What I meant was, if EA gives you 1/3 of the game's content to try and comment on, then one option might be to pay 1/3 of the price just for that content. When the full game comes out, you pay the remaining 2/3 of the price to "upgrade" EA to the 1.0 release. The cost for the full game is the same ( no-one gets the full game cheaper ); the only difference is that if the full game does not turn out to your liking after feedback from EA, you needn't purchase the "upgrade" to the full game.
As I said, I don't expect this to happen, and consequently their feedback may be limited to those people very enthusiastic for what they see already.
I don't think they have any incentive to do that. You would sell something for $20 if someone was willing to pay $60 for it, even if that 'something' was unfinished? It's not a trial offer; it basically a pre-order that you can playtest. As for the feedback, I don't see any reason to believe that the 'very enthusiastic' people (as a whole) won't be able to offer good constructive criticism. I also expect they are likely to put more time in testing the game than people who aren't so enthusiastic. On the flip side, a $20 EA could easily see an influx of nay-sayers. haters, trolls, etc. who will pass judgement on the game for ridiculous reasons (e.g bugs or lack of desired elements like RTwP).
These are excellent points, and one other I'd interject is the added complexity (and potential cost) on Larian's part to have to break up and manage things that way. And if they did that, while Steam might or might not be able to support that approach somehow, I wouldn't even have a clue as it relates to Stadia.
I imagine already as it relates to Steam, if Larian does provide any semblance of a 'Collector's Edition' down the road, they already would have to determine a way to logistically do that too, such that Steam systemically validates each case, and only those that paid the base price game then has the ability to use an 'upgrade' purchase package button for a CE.
