Up next in 10
Should developers charge for early access games? - Hot Topic
1K views
Jun 10, 2024
Early access grants fans the rare chance to get a peek behind the curtain when it comes to their favorite titles! But we wanted to discuss if developers should charge fans for testing early and incomplete builds. Head to Game Sandwich for articles: https://www.gamesandwich.com/ Follow us and let's talk about video games, their stories, and the people that make them! 📱Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@game.sandwich.official ✖️Socials: https://twitter.com/TheGameSandwich 🎮Join our Discord: https://discord.com/invite/6GrQYXYdSf #hades #xdefiantgame #baldursgate3
View Video Transcript
0:00
Early access within the gaming world offers fans the rare chance to get an early peek behind the
0:04
curtain for some of their favorite games. But we wanted to sit down today to discuss this idea of
0:10
if devs should charge fans for this preview. Now why are we doing this
0:14
Well that's because this is a hot topic. What's up guys this is Kalo and normally I'm here to give you the lowdown on all things gaming
0:31
but we are back for yet another episode of Game Sandwich Hot Topic
0:35
and I'm joined by the one and only Dorian today. Why don't you say what's up
0:39
Hello what's up everybody it is me Dorian the one and only as Kalo just said
0:43
There is only one of me. I would hope so anyway. I hope someone didn't clone me and didn't
0:47
ask permission but we'll never know. I'd be down to have a clone. I don't know maybe an evil twin
0:53
kind of like that hero arc thing you know. I like a good story in my life but right yeah for today
1:01
I'm gonna rely on you to keep me on track. That is your task today because there we go because this
1:09
is a topic I am so wishy-washy about. This is very circumstantial and that is should devs charge
1:18
for early access to games. Now I'm gonna say it right now I think this is a thing where people
1:26
should be given this chance to play a game early for free. I am very much a proponent of you know
1:33
this is gonna sound so pretentious but we as the consumer or the gamers are doing them a service
1:40
by playing their game early getting in kind of putting their servers to the test because we all
1:46
know servers never last day one and yeah like in a world there are jobs for game testers like that's
1:54
an actual thing you could apply for and be it sounds like the life but yeah I'm a big believer
2:01
in like it's this doesn't apply to just games just in life you got to get your hands on it you got to
2:06
get in there first person experience do that but yeah I think this should be free. I will take the
2:13
opposite side of that for one reason I can think of immediately and isn't that what playtests are
2:19
for isn't that what an alpha build is for or beta build or something like that uh we want to talk
2:25
about a most recent release Hades 2 just before Hades 2 hit early access where they charge I
2:31
think it's 39 29 quote me on that but they did a test beforehand that was completely free I think
2:39
it was only a certain amount of people could play it or whatever but you still had access to it and
2:44
a big chunk of the game if I remember correctly or at least the first boss you could play it up to
2:49
a handful of times I think that is a good route that developers should go because it shows you
2:57
what you're able to play it shows you what the game's gonna look like may not be the final
3:01
the final piece but it is you know that that point of hey check out our game check out we're working
3:07
on Hades may not be the best example because Supergiant Games is incredible and everybody
3:12
loved it but there's another game I'm thinking of I think it's ink ink realm or inkwell or something
3:19
steam maybe just did another beta test alpha test where you can come play for free and that's kind
3:25
of pushing to the okay if they do early access you see what the game is like this is kind of like
3:31
that here's the popsicle you can have a few licks but then we'll take it away come back later
3:38
it's just my thing and I guess I've been burnt too many times in the past where
3:45
essentially in these early access stages it's it's in the name but you're getting a very
3:51
incomplete build of a game and it's like all right let's just I also have another question
3:58
following all this but you know you get the early build of the game should they really charge a
4:06
premium for that I mean you're gonna expect bugs this is what you sign up for essentially
4:13
but I don't know charging let's say what they do like pre-order bonus now for early access and
4:19
stuff like that so like five ten bucks I don't the last time I pre-ordered a game I could not
4:26
tell you from GameStop I was that was that that was me I was doing all that but um midnight release
4:32
yeah yeah the midnight releases but I don't know it just feels weird charging for like an incomplete
4:38
product and then you're gonna be like hey in a few months time or a couple weeks here's the full
4:44
game 60 bucks take it or 70 now take it or leave it 70 now right and um it is weird I could see you
4:52
know the the side of that to be like here's a five dollar beta build I mean I remember when
4:57
boulder skate 3 came out in early access right might not be another good example because boulder
5:02
skate 3 is taking home all these games of the year but it they charged I believe it was full
5:08
price for the game like here's the early access bill it's only act one but you will get the full
5:13
