


So same advice as before, don't like early access games then don't buy early access games.