Valve has revealed a new feature on Steam – Early Access.
Steam Early Access allows users to buy a game while it’s still in development in order to play it early – it’s a bit of a gamble.
Users will then be able to try out the game code and give developers feedback and comments on their in-progress projects.
“We like to support and encourage developers who want to ship early, involve customers, and build lasting relationships that help everyone make better games,” explains Valve.
Now, this isn’t the same as pre-purchasing, and Valve explains that you’re purchasing the game in its current in-development form.
Check out some of the games available for Early Access.
Source: Steam
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You know, I’m not sure how I really feel about this feature. I checked it out over the weekend because I saw an RPG and a sim-type game that both looked quite appealing. When I read up a bit more about them, I was left with the feeling that the whole ‘Early Access’ thing sounds a lot like ‘kickstarter’ to me. It would be one thing to give people access to a game for free to help play test alpha and beta builds, which as far as I’m concerned is a win/win scenario, but to ask people to actually PAY for that opportunity to play what are basically half baked games (full of elaborate content promises – check the descriptions) is less ‘Play now, play later’ and more ‘Pay now, play later’. It’s just Kickstarter by a different name – but at least Kickstarter has the decency to be up front about the fact that you need to pay but that you aren’t actually getting anything for that money right away.