Abandoned Early Access Games

[Sysgen]

Abandoned Early Access games shouldn't be sold as Early Access.

At least mark them correctly for consumers. I've been going through some of the Early Access games I've invested in and have found far too many with some going back 6 years that have been abandoned.

[76561198001062896]

except whos to decide which early acces game is abandoned? if it doesnt get any patches? and in which timeframe?


Technically speaking each and every game is "abandoned" at some point; no game gets updated forever

[Sysgen]

Zetikla eredeti hozzászólása:

except whos to decide which early acces game is abandoned? if it doesnt get any patches? and in which timeframe?


Technically speaking each and every game is "abandoned" at some point; no game gets updated forever

Failures are expected and games do get abandoned. When abandoned they are no longer early access but abandoned games which should not be sold under the moniker of early access.

As to who decides. Well, whose store is it and who decides to remove games from the store? Valve.

[cinedine]

Sysgen eredeti hozzászólása:

but abandoned games which should not be sold under the moniker of early access.

Why? Early Access does not imply that there is some "finsihed" state. It just implies you get access to an "early", before the actual release. Which you did and do.

[JPMcMillen]

Anyone who buys an early access game without doing any research (like reading the forums), deserves whatever they get.

[Sysgen]

cinedine eredeti hozzászólása:

Sysgen eredeti hozzászólása:

but abandoned games which should not be sold under the moniker of early access.

Why? Early Access does not imply that there is some "finsihed" state. It just implies you get access to an "early", before the actual release. Which you did and do.

I'm open. Thank you all for having a pleasant non invective discussion.

Updated suggestion: In addition to the Early Access banner include a highly visible indication of when the game was last updated.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Please use the search.

Other threads are there.

[Brian9824]

Sysgen eredeti hozzászólása:

cinedine eredeti hozzászólása:

Why? Early Access does not imply that there is some "finsihed" state. It just implies you get access to an "early", before the actual release. Which you did and do.

I'm open. Thank you all for having a pleasant non invective discussion.

Updated suggestion: In addition to the Early Access banner include a highly visible indication of when the game was last updated.

You mean the news section on the store page?

[cinedine]

JPMcMillen eredeti hozzászólása:

Anyone who buys a game without doing any research (like reading the forums), deserves whatever they get.

FTFY ;)

The greatest advantange of Early Access: it actually tells you that there is a good chance for it to be a POS that isn't developed any further ... well at least one would assume so after five years or so full of stories about it.

A game being lackluster and full of unfulfilled promises can happen to any title. See Fable, Spore, Aliens: Colonial Marines, No Man's Sky, ...
A game being imperformant and full of bugs up to being unplayable can happen to any title. AC: Unity, Batman Arkham Knight, Battlefield 4, Halo: Masterchief Collection, ...
A game being released half-arsed and left unfinished can happen to any title. See Batman Arkham Origins, Gothic 3, Dead Island, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, Daikatana, ...
A game being stuck in development limbo or taking its sweet time to release can happen to any title. See Duke Nukem Forever, Last Guardian, Stalker, Beyond Good and Evil 2, Dead Island 2, ...
Even games changing singnificantly during development can happen to any title. Although granted, they were not sold at this stage:
Bioshock: Nazi bunker full of mutants
Team Fortress 2: Modern Military and later Alien horde shooter
The Bureau: XCOM Declassified: FPS

Note that these are all rather big names. So there is absolutely no reason to believe a small indie company or newcomers can deliver when big development studios are prone to failure.

Sysgen eredeti hozzászólása:

Updated suggestion: In addition to the Early Access banner include a highly visible indication of when the game was last updated.

Last update doesn't mean anything. You can easily just produce token updates. The trick is to have last meaningful update, but that's entirely subjective and meaningful for a developer isn't the same as for the players. The "move the needle" mentality can be quite dangerous to follow as it's easy to just change visible things for the sake of it while things invisible to the end customer become backlogged and hamper further development.
The players doesn't have any benefit from refactoring and cleaning some internal framework logic, os it never gets done. As a result any new logic is build on a faulty foundation, takes an eternity to implement and will result in bugs. Players get unhappy, developers get frustrated. But management is happy because you now can choose between five different skins.

[Sysgen]

A lot of good points here though nothing addressing the issue that abandon games are still being sold as Early Access.

[Start_Running]

Sysgen eredeti hozzászólása:

A lot of good points here though nothing addressing the issue that abandon games are still being sold as Early Access.

There is no issue. Your definition of abandoned simply differs from Valve's and developers

[76561198407601200]

Sysgen eredeti hozzászólása:

Abandoned Early Access games shouldn't be sold as Early Access.

At least mark them correctly for consumers. I've been going through some of the Early Access games I've invested in and have found far too many with some going back 6 years that have been abandoned.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/247310/discussions/0/135512133550496443/

Contact the developer and inquire about any future updates.

[Sysgen]

Start_Running eredeti hozzászólása:

Sysgen eredeti hozzászólása:

A lot of good points here though nothing addressing the issue that abandon games are still being sold as Early Access.

There is no issue. Your definition of abandoned simply differs from Valve's and developers

Kind of the point of the thread. Early Access implies access before completion but if there is no completion than the term Early Access is a misnomer. Therefore to the benefit of all such products should be labeled appropriately.

[Sysgen]

The Living Tribunal eredeti hozzászólása:

Sysgen eredeti hozzászólása:

Abandoned Early Access games shouldn't be sold as Early Access.

At least mark them correctly for consumers. I've been going through some of the Early Access games I've invested in and have found far too many with some going back 6 years that have been abandoned.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/247310/discussions/0/135512133550496443/

Contact the developer and inquire about any future updates.

No need for the consumer or owner to do that when developers do not update the status of their game nor respond on their forum. Kind of a dead giveaway hence the requirement for an alternate store page designation.

[Start_Running]

Sysgen eredeti hozzászólása:

Start_Running eredeti hozzászólása:

There is no issue. Your definition of abandoned simply differs from Valve's and developers

Kind of the point of the thread. Early Access implies access before completion but if there is no completion than the term Early Access is a misnomer. Therefore to the benefit of all such products should be labeled appropriately.

If it is not completed., then it must still be in progress. Ergo, there is no issue. Unless you have the developer out and out say in writing that they will not be working or developing the game past its current point...then the game is still in development.

[Sysgen]

Start_Running eredeti hozzászólása:

Sysgen eredeti hozzászólása:

Kind of the point of the thread. Early Access implies access before completion but if there is no completion than the term Early Access is a misnomer. Therefore to the benefit of all such products should be labeled appropriately.

If it is not completed., then it must still be in progress. Ergo, there is no issue. Unless you have the developer out and out say in writing that they will not be working or developing the game past its current point...then the game is still in development.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/747200/discussions/0/1796278072837393944/

Clearly while that developer has responded, many do not as tracked.

EA games that have permanently stopped development are not EA and should be marked as such. This isn't Craig's List!