AAA publishers now eyeing Steam Early Access

The overwhelming success of games like DayZ and Rust on Steam's Early Access platform appears to have caught the attention of AAA publishers. Ubisoft announced this week that it will bring its free-to-play shooter Ghost Recon Online to the service worldwide later this year.

In fact, the game is currently available in Canada through Steam Early Access, while the worldwide rollout is scheduled for sometime in spring 2014. According to Ubisoft producer Corey Facteau, bringing Ghost Recon Online to Steam has been the company's goal since the game's inception, and its release on Early Access will help the studio "fine tune" the experience, he said.

Ghost Recon Online originally launched in 2012 through a beta and development on the title at Ubisoft Singapore is ongoing. You can play the game today by signing up at its website.

Developers have made the argument that releasing unfinished games through Steam Early Access allows them to be more transparent in the development process and better incorporate feedback into the final product. The contrarian opinion, however, points out that it could be perceived as problematic for developers to make money from potentially half-finished games.

What do you think?