Early Access is a stupid invention in my opinion. Why do we need a name for something that already existed in the first place?
I mean: Pre-order our game now and you get access to the beta!!!
Nice, simple and clear. This is all fucked because of a stupid invention by Valve and people not understanding what they buy. All the attention the topic about Early Access gets (and I just don't mean here on this forum) proves it's a flawed concept. Don't go with it.
Solution: offer the game for pre-order and give benefits for pre-ordering like a beta.
This is not including if your game has been on kickstarter and that's where all the fuss comes about. People backed a project on kickstarter and paid a nice amount of money for it. If one of those rewards is the beta you must be careful with the pricing of your product as Early Access, ... sorry I mean pre-order.
Price it at a discount like Blackguards, that's a luxury position for them, they are not a kickstarter game. Price it at a discount and your game was on kickstarter where people only got beta at a higher price point and you have your kickstarter backers against you. That's something you most certainly should not do, because those people are your most loyal fans and made it for the developer possible to even make this game in the first place. Price it at a higher price point than the eventual retail price and you have your current buyers in uproar (see Wasteland 2).
Early Access should not be used to prolong your kickstarter campaign. Games like Blackguard can go to Early Access safely. Games like Wasteland 2 and DOS should be very careful if they want to thread that path.
DOS has given beta to every backer anyway, so there is no monetary value to the beta. So put it up for Early Access, god damnit, I mean, pre-order. Give the pre-orders a discount (like 10% to the eventual retail price) and give them beta if you value the feedback of pre-orders. It will you save a lot of headaches.
My 2 cents.
