Steam Warns Customers About Early Access

Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 5, 2014

So it looks like Valve has taken the rash of abandoned “early access” games to heart (and has started worrying about its own exposure to lawsuits).

Valve warning: Steam “Early Access” games may never be finished

Honestly, I’m kinda surprised Valve didn’t do that in the first place. Were they so far out-of-touch with indie game development that they really thought that in-development games couldn’t get greenlit if they all hype and tech demo? That they’d be surprised that developers might be really good at generating enthusiasm but have no clue how to “finish” a game? That game development teams would never “take the money and run” after the revenue dropped down to a trickle? That developers would never stamp “1.0” on a game that still doesn’t meet (reasonable) customer satisfaction?

Now, again, I’m not really slamming early access, although I admit it’s hard not to feel some level of sour grapes when I spend months and months “finishing” and polishing a game, and can’t shake the belief that people are willing to spend much more on the promise of a game than an actual released, final game. If I didn’t care about ethics or trashing my reputation (‘cuz it would eventually get back to me, no matter how careful I’d be with pseudonyms), I could just crank out tech demo after tech demo with wild ideas and promises and cash in! While it’s possible some scam artists are doing just that, I really don’t believe that’s the case the vast majority of early access games.

I think most “indie gamers” (gamers familiar with the indie scene) have at least a basic understanding that you can’t trust wild promises and cool-looking promo videos or tech demos. But even I have been burned on this before, and I should know better than most. So I’m sure it’s the right thing for Valve to do, and maybe it’ll help some people get more realistic expectations. And maybe not pay so much more for the promise of a dream game than the inevitably less ideal implementation.

And it once again points to the inevitable question: What is a “finished” game anyway? I’ve released several updates to Frayed Knights: The Skull of S’makh-Daon since it’s “release,” so maybe it is still unfinished. I’m not actively working on it at the moment, but that could change at any time.

Be wise, I guess. Promises are great things, but know who’s giving the promise.

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