The Early Access Scam.

Do not buy Earth: Year 2066 early access. Its a scam and the dev is acting like a troll and deleting all negative feedback. Here is a link where Jim talks more on the topic. Salt Of The Earth - A Steam Fail Story

Early Access *sigh* What we gonna do?

I'm worried about The Forest and it having early access as well :/

Sometimes I wonder if any of the games are going to be finished.

Early access psychologically makes you accept that its not fully working and or complete i.e. fully of bugs and glitches... But I wonder if that will just deter developers(some) from ever having to "complete" a game to the standard that we would accept if it was a real release.

My biggest worry is that games like Day Z and Star Citizen will never reach the level of polish or even come close to the standard that you would hold for a actual release and we will just accept it not knowing that we have lowered our standards.

kinda surprised stuff like this isn't happening more often

Here's how you can avoid this: read a review on something before investing money. Seems simple enough, doesn't it? You do the same before buying $60, finished games, no? The amount of money scammed wasn't remotely comparable to what publisher 38 Studios, LLC scammed from Rhode Island taxpayers with Kingdoms of Armalur. Wouldn't be surprised if more people bought Big Rigs, genuinely expecting a real truck racing game. Yet that game isn't a scam - it's just a funny joke in the eyes of the public.

EDIT: Actually watched the video. This isn't a scam at all. The real scammer is Jim from Escapist Magazine - I want my 6 minutes back. All I see are a bunch of people that bought a game that is nowhere near finished, which was labeled as such, and now these people are crying because they spent $20 on a game that's nowhere near finished. Who would have thought that a game that says is nowhere near finished...is nowhere near finished? Supposedly everyone harping on this project.

Then these people spam the developer forum and are surprised that they are getting silenced for making disruptive posts as opposed to constructive ones. I've seen this happen time and time again...Makes me wonder if people have brains and think for themselves - or if they just think what other people tell them to think. Or if they're even thinking at all...

The real lesson to be learned here is that there are people who will buy anything you're willing to sell them. They won't even care to ask what you're selling them - they'll just buy it and riot later when they realize they should've spent 2 seconds of research before spending their chump change on your product.

This will happen often now. Release some barely started crap and make cash from it. It's our job to research the game first. But alot of people have too much money and don't research so the scammers will profit.

Just think the longer you wait the more you'll get for your money. Always read player reviews and watch youtube videos and check the history of the updates. Look at Space engineers, this game updates every week.

Don't mean to sound preachy i've fallen for it myself. I bought The dead linger and this game is barely playable and haven't seen 1 update since i bought it. I'm not buying anymore early access unless i've done all my homework on it first.

Do a little research before you buy games, I have bought over 15 early access/alpha games and I have only been dissapointed in one of them. I have tried many others at friends houses, games I wasnt sure about or thought seemed a bit fishy and im glad I didnt buy those. Just do some research on the devs and check out some let's play videos on youtube to see if it looks interesting to you.

I personally love kickstarter/Early Access, I have been able to play some fantastic games early, have had a blast with Wasteland2 lately, always come back to prison Architect after a new update, Divinity Original Sin is coming along extremely well, Grim Dawn is looking good so far aswell, on top of many other games that people are enjoying, even before they are finished.

As Lawless said though I am a bit surprised this does not happen more often, WarZ, Garrys Day One and Contagion are ones that turned out bad imo, but thankfully Contagion was the only one I spent my own money on, the other 15 games that I have bought early I have been having a blast on. I think Early access is a great idea, you just have to do some research before buying. People having a choice to support SOME of Early Access games is great I think, don't like it? Then don't buy them, they all have big warnings on em about being in Early Access.

It is more down to people being silly and not doing any research on an early access or kickstarter game and tossing them money without first seeing what things are like.

Some I backed just cuz I like the devs (Pillars Of Eternity, Wasteland2, Divinity Original Sin, Dayz,etc..) and then most I just checked youtube for gameplay footage, checked up on the devs and much more (Prison Architect, Dont Starve, Rim World,etc..), doing that has made me have a 15/16 for early access/kickstarter games I have backed or bought and enjoyed. I see alot of people on different forums complaining so much after saying all they looked at was one screenshot and the description. The only scam imo is people being idiots and not researching and just buying right away, you have lots of tools to research and check things out now a days, no excuses and is really there own fault.

