Early Access - aka we have to PAY to beta-test! Seriously??

[jackaho]

I know you guys try to innovate but this is silly. It's bad enough that half the games released are unfinished but asking us to pay money to beta test games that are still in development is ridiculous. So we get the get the game at a discount. So what? We should already be getting the game at a discount (or *gasp* free) for helping them find bugs in the first place.

The only way Early Access could make any sense is if we test the game for FREE, then get the option of purchasing the game at a discount upon release.

[⚡🍉OverlordTomala🍉⚡]

Well if you're interested in getting the game in the first place this could be helpful. Especially if the developers are willing to listen to the players.

[Spawn of Totoro]

http://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/0/828934089597834534/

Already a thread on the subject.

Early access is optional. Prices are set by the Developer. If they want to make it cheaper for early access, then they will.

They are indi developers with no publisher backing them, so they may need to money now to make a good/better game.

Minecraft charged for early access, and look how good of a game it turned out to be.

Don't like it, you don't have to buy into the early access. It is purely optional.

[ActFolant]

Originally posted by Spawn of Totoro:

Minecraft charged for early access, and look how good of a game it turned out to be.

lol

[jackaho]

Thanks for the link Spawn. I definitely won't be buying into early access. I'm amazed that anyone would consider it.

[Zefar]

Well it's quite simple to fix this. Don't buy it on release or before the release.

Everyone else who want to play it first hand can do so.
Trying to force them to not do this will only make a lot of people mad because they kinda want to beta test the game.

[Anarchisteve]

Wait, they take money from our accounts for a game we don't want... WITHOUT OUR PERMISSION?!? This is atrocious! Valve shouldn't be allow to... Oh, turns out they don't do that, we only have to pay if we choose to. In that case I'm not sure what the problem is.

[Tito Shivan]

Not like people have been trading games and paying money for Dota2 or CS:GO invites last year.

There's already a market for this. At least now steam is placing it together in a properly advertised section, so people don't mess things up not knowing what they are paying for.

[ariba]

Well if you want to play the game before it's actually out, then I see no problems in paying a small amount for it.

[Websteroni]

When the game is done you don't have to buy it again. So it like you pay to beta test and you pay for the full game at a cheaper price and you get to play it with free updates.

Originally posted by jackaho:

I know you guys try to innovate but this is silly. It's bad enough that half the games released are unfinished but asking us to pay money to beta test games that are still in development is ridiculous. So we get the get the game at a discount. So what? We should already be getting the game at a discount (or *gasp* free) for helping them find bugs in the first place.

The only way Early Access could make any sense is if we test the game for FREE, then get the option of purchasing the game at a discount upon release.

[jackaho]

Right, so you pay them to beta test a game and you hate it. Now what? Or you pay them to beta test and it's so riddled with game breaking bugs it never makes it out of development. Money well spent? There is a reason alpha & beta testing has always been free until now. ITT are people who don't value their time very highly.

[Tito Shivan]

Originally posted by jackaho:

There is a reason alpha & beta testing has always been free until now. ITT are people who don't value their time very highly.

Tell that to people who bought Minecraft in their Alpha & Beta Stages. (I did)
Tell that to people who paid to join the CS:GO Beta. (I got TL2 from thanks to that)
Tell that to people who paid to join the DOTA2 Beta.

Whether you like it or not, there's already a market for this. Steam only put them all together and well advertised. Otherwise, it's only a matter of time until the next 'Ongoing development' game gets to the Steam Store without proper warning or advertisement of being a unfinished product.
As already happened with Cortex Command.
As alreadyhappened with Towns.
As already happened with The WarZ.

Don't like it, don't buy it. Let people who like it to enjoy it.

[Dark Lord Satan Visit Your Bum]

As open to developer abuse as the Early Access system will be, it's entirely optional. If people don't spend money on it, it will die off eventually.

Hopefully Valve are going to be keeping a close eye on the games that are taking part in the program, otherwise I don't see it working out well for the consumer side.

[aiusepsi]

Games like Prison Architect and Kerbal Space Program were already using the paid alpha / beta model before they were on Steam, just through their own websites.

Now they're allowed on Steam. It's just being reactive to the way that things are already happening out there in the rest of the market.

[Serell]

Originally posted by jackaho:

There is a reason alpha & beta testing has always been free until now.

Sir, have you never heard of Minecraft? It's almost impossible to not know of Minecraft as a PC gamer. Minecraft was extremely popular before it became "official". I can list lots and lots of other games where you have to pay to beta/alpha test. Lots of people like to get in games as soon as they can, and usually developers give special rewards to those who beta/alpha test. It's also fun to give the developers ideas to make their games better while they're in developement. Paying for beta/alpha testing is a risk, yes, but you're not forced to take it. I rarely take it and only do so if I trust the developers.

[Hadraziel]

They don't ask you to pay to test the game.

They ask you to pay for the priviledge of playing the game before its release, which is something valuable for many people.