Originally Posted by Lar_q
Seems to me every gamer should be pro the system. It opens up sources of funding which I wished were available when we did Divinity II or Divine Divinity. You can rest assured those games would've been released in a better state then. Well, maybe not considering the publishers we had, but still, it would've opened up possibilities where otherwise there were no possibilities.


Personally I like the whole idea/premise behind Early Access - it can be good for both developer and consumer. However, the problem is there is an absolute flood of games coming out on Steam right now using the Early Access program, and many of them are showing signs that they might never actually get finished, few updates, etc.

It does open up a source of funding for the developer, but there is a great concern that if Early Access becomes too popular... then everyone will just do Early Access, as why bother finishing games when you can start raking in the money early? And heck, why even bother to finish making the game when you have already raked in people's money?

Not saying Larian are intending that, but that is a great fear I & many other's have.. that publisher's like EA, Activision, Ubisoft, etc will go down this road. Heck, they already do it anyways as most of their games get pushed out early, are buggy messes, etc.


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With regards to people criticising alpha versions - that's the entire point, isn't it ? Getting feedback ? That's why we're doing the alpha for everybody on Kickstarter. We don't really care about the form or tone in which we receive the feedback


The problem Swen is that the people I'm talking about are not providing feedback about the game itself - they are all negative and attacking the price point, the fact it's in beta and not a finished game, that it's on Early Access, attacking Early Access, etc. Every thread I linked to in my OP was attacking InXile's choice to put Wasteland 2 up on Early Access in the state it was in, at the price point it was set at, and that it was incomplete and using the Early Access system.

The kind of threads/post's/feedback I'm concerned about regarding Early Access is NOT the kind of feedback your looking for - it's just negative trolling and bashing of the company/game/etc. The type of feedback your after you are currently getting from those who have time to playtest your Alpha build - and yes, you will get people who buy Early Access of steam who will provide proper/decent feedback, but you will also attract the crowd of trolls & idiots who will flame, troll and go mental because it's yet another Kickstarted game out to rip off consumers and profiteer off Early Access! (their words, not mine)


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Besides, I also think our target audience is smart enough to read through certain comments.


InXile obviously also thought that, but the amount of post's that have been posted whining/complaining/etc about the buggy state, that the content isn't all available, how they didn't realize it was beta, etc is staggering.

You would be very surprised how many people do NOT read store pages and/or game descriptions and just click the "buy now" button. There sadly is too many people who would not read the whole Early Access spiel.. click buy now, and then post about how they feel Larian is just ripping them off with an incomplete game, buggy mess, etc.


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As for backer backlash should we put it on early access? I can't see an objective reason why there should be such backlash so I'm curious to hear the reasoning behind that. Backers got the game at 25US$ + extras + plenty of exclusive extras at higher tiers. Alpha is free to all backers. Given this, why would any backer feel upset if he sees the game on early access at a higher price point? It's an early pre-order with the advantage that the developers can still integrate your feedback in the final game (and if not in the game that is released, perhaps in one of the patches that comes afterwards). It makes the game better. I really see nothing wrong in that.


I completely forgot about that... so that does make some of my points in my OP moot, as everyone who backed has been given the chance to alpha and beta test the game, and you have handled those who paid extra for that with refunds/credit/etc.

However, I still have grave misgivings about the game going Early Access for the reason's I & others have stated. Although if you put it up at a low price point in Early Access, that will likely reduce some of the trolling that is likely to happen - as people on Steam have an expectation that Early Access games will be low cost.. like $5-15, vs the normal retail cost. However, even that will still not avoid the ire of people against yet another Early Access game and/or yet another Kickstarter game going Early Access.

Last edited by Kamatsu; 14/01/14 01:27 AM.