LC, you and me know this to be a fact, but for those people who either don't know Larian that well or are first time early access users will be put off at that point and as I mentioned early access can have a negative impact on later sales if this process becomes abused too often. Steam may at that point pull the plug on that feature entirely as well. So in my opinion it's a relevant question for Larian as well
As I said, Early Access is preorder with bonus. You don't usually preorder a game you don't at least trust 90% to be good. And if you just buy into an Early Access without sufficient information it's your own problem and your own responsibility. Game developers are not responsible for a reasonable behaviour of their customers.
If Steam "pulls the plug" anytime there will be different solutions. Nothing is set in stone.
I also don't agree on the negative effect on sales argument. Basically there is no difference between Early Access and preorder if you use the whole program like Larian did for D:OS. It might cause some people to actually preorder the game and use Early Access but this is no lost sale but just an earlier financial compensation. It's just a different time of paying not a question if people pay money for the game after all.
I think many people fall into the trap to generalize programs like Steam Early access. You have to assess the program on a game to game basic and evaluate in each case whether an early investment into a game is worth your money or not. I jst don't see any downsides to basically everyone if you handle it like Larian did for D:OS.
