Valve confirms some Early Access games may never be finished

Another example would be free2play. It has existed for more than a decade in the Asain markets. With fair pricing models.

Now, due to consoles, publishers are attempting to consciously, as a group, force paying full price for a game, as well as dlc, as well as a season pass, with microtransactions on top.

Will it work? Yes, of course it will. And much like all that is bad in gaming, is has by default leaked over to the pc, corrupted.

You didn't answer the questions.

If that's so terrible why are you a console gamer?

And how exactly are you a child of the 90's

(The Falklands War took place in 1982)

The Falkland War was a traumatic time period. It's very cheap and of low character to bring it up.

Funny how everyone here so far hasnt brought up the elephant in the room.

Which is Valve's outdated consumer policy. It should have been revised before they released the floodgates to the early access program.

It's no scam. At worst it's exploitative on the promise that the Early Access participant can voice some opinions onto a game or enforce change (which are two things gamers love to do). But hey, I have no qualms if people want to go ahead and buy an Early Access game to stomach the issues and try to enjoy it. But some extra warning in acknowledging that a game may not be complete is a nice start and better than nothing.

I find it hilarious that people here still defend these games or the "developers" behind them even after this.

Valve may as well have just said early access developers don't know what they are doing when it comes to making these games you are buying so buy them if you are happy playing them as they are... Broken, because we aren't sure if they are capable enough developers to fix these games let alone complete them.

Half finished greatness awaits!

LOL! Valve

what do you care since you weren't in it, unless you're lying about the other stuff

well, what is the definition of 'finished'?

if a game needed a patch, was it finished?

video games are a bizarre project to produce, you've got aesthetic things like textures, models; then you've got technical things like collision detection, projectiles, maybe netcode - whatever. and those aesthetic things function within a hardware/technically limited framework anyway, but i digress...

the developer calls it finished, well probably because they're not allowed to take forever. it's about time and budget.

short story - i think the most important thing is for valve to properly convey the type of product you're likely to receive when buying an early access game. if the consumer is properly informed, then it's fine by me.

So far the only EA games I've gotten are Rust and The Forest. I'd say I've gotten my monies worth from Rust. The Forest is a toss up atm. That being said I do plan on buying into Early Access with H1Z1 without hesitation. I only say/see The Forest being a gamble out of the 3.

I think it's silly that Valve even had to spell that out to prospective early access customers. Nobody can force someone to finish a game to your satisfaction. Buying a half baked game carries that inherent risk, and that's common sense. Like Valve said, don't buy if you aren't willing to live with the current version.

I bought into Kerbal Space Program because the game was fantastic when I got it. It's gotten a lot better since then, and they still have big plans. But if they closed shop tomorrow I'd feel I got my money's worth. And even if I didn't I wouldn't go crying to Valve.

@amazonangry said:

@lostrib said:

@amazonangry said:

Half finished greatness awaits!

LOL! Valve

Great, another craptacular alt account

I wish there were more scams like that. :P

qft

In other words, Valve doesn't care if developers never finish their game as long as they get their 1/3rd on ever sale of an incomplete product.

Just like I thought.

At least they state it upfront unlike some developers .. cough .. EA .. cough BF4.

I really hope the forest gets finished, It looks good but I won't buy it's early access.

I don't see what the big deal is. Everything Valve said is what I assumed everyone already knew. The games aren't done. Some will have a set schedule and some might be like Minecraft where they're in an unfinished state for years. You should only buy an Early Access game if you're happy playing and paying for an unfinished game or you want to slip the dev some money for the love of it. If you want a finished game, wait until an official release. That just makes sense to me.

That's why you don't buy it unless you are really interested in actually playtesting the game

@IgGy621985: This is like Kickstarter with beta access. I'm not forking over money for you to make a salary and then never complete the damn game. Screw that. this is why I usually just wait for these type of games to be 100% complete and available for purchase before opening my wallet. I have supported a few Kickstarter developers, but only the ones I truly trust to get the job done.

It's pretty clear that on Steam Early Access you're not getting full game, just potential for it. Nobody is holding the gun to your head. If you don't like this model just don't buy it. Wait for the full version. Alpha funding allows those who want to get into the game earlier, help to get them made and influence the design. It's an additonal option, nothing more.

If you're scared of options and choices maybe PC isn't the right platform for you.

No shit thats why I don't pay for unfinished games.

Wait...so a huge deweloper, swimming in cash, with half the team driving ferrarris and with a full backing of huge publisher did this? Jeez...I wonder why cash strapped indie devs of today can't do the same...;)

Ermm..you don;t know what alpha is. Alpha is still not features complete. That's the whole point of it. "Bad performance with a glitch or two" is beta and late beta at that.

You just got your perception screwed up by fake testing, like BF4 and ESO, where it's used as promotional tool intead of actual testing.

Wise words. The exact philosophy Sony would live by.

Honestly I'm not a fan of Early Access, but I try to think of it like Steam's version of crowd funding only there is a base alpha version to play first up.

Games might not finish, might not hit promises which is like Kickstarter games really.

@IgGy621985:

early access will be a graveyard of unfinished vaporware people payed for

We have to thank Minecraft for this garbage development scheme ...

I have to agree with you.

This is becoming pathetic. We make people rich before they even completed their job. IF they will complete their job ofc.

A big reason i don't support early access or Kickstarter. They reap all the benefits of an unfinished product, while we take all the risk with the money

Early Access is one form of crowdfunding. There was always the risk that the game will never get finished, especially if it doesn't get enough support. I generally avoid it, but I've bought couple ones I'm absolutely certain of. Like Divinity: Original Sin and Wasteland 2.

That being said, Valve should really take measures to prevent blatant scams.