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"Announcement, we need to package our product!"
"But our product is not complete, sir/madam. We could use the funds for development and maybe even..."
"Nonsense!"
It is getting a bit silly. The other annoying point for me regarding this game is that it's been on sale on Steam for $16.99 which, for the first time is below the original backers amount of $20 - this is before the game is properly released. There are still features that need to be completed and polished and so when the game finally is released it'll probably land up being $5 in a Steam sale. The most frustrating thing is because the AI is handled server-side it becomes horribly laggy when the unit count gets higher - so even though I've had access to the game, it's been pretty much unplayable. This will probably only change once they setup client side hosting, but that's only at release :mad:
/rant over
It's a free market, if you don't like the concept don't buy the product.
Its a kickstarter project and they had okes on early access alpha (!) and early access beta.
Don't see anything wrong with it as long as it a kickstarter...they can't afford a team of testers so its a valid approach in my eyes (if declared). Companies like EA doing "EA wants you help to fix BF4"...just no.
40 pounds...damn. Paid 20 USD for it...no early access though.
Still can't play it though (to this day)...crashes.
I saw this on reddit yesterday. It's a rather distasteful move. What if the buyer doesn't have internet connectivity, how can they download any updates?
Early Access was already pushing it, this is just plain ludicrous. Selling an unfinished game at retail, where there is a greater chance of an uninformed person buying it that doesn't know what Early Access entails, just so that you can make a quick buck to finish the game (apparently). There's nothing stopping them from not finishing it and screwing over everyone.
I've only ever bought 1 Early Access game, and that was Divinity: Original Sin. Considering it was releasing the following week, and was basically finished, it was worth the gamble. I usually recommend people stay away from Early Access, there are more than enough complete games on Steam to keep you busy, without having to buy incomplete ones. This type of business practice, coupled with excessive dlc's and retailer/platform specific content is what is going to cause a crash in the video game market. Publishers and developers are being horribly shortsighted, and the majority of consumers are eating it up, even after getting burned several times.
Unfortunately, the only way to get this kind of behavior to stop is to vote with your wallet, which many people don't seem willing to do. You'd think with Steam basically opening the flood gates to the piles of utterly garbage software, people would be more careful with their money.
This image sums it up rather nicely:
http://i1253.photobucket.com/albums/...psf1edab4e.jpg
Although, in the case of Early Access, you're only getting a quarter of the game, and expected to throw down money in hopes that you'll get the rest.
Does anyone else find it ironic how applicable Wyzak's posts are to his own rants in the SimCity and Diablo 3 threads?Quote:
Originally Posted by Wyzak
This, exactly. I don't see having a box, which clearly states its early access is any different from buying it on Steam. In fact its kind of cool since some people might not have a great internet connections to download the full game.Quote:
Originally Posted by Wyzak
The problem is that this is taking Early Access that one step too far. They're now being treated the exact same as finished games when they're not. They go on sale with finished games and now they're being sold on shelves next to finished games. And they're not finished games.
Early Access is being abused. We're talking about a game here that was supposed to ship in December 2013 already. A game that received 140% more funds than its original goal in the Kickstarter campaign and which made a small fortune on Steam Early Access. And yet, they apparently still don't have enough money so now they're even pushing it into retail to make more.
Why buy it then?Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Imp_ZA