game eventually we don't know when that is but you'll get it in like two or three years but as
5:19
someone who was a big fan of D&D it also comes down to are you a fan of this game are you a fan of the
5:25
content they're putting out are you a fan of the studio like supergiant and larian everyone knows
5:31
them from divinity and hades and bastion and transistor right but say you have a smaller indie
5:36
game do you have enough juice behind you in your community to where you could say hey we're going
5:42
to charge you five bucks for this or do you put it out there for free the early access bill and
5:49
then say maybe keep it up for two weeks and then take it away right I'm currently playing a game
5:55
that I actually can't talk about it yet but they've given me access to it and they said you
6:00
have you know so many days to play about play this talk about it do whatever tell us what's going on
6:06
and then after that we're going to discontinue this key that we gave you and then later on you
6:10
know we'll put it back in early access with the updates that you've made or suggestions from the
6:15
community now I'm gonna go like and I normally never deal in absolutes only the sith do that
6:24
but games like call of duty madden any of those big triple a games I think they should not charge
6:30
you I think they're too big too I don't want to say refined but you know what I'm kind of getting
6:36
at like they're established big games they should not be charging you they've made enough money
6:42
I have a whole nother hot topic we could do about 2k games I'll just say it right now hot hot take
6:50
I don't think that 2k should release a new game every year I think they should update
6:55
the previous games the newest latest tech they've got and move on we're right there like we've
7:00
always said every single time we do a show together are we the same person that has been
7:05
a sentiment I stuck to this whole time in gaming we'll get to that at another point now future the
7:12
future now this is where I hope you keep me on track here I look at a game like arc survival
7:18
evolved famously it's been in early access for god knows how long then they fully release a game
7:26
then they release survival ascended which is apparently the better build of the original game
7:35
but make it make sense they're releasing arc too in a couple of years or however many years
7:41
it's like why are you all right first of all you did your game preview phase or early access phase
7:48
then you release the full game but then you're like wait a second here's the final final version
7:54
but then you're in between the second game of your first installment I don't understand like
8:01
how they get away with all that it is a great question I'm gonna try to keep you on track
8:05
here's just I am not a game developer I don't make games I cover them but from a viewpoint of arc
8:12
being an early access for however long it's been I view it as a point of the game's been out for
8:18
like it's been more than five years right I feel like it's been that long maybe they're looking
8:23
at it as a full-on was it free do you pay for it I paid for it okay so you can do pay for it but
8:30
there is a free version I don't think so maybe not maybe there's a demo so you pay for it right
8:37
and maybe they're like okay we're gonna see how far arc runs while we're paying for this early
8:42
access what if we take all this content and suggestions the community saying and make arc
8:48
two and that's actually our first release it just feels weird with that like I know it's weird to
8:54
like figure out and put a label on it but to me it's just like you say you're in early access for
9:02
so long then you go all right this is build 1.0 or whatever and then you're like but wait here's
9:09
an upgraded version that doesn't really need to exist why can't it just be a patch to an older
9:16
like the actual build of the game I don't know that's just arc just like in a nutshell right
9:22
there because I don't know but and may I can sorry to interrupt you yeah I just looked it up
9:30
arc ascended is 45 yeah it's on games I think too but still but still right the the I think
9:39
the prime place to play arc is on pc just gonna put that out there xbox fanboy but still
9:47
I it's a weird thing to think about because if all games did this at what point do you say I'm done playing it until they release the full
9:57
version or is I don't know right because arc's been in early access for a very long time I thought
10:04
it was fully released I'll be honest with you I racked my brain whenever we first talked about
10:09
doing this episode I'm like companies like do this all the time where they're like we're in
10:15
early access for like two three years it's like at what point do you put the the concrete like
10:22
hey this is when we're coming out build 1.0 and a thing like arc like you just said I don't know
10:31
when it changed over from official to game preview to now ascended it's like it's all blur and it's
10:37
like all right which one do I actually play again when you're looking at people outside of us who
10:42
cover games who talk about them like religiously are they going to be able to differentiate all
10:48
right this is arc survival evolved this is arc survival ascended what is the difference they
10:54
look the same they play the same feel the same I can't really tell right and when arc 2 comes out
11:00
we know it's coming what's the standout from arc survival what makes it different you can't just
11:08
put a two and something and then say this is a sequel right oh I got it it's Vin Diesel Vin
