Baldur's Gate 3 is the kind of visionary experience that only comes around once in a decade, and will undoubtedly shape the future of games for years to come.
Wont happen. Average consumer consumes without thought for the larger picture, theres a reason we got to this point, people are suckers and buy it all, the most recent trap they willingly jump into is “pre order for X days early access”, I will never understand.
Early access as in still in development, sure some are, but that is not what I was talking about. It’s preorder our finished game (and/or buy a ‘deluxe’ edition) and get the game ‘early’ before its release date. Reality is, its just a delayed release for smarter consumers.
How is that not bad? It’s preying on people to soak up more money. If you cant understand the difference between buying a game in development vs spending extra to play a game a few days early, then the sun might as well be the moon.
I wouldnt recommend buying games in early access either, especially if they are not discounted. If done properly theres no malice in a company asking for funds as you join the development process of a game. Whereas asking for more money to simply play a game 3 days before its official release with no other differences to the game is just predatory, abusing people excitement and hype to squeeze every last penny out where they can. Keep in mind its the multimillion or multibillion dollar companies pulling this, not your indie studios who are the ones who usually use the in dev early access program.
If you cant understand the difference between buying a game in development
I didn’t say anything about development.
If people want to spend money to play a game early that’s their choice. Just because it’s not something you wouldn’t do doesn’t mean it has no value to anyone. If anything it provides value to the people who aren’t going to buy the game blind on release date (unless the company postpones the release date to make room for early access I guess). Plus the dev has a chance to find and fix bugs before most people start playing.
Also is there a specific game you’re talking about? I’ve only seen games get more expensive after early access, not less.
I imagine the term Early Access is causing confusion here.
I am not talking about the Steam Early Access program, where developers can get some early funding of their game and community feedback on the game during development. I have no issue with this program if it used correctly, which it is mostly. Games generally do get more expensive when leaving yes, as most developers recognise that charging people full price for an unfinished game is unfair.
What I was referring to is different, the early access I am referring to is a recent marketing strategy, generally used to make people spend more money on ‘deluxe’ editions of video games.
The most recent example would be Starfield, Bethesda are offering a ‘Premium Edition’ which costs almost 50% more than the base game, it contains some art and soundtrack along with some skins (I won’t rant about that right now, but come on…), but it’s main selling point being the ‘5 days early access’ to the game. The game releases officially on 6th September, but if you purchase this ‘Premium Edition’ you can play the game on the 1st September instead.
This is what I have issue with and it is a horrible new practice that many of these multi-billion dollar companies are pulling to try and get more money from people. I understand it’s ultimately the choice of the consumer to buy this, but it is preying on their hype and excitement for a game to make them fork over more money that they otherwise would not do.
It’s sad to see. Games used to just have a standard price, you paid it got a full game and off you went, now there’s all these special editions with extra bullshit attached in an attempt to milk consumers. You should absolutely be against these practices.
Wont happen. Average consumer consumes without thought for the larger picture, theres a reason we got to this point, people are suckers and buy it all, the most recent trap they willingly jump into is “pre order for X days early access”, I will never understand.
Some games like Factorio and BattleBit are worth buying in early access
Early access as in still in development, sure some are, but that is not what I was talking about. It’s preorder our finished game (and/or buy a ‘deluxe’ edition) and get the game ‘early’ before its release date. Reality is, its just a delayed release for smarter consumers.
And that’s bad, how? If other people were able to play it early you know it wasn’t finished the day before release and can read reviews before buying.
How is that not bad? It’s preying on people to soak up more money. If you cant understand the difference between buying a game in development vs spending extra to play a game a few days early, then the sun might as well be the moon.
I wouldnt recommend buying games in early access either, especially if they are not discounted. If done properly theres no malice in a company asking for funds as you join the development process of a game. Whereas asking for more money to simply play a game 3 days before its official release with no other differences to the game is just predatory, abusing people excitement and hype to squeeze every last penny out where they can. Keep in mind its the multimillion or multibillion dollar companies pulling this, not your indie studios who are the ones who usually use the in dev early access program.
I didn’t say anything about development.
If people want to spend money to play a game early that’s their choice. Just because it’s not something you wouldn’t do doesn’t mean it has no value to anyone. If anything it provides value to the people who aren’t going to buy the game blind on release date (unless the company postpones the release date to make room for early access I guess). Plus the dev has a chance to find and fix bugs before most people start playing.
Also is there a specific game you’re talking about? I’ve only seen games get more expensive after early access, not less.
I imagine the term Early Access is causing confusion here.
I am not talking about the Steam Early Access program, where developers can get some early funding of their game and community feedback on the game during development. I have no issue with this program if it used correctly, which it is mostly. Games generally do get more expensive when leaving yes, as most developers recognise that charging people full price for an unfinished game is unfair.
What I was referring to is different, the early access I am referring to is a recent marketing strategy, generally used to make people spend more money on ‘deluxe’ editions of video games.
The most recent example would be Starfield, Bethesda are offering a ‘Premium Edition’ which costs almost 50% more than the base game, it contains some art and soundtrack along with some skins (I won’t rant about that right now, but come on…), but it’s main selling point being the ‘5 days early access’ to the game. The game releases officially on 6th September, but if you purchase this ‘Premium Edition’ you can play the game on the 1st September instead.
This is what I have issue with and it is a horrible new practice that many of these multi-billion dollar companies are pulling to try and get more money from people. I understand it’s ultimately the choice of the consumer to buy this, but it is preying on their hype and excitement for a game to make them fork over more money that they otherwise would not do.
It’s sad to see. Games used to just have a standard price, you paid it got a full game and off you went, now there’s all these special editions with extra bullshit attached in an attempt to milk consumers. You should absolutely be against these practices.
New harry potter is one example, where if you had deluxe version, you could play the game 3 days before the official release.