I wonder how many people who have a problem with Early Access and/or Kickstarter see nothing wrong with plopping down cash for a "pre-order" from EA, Activision, UBI, etc.? Personally, I'd rather help these small companies fund their projects than fork over pre-order money to a well established, rolling in the money, publisher. So far I've been fortunate in that I've only regretted one of the games I've helped fund (and I've done quite a few). A little research and common sense goes a long way.

question..did you watch the video while preparing to attack it? One only needs to watch the gameplay trailer and the comments/reactions of the dev to see this game is a clear scam. I didn't even know about this guy's kickstarter scam.

I questioned the integrity of the article before I watched it, because that's what college-educated people do when reading/watching media. Why? Because the media has its own agenda (they want traffic/viewers), and in this particular case - they're depending on sensationalism to gain traffic. According to this Escapist article, Early Access games are potentially a big scam because they let people buy unfinished games. The obvious sensationalism behind the article is that Jim conveniently "forgot" the whole idea behind Early Access games is that these games being sold are nowhere near finished. That's why they're called Early Access...

I have a question for you: do you know what a scam is? Evidently you don't. A scam would be the developer trying to sell Early Access of an unfinished game while claiming that the game is finished or further along than it actually is. The gameplay trailer depicts the game being no where near completion, and that's exactly what the developer has delivered with the early access version of his product. Reading this thread title, one conjures up an image of a guy who fabricated a fake game, sold it to thousands of people, and then disappeared from the face of the internet. From what I see, all that happened is that a few dozen (hundred?) people bought an early access title expecting more than an extremely early alpha build, but were let down - so they decided to troll the developer's forums, and then the developer trolls back to retaliate. Immature and unprofessional? Yes. Illegal conduct? No. Scam implicates something illegal, or at least something very amoral. I don't see anything like that going on.

So, can you please tell me, without hyperbole or exaggeration : how is this a scam?

Well personally I see it a bit different. On one side you are paying a small percentage (pre-order price) for an upcoming game that is going to get released as a completed final product. On the other hand, you are paying FULL price for an early version of the game (alpha mostly, some betas) which may or may not ever get released or improved on.

I rarely pre-order unless there is some goodies involved (like a statue, book etc).

Also a lot of good. Still not sure why people feel the need to complain about early access. You aren't forced to buy it.

Not all early access titles are sold at full price. Some are sold at full +, some are sold at a fraction of full cost.

That is true, I was just generally speaking. Most of the ones I've seen go for $20-$30, which the final game will also be around that price.

I don't have a problem with Early Access, but it should be free for the customer, and there should be A LOT more quality control on Steam as well.

I think it should be cheap, for sure, but not free. Making money off of someone's impatience is a great business model. There definitely needs to be more quality control on Steam. That we can whole-heartedly agree on.

I guess it really does come down to that, this new generation of gamers are the ones allowing it, since they want everything yesterday. 20 years ago there was no way a developer could get away with releasing an alpha and charging for it.

99.99% of early access games are scam.

Hmm i got over 15 early access games and i like them all,but then again i make sure of what i'm putting my money down on,like a consumer should do.

Something that according to other people does not actually seem to be the customers responsibility anymore.

Some of you ass hats need forum threads and other people to tell you if you are being scammed or not.....poor modern day gamers,truly some of the most stupid,inept groups of people currently on earth today.

Its sort of like buying off the plan appartments.

There's no guarantee how long its going to take or even it it'll get made at all.

Huh? Space engineers, Starbound, Craft the world and many more offer tons of gameplay already and are updated often.

Then theres Godus, Dead linger, ect that shouldn't be bought right now. Unless you take the time to investigate the game its pretty much a gamble.