11:13
Diesel is in the game that is the difference that is the $70 price tag that is why we're paying it
11:19
because of Vin Diesel and family all about family yeah wow okay all right look at that we're right
11:25
on it now I look at a game like cyberpunk now despite all the delays it would have benefited
11:33
so much it honestly wouldn't have been in the state it was if it went into early access I could
11:40
be wrong if it did have a period like that but again how many times in that year leading up to
11:46
the game did we get those little yellow boxes every so often on twitter at the time rest in
11:52
peace you know and it's like all right early access the game was horrible in early access
11:58
but upon release day hey they fixed everything they should have done it with uh cyberpunk here
12:05
and that that could be a publisher being like no we want this game out now like it also comes down
12:12
to money you know publishers have dates they got people above them and we're like we need to push
12:17
this out now we've been talking about cyberpunk for years all these yellow boxes going out that
12:23
sends a signal to the publisher or the ceos the c-suites and say they know we need to push this
12:28
game out now no matter what state it's in because sometimes they may not even know these people that
12:32
want to push these games out they're literally there just to publish a game they're not there
12:38
developing creating like all these developers do again that's all here to say right now all of this
12:45
could come down to publishers being like we want to do this but then again it could be the entire
12:49
team being like we're not ready or we are ready we're gonna push it up i remember when boulder's
12:55
game sven vanquay was like yeah we're not quite ready yet we thought we were gonna be it's gonna
13:00
be six more months okay we're gonna push it back a little bit okay now we're ready it's tough it's
13:04
tough and i i kind of want to bring up a game that is on the horizon here gta6 the the legendary game
13:13
that is finally gonna lay gta5 to rest i also didn't realize or remember that game came out
13:21
on the 360 just putting it out there as far as how long this game has been has been here with us
13:29
we we all know the game story is gonna come out first it's run of the mill you gotta play the
13:35
story then a few months later gta online comes out i think in this world i think rockstar should
13:43
do something and get ahead of everything because we all know gta6 is gonna break the internet
13:49
break everything hey if you play gta for this amount of hours in gta5 online you get early
13:57
access i think early access depending on like hey if this is the game's fifth entry if this is the
14:03
game's second play time should come into effect on steam on xbox or whatever like they do rockstar
14:11
plus or rockstar whatever uh social club tie it through that give the people who put hours into
14:18
this game know your game how it operates give them the chance to play test for you point out
14:25
the differences that could be made there and put your servers to the test i think we are in 2025
14:31
at least at the time of that release servers should at least not die like in the first hour
14:39
of release so that's an interesting point i've never considered that so i don't know if any
14:44
game's ever done that or you have like 6 000 hour play time where the developers go okay you can have
14:51
early access because you've devoted so much of your life to this game um there might be a game
14:57
i can't think many off the top of my head it's not a bad idea but then it comes down to it if you get
15:03
early access and you've devoted that much time when the game fully releases do you still have
15:08
to pay for it i think a rocksteady rockstar sorry rockstar would want to pay uh have people pay for
15:16
it oh yeah they're gonna want to make that dry exactly um yeah i i that's a good example of a
15:25
game um my thoughts about the series i will not say them here but um they're quite shocking
15:32
oh oh controversial take we need them i'm not a fan hey i'm not a fan hey to each their own in the gaming world i didn't like red dead either so
15:43
oh oh right in the heart right in the heart that was a good one for me the only rockstar game i've
15:50
ever liked is um noir la noir la noir that's a deep cut that was good that is a deep cut
15:56
i also could not tell who was lying and telling the truth in that game
16:00
that's a problem for another day that's another day i uh but back to the rockstar and and uh red
16:07
dead not red dead uh gta 6 right i think it's game people are going to pick up no matter what
16:13
i think literally anyone would pay any price for that whether they go i think they would pay
16:20
400 to jump into early access oh yeah it's such a big game i can appreciate rockstar for what
16:26
they've done my feelings aside if you charge 60 bucks for early access you're gonna get the viewers
16:33
you're gonna get the players but it's a i think it's a good idea to if you devoted 6 000 hours
16:38
because i'm sure other people have been the game's been out since xbox 360 so i have a game
16:46
real quick i have a poster right above my pc here that has the original release date for gta 5 and
16:53
then i have another poster that has the push back release date so i have a little piece of gaming
16:58
history i should definitely frame that stuff but you know again problems for another day
17:04
you gotta post a picture of that one day oh for sure this this reminds me can i go off off script
17:09
