Today Space Engineer annouced that they pushing out the retail version of Space Engineers…
Well if somebody is still unfamily with Space Engineers it is a game that sold himself on Early Access over 1 million times (for around 25$ bucks).
Unfortunaly that was not enough for the Keen Software House so they decided they need a Retail version of it to increase the salery. I understand that company want to make money but to put in a Package a EARLY Access Game and call it finished (or dont mark it as early access game) is just wrong and fraud.
The last big hope of early access games in Steam did just sold himself…
And if somebody acciently buy it: In Germany this package is consided as fraud because there is NO information that the Game himself is still not finished or even closed to be finished. So if somebody want Space Engineer for free. Go to the store buy it put it on steam account and than bring it back to the store ;).
And before i forget… today was patch day of Space Engineeres they broke the Assembler! (on Servers).
I think we have discussed the problem before here (not specifically space engineers but some other games.) Also “The last big hope” is a bit melodramatic there are other promising early access games out there…
But Space Engineers was THE big early access game no another early access could match. And think about it. Do you really want to buy games that are in early Access and it is not even meantion on the package himself? if i go to the Retail store i want to FULL game not a early access title that is still very raw and not opitized.
Edit: What Keen Software House is doing now is they are stepping over a line what nobody did before (ok maybe EA but that doesnt count). Sell a game as full game even if it still in Alpha version.
Yes he shot himself in the foot just like über entertainment did with planetary annihilation. But calling it the end is still quite a big thing. Yes it will destroy a lot of the trust to the concept but it will still continue as a method of acquiring founding for their game. I personally think some positive things will evolve from this Fx the newer developers will become increasingly aware of they need to put up a budget that works instead of just guessing.
The whole idea of pay before it is done/started is quite new and everyone is fumbling in the dark.
True but also because of Spacebase DF-9 many people will now run off if they only see the tag “early access” just read some comments most of the people now hate the Tag EA. Even i will not buy any early access title anymore because i dont trust anyone of them anymore. Sure that are black sheeps but it is hard to see the good one from the bad one and people tender to mix them all together.
Edit: Another example: Since Ubisoft launch the Ubilauncher (and i bought Seedlers 7) i never bought any Games from EA or Ubisoft anymore because both of them using alway on-copy protection (and because of ddos attack i couldnt play).
My point is if you a enough bad experience you will not trust anyone anymore if specific pattens show up you will just run. It is like if you burn you finger often enough you wont touch the cooktop anymore.
Sure it will make more ppl think twice before you participate in a EA game, But! It really wont stop ppl from investing in them .
All this will do is make ppl research more on the Company/ppl that are developing them. EA games are/were a crap shot from the beginning no matter how you cut it. I have been burned with EA games <2 So far>.
*EA - being Early access not Electronic arts <- being another story lol.
People invest in kickstarters for the concept, and the hope, that concept will produce! This really is no different then in - old man voice - The olden times! No Internet, buying Fully Functional! -yeah right! games off the store shelves, and for a heck of a lot more money then 40$
(Were do I begin to count all the trash/Bug ridden/Not able to D/L a patch games I bought).
Now! We can search the web/ bring up a general background history of People/Companies/Games ect,. and less likely to make a bad buy (Maybe not much better - but still better).
All in All 1-2-20-100 EA games/companies failing to live to it’s promises, won’t stop New EA games/companies from growing/fulfilling and succeeding! (For every 1 person shying away from EA games 2 - new comers - will Impulse Purchase).
I unfortunately bought spacebase df-9. I will never ever buy anything from Double Fine anymore.
If I knew that the game depended on very good sales I would not have bought it.
Although I think the dead of EA is a bit too early to say. It is still a new concept and everyone has to get used to it. Sure becoming more picky is natural, but it is still not a life changing amount of money you pay. And if you really want to see something being made, that is not being made otherwise is fine. But it need to have some rules.
This guy sums up some good points about it perfectly.
“The cost is very much a big factor in our issues with some Early Access games these days. Consumers are meant to be compensated for buying an incomplete game with risks associated with it. The price is that agreement between dev and customer ‘I know it’s a bit cheeky me asking for money for this, but I just need a financial hand getting it done. So how about I only charge you a fiver? You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. You get a game much more ambitious than I could fund normally, and at a super cheap price, and in return I get to make money from this game while I make it.’”
“With the normalization of Early Access a lot of devs seem to have forgotten that this is a rather unorthodox and contentious thing to do, and instead of being thankful and humble in being permitted to conduct business in this unorthodox way, or remembering that this inherently puts them in a situation where they are more beholden to their customers wants and expectations than in traditional funding models. Instead many have accepted it as the norm, and started to creep the initial alpha prices up to release value (or sometimes, bewilderingly and sickeningly, ABOVE the release price) and the acceptability of releasing earlier and earlier more broken or lacking in gameplay builds to the point where it all becomes very problematic”.
TLDR:
Dont go early access if your game depends on the sales solely. (And dont live in a high cost area needing to make it the best selling game ever)
With directly buying by customers compared to publishers, it does not make you less obligated to deliver a proper product.
Make early access cheaper than release games. Not on par and surely not more expensive.
I think we coming a bit off topic here. My question was more likely should Dev sell ALPHA version of games in the Retail without putting up information that this game is still in a alpha stage? Would you consided it as fraud? When i go to a Retail store i dont want to buy a game that is unfinished or in alpha stage i want a complet product. I mean do you buy a car and you will notice later on that the AC is not yet build in and will delieve later on?
Yes it is stated on Steam and on the retail version is not where stated that is a early access version. Now games that are unfinished will be sold as fullversion in the stores.
Which is, technically speaking, nothing new. This happened ten years ago already, where software was released that was barely or not at all usable unless you’ve patched it, which sometimes was a zero-day-patch, sometimes not at all.
That it is combined with the new trend of early access/kickstarting isn’t exactly surprising to me.