I took the chance on Craft the world 13.50 and ones of my favorite games now, over 200hrs on it.

the whole purpose of the early access is to fund the project. making them free would totally defeat the purpose... you seem to have zero understanding of the concept.

the real problem is that people don't seem to understand what early access really is. you can fund games through it. DON'T FUND SHIT PROJECTS BY SHADY DEVELOPERS. they are not obligated to ever even finish the game. i think people believe in all these projects simply because they are delivered through Steam, and people think of it as some sort of seal-of-quarantee.

so what can you safely fund then? i guess you can never be 100% sure, but i presonally only fund games that are being made by famous developers who are known for delivering good games. such professional developers that have a name in the industry would do ANYTHING to not lose their face and reputation, so i think it's pretty safe. i would NEVER, EVER fund a game that is being developed by some guy behind a username. NEVER.

well what could Steam do about this then? nothing, if they want to keep it open for everyone. if they would add quality control, it would basicly mean that Steam decides what games you can fund and what you can't. it would kind of drive Steam into a role of a publisher who decides what projects die and what projects get to live.

ultimate lesson; don't just throw your money around. THINK. it's your own fault if you buy shit.

lol what a shitty game

terrible metaphor. were you forced to buy that early access game? the dev grabbed your throat through your monitor and simply robbed you? no. you YOURSELF clicked the button that said "yes i want to spend my money on this shit".

there are A LOT of terrible games out there that could be called ripoffs even at retailers. games that are legitly published. again, your own fault if you grab that shit at Walmart.

it doesnt even look like a game, it looks like a crappy flat 3d map someone made while learning how to use a program like 3dsmax... not sure how you can try to sell this as a game, it doesnt look like its from this decade let alone 20 years ago.

But i guess this shows you how much crap gets through in STEAM, they need some quality control, theres already so many good games to choose from, theres not need with fake games like this.

I understand the concept, I just think it's wrong. Pay full price for an alpha game that might not ever get released or fixed or finished is most of the time a rip-off. If the idea is to fund the project, then give free limited access to the game for players as a demo and let them pay for it if they think it's worth funding. Once they have funded it, then give them more access or unlimited access.

I think the real problem is that impatient people will pay for anything these days, therefore developers can now get away with charging for it.

Proof? I wanted to play DayZ early. BI gave me the option to buy into the game while it was still in alpha. How is that bad in general? It doesn't affect you unless you buy into it, which is your choice.

He isn't selling it as a game. He's selling it as 1/100th of a game - a very VERY Early Access project. An Early Access Project =/= Anything resembling a finished game. You can even see in the Early Access video, on the same Steam page where you buy the game, that there is very little finished and almost nothing resembling a game. You can also see that the game has updates for it, and is being worked on, and thus isn't a scam. A year from now, this will probably be closely resembling a finished game.

Quality control isn't Steam's job. People should be able to decide what they want to buy. Games shouldn't be removed because ignorant consumers don't know how to learn about what they're buying before they buy it. It's particularly not Steam's job to decide if worthwhile progress has been made on a project in 5 days before removing it...

What he means (I think) is that people buying into these types of early access allows that type of business to continue, hence bringing unfinished products at full price. If no one bought any of these early access things, then there wouldn't be a market for it.

That doesn't affect you, or him, however. You have every choice not to buy the product. You have every choice not to play it. Not all developers do early access. You have every choice not to support the ones that do.

You don't have to support early access, you have that freedom. What you don't have is the right to say it's somehow bad for gaming. Not when you have the choice to wait for the full, finished product to release.

early access or kickstarter is a great opportunity to fund games that would otherwise never be funded. sadly, it's also a great opportunity for scumbags to ripoff people. i must admit i find i staggering how poor projects people are willing to participate in. that is exactly how business works; as long as there are markets for shit, the shit keeps pouring in.

i'm again mentioning the retail games. it's amazing how bad games people are willing to buy at retailers or at mobile marketplaces. it's not just a problem of early access.

i mean just look the game in this topic. what the hell made people to spend $20 on it? WHY DID YOU BUY THIS SHIT?! it looks god-awful, and it's being made by an alias "Muxwell" and that all got you convinced that it's going to be a great game? OH MY F'ING GOD! REALLY?! everyone who bought it deserved to get ripped off. next time they might want to be more careful where they throw their money.