here yeah sure so say bethesda updated skyrim again released it for i don't know say yourself
17:22
is it out on several not a big so or something like that or they had an early build of elder
17:30
scrolls 6 available do you think they charge for early access or do you think they do early access
17:36
at all i think this is the trend i've seen like when i did research for this topic it's not really
17:46
the single player games that get this early access it's always the multiplayer because there's more
17:50
working parts there but i do think with how ambitious these games are getting they should
17:58
learn from cyberpunk test these games in the general public before you release them xbox
18:05
especially now and this has been talked about on the channel for god knows how long now
18:11
they're in a bad spot and let's just say all right they release indiana jones they release
18:16
whatever other games they got planned hellblade 2 is coming up you know elder scrolls 6 is the
18:24
game for them or one of the games for them i think with that game specifically and the next halo
18:32
gears what have you they should definitely consider that they should 100 whether they
18:39
charge or keep it for free i honestly don't know but i do think there should be a playtest period
18:46
bethesda games specifically are prime candidates for bugs glitches whatever have you that's what
18:54
i was looking for yep it all leads to that fallout 76 we can talk about its launch and how it went
19:02
and how it is now million people playing it right that has to do with the show and everything but
19:07
they did fix it they did release a lot of new stuff and it's actually really great and i love
19:11
enjoying my time in the wasteland morrowind when it released that's a bit of an older thing they
19:16
couldn't really update it at the time but it had its illogical oblivion had a lot of problems but
19:21
it is has its place in fans uh list skyrim also released upteenth times right got five other
19:32
problems i got five copies i don't know how but i got five yep yeah i think i don't know i think
19:39
we might be moving into that era of early access for single player if definitely not multiplayer
19:48
all of multiplayer games i think that little special oomph because if you have a game like
19:54
fortnite the most popular multiplayer game in existence i don't know if that had early access
20:00
it that game changed so much when they first talked about it where it is now so i don't know
20:08
it's an interesting it's an interesting debate to have that's why we do this show and you know
20:14
pending any closing points from you if you got anything else to say well i would i want to see
20:19
where you're at because i believe at the beginning of this you were on board for early access you
20:24
want more of it yeah i still am only for the fact that games no matter what they are and i can pull
20:32
names out of the hat here jedi survivor what's the assassin's creed syndicate unity the one with
20:40
the unity was multiplayer but like with the face the eyes and the teeth glitch i think it was unity
20:46
yes that was unity yes assassin's creed unity cyberpunk let's throw in starfield because that
20:53
had problems any and all games releasing nowadays have problems at launch how it makes it through
21:01
quality assurance the play testing that they do prior to all this i honestly have no clue
21:08
there's definitely someone out there who does the programming the ones and zeros all that stuff
21:13
they know far more than me i don't know how it makes it through that but that's just me i'm a
21:18
talking head on the internet i think there should be more of this i think it should be out in the
21:23
public not within these studios i mean still do it there but hey give it to the public even if you
21:30
do the play test and everything goes wrong all right you know what release date got pushed back
21:35
a month or two what's that quote from um i want to say it's miyamoto you can release a bad game
21:44
yes or something like that it lives forever or a good game and it like lives forever
21:49
that's the quote to live by exactly yeah i i have one closing remark i just remembered
21:55
one of the most recent games that had some early access issues i guess it was beta testing more or
22:02
less we can get into the reads of what is early access what is beta testing what is an alpha test
22:07
are they related are they the same movement what is the difference between them all i think early
22:12
access comes down to you pay to get into the early build that we're building and play testing is hey
22:18
we're going to release this for free check it out see what we do and then we'll take the code away
22:24
but where i'm going with this is x defiant i played i got into the alpha or whatever build
22:31
they were doing they did a ton of them i had a really good time with the game but the developers
22:37
were constantly pushing back this release right constantly there were problems and they said i'm
22:44
going to misquote but more or less internally when they would test the game in their own studio
22:52
it ran fine so they were like hey we're going to release the game it's fine but then when they
22:57
did test outside the studio they discovered a slew of problems internet speeds lag you name it all
23:06
this sort of stuff they couldn't do inside and that's where i think early access or beta testing
23:12
whatever you name it comes into play i will take the standpoint of if a studio or developer feels
23:20
they have a percentage of the game complete that is enough for people to play and they feel
