Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General RIP the patch every 2 weeks

Even if people love to throw these terms around without a clue, they should theoretically have specific definition.

It's al alpha when when a game is not feature-complete yet.
It's a beta when it's feature-complete and every update is a candidate for the final release (bugs permitting).
BG3 is unquestionably an alpha at the current state.

Being "early access" or not is not mutually exclusive with either descriptor. And in fact the definitions typically overlap. "Early access" just means that users are allowed to have access to a build, in whatever state it is, before a public release (usually in exchange of having to pay ahead).