23:25
comfortable charging why not do it it's then up to the consumer to be like i'm on board i'm gonna
23:33
wait this this whole thing and i think this is just by the way of our our recent history in games
23:40
especially nowadays games release in such bad states they can say this is the next star wars
23:48
game they can say this is the next halo didn't even talk about halo how that released but or the
23:54
trailer too but it's always coming back to games are 70 nowadays that is a big investment for
24:03
normal people to make and outside of the real crazy fanatics enthusiasts that we are
24:10
people invest the 70 into like one or two titles a year we're here playing everything under the sun
24:17
to talk about it and be informed about it while regular old johnny's out here he just bought let's
24:23
just say jedi survivor he's rocking with that and that's his game that's what he wants to play and i
24:29
think they owe it to those people to be like hey you know what we've really got to make sure this
24:35
game releases in a good state for us you know it sucks to say but we can we can move on to the next
24:41
game or whatever that's the problem too you move on to the next game you might not look back and
24:47
say like that game was horrible and broken and blah blah blah all right moving on 100 100 i
24:55
mean like we constantly play game after game it's like okay moving on it was great it was bad it was
25:00
really good but and how the next greatest thing is here right yeah hey my back catalog i was just
25:06
talking about on i want to say the cutting board we did a fallout episode i said i just beat jedi
25:12
survivor like two or three weeks ago and i beat it fully updated i didn't have a problem
25:19
if i played it closer to launch i would have ran into a problem probably never picked it up again
25:25
but here i am back and i beat the full game no problems i enjoyed it but that goes to show you
25:31
like hey after a while it gets patched but again up front i think it should just work
25:36
you know let me pop my cartridge in and play i um i'm gonna go back to like original xbox or
25:45
playstation days right they release games i don't remember one ever just being broken
25:51
they just work like to a point to a point where it didn't work right there were some broken parts and
25:56
you get past them or you're like that's part of the game but every game i ever played growing up
26:00
seemed to work i can go get my cartridge of dk64 pop it in right now and it plays it just plays
26:09
it's a normal game control theme aside and blah blah blah whatever have you that's fine
26:15
but the point is however many years later it still works whenever it released it worked
26:21
and nowadays you breathe on a game that you install and everything just goes and that's
26:27
the problem yeah i i i agree i can see both sides of it i don't know i'm gonna end my closing
26:32
comments if we were to wrap it up i can see the benefit of early access it's not for everybody
26:38
i've only ever purchased one early access game and that's because i was into the developers
26:44
and into the the theme of it it was boulders gate 3 i'm waiting on hades 2 for full release because
26:50
i want that story to be with me from the day i pick it up to the end i want to play everything
26:56
as is there we go it's just i also think it depends on the game the studio like what you
27:02
were saying but yeah like early access i think it's going to be still a big thing moving forward
27:08
more studios should use it and just not charge for it get the feedback it's valuable i promise
27:15
you any studio person listening if you do you're gonna get valuable information and that information
27:22
you can use before you launch the game and make more money that's when their ears perked up they
27:28
were like more money the dollar signs flashed but at this point i'm gonna do my favorite part of this
27:35
show and pass it off to the audience what are your thoughts on early access games do you like them do
27:40
you hate them is there a place for them what do you just think of the whole business concept there
27:46
and if you want to talk about more games join our discord links to that is all in the video
27:50
description down below we're constantly talking about games and whatever have you and all that
27:56
but for the sake of passing it off to the one and only dorian for the sign off here today because i
28:01
am running out of my breath here you go it's all to you you're running out of breath i'm recovering
28:06
from sickness cough sorry we can combine we could combine our powers yes i was checking my head
28:14
follow us on discord join our discord check out the website gamesandwich.com we are a small team
28:21
working to make content for you covering games that we all love to play whether it's the big
28:27
triple a game or the smallest studio release on steam we love talking about games their stories
28:33
and the people that make them and we couldn't do this without you so join our discord check us out
28:38
come hang out with us talk about games and uh share your favorite early access game in the
28:42
discord let's throw it out there there we go i've been kaylo joined by dorian and we'll see you guys
28:48
next time if you enjoyed today's debate or want your weekly dose of gaming news content consider
28:55
subscribing to game sandwich for content just like this and we'll see you guys next time
#Computer & Video Games
#Gaming Reference & Reviews
#Online Media
#Simulation Games
#Software
#Video Game Retailers
#Virtual Worlds