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In the last couple of years, numerous of video games have been released via Steam’s Early Access platform. Some of these games have created a great amount of buzz for their innovation, such as Zomboid, Crypt of the NecroDancer, Takedown, Guise of the Wolf or Revelations, Foul Plays, Uneartheds, Motor Rocks, Garry’s Incidents, Invisible, and etc.
The Crypt of the NecroDancer game, in particular, was able to reach the top spot on the Steam’s sales chart. The feedback from people was very positive and helped the developers of this game to conduct minor changes on it in order to please players in every aspect possible.
On the other hand, the Octodad game, which was developed by a group of students at DePaul University, caused a lot of eyebrows to rise, as its quality was not the kind that people were expecting to find on the Early Access Steam platform.
Early Access Platform’s Downfall
Yes, the Early Access platform sometimes doesn’t benefit game developers, as there are games that have been considered, by numerous of individuals, to be scams, abandoned projects, canceled projects, or unfinished games that are being sold at retail.
Why are these games not finished? Well, there are a handful of game developers who need extra money in order to finish developing their games, and the only way they can attain this money is by allowing access to their unfinished product.
Basically, when an individual purchases a game that is on the Steam Early Access platform, he/she is purchasing a playable version of an unfinished game, which can sometimes be a fantastic choice, while at other times it can be the complete opposite.
Ever since Steam Early Access platform program was launched on March 20, 2013, with 12 games titles, it has caused a lot of attention among players and developers, as it seems to have its pros and cons just like everything else in this life. Sadly, this platform has, little by little, taken a downfall.
Ryan Clark, Chris Simpson, and Jamie Cheng are three developers that have gave their two cents on this matter that has been causing a lot of attention in the media.
Chris Simpson of The Indie Stone studio was behind the project game Zomboid, which was one of Steam’s first games to pass Greenlight certification, but there was trouble in paradise stored for Simpson and his colleagues, as they suffered from piracy, burglary, and even PayPal froze their account due to the game not being able to qualify as a finished good. Mr. Simpson and his coworkers were in a very bad spot, but they had hope. It was a game that had a troubled development history that stirred up due to outside forces, but made it through, as it is currently available on Stream Early Access. Without alpha funding, the presentation of this game would have never been possible.
“To see its reputation kind of start to go down the toilet is very frustrating for us,” said Chris Simpson. “It seemed like a gift from the gods because it allowed a small team to do something a bit more ambitious and exciting.”
Indeed, Zomboid has had a successful Early Access run, with The Indie Stone studio supporting it 100%, but it seems that the gift from the gods is not what it once was, as public opinion of Early Access is turning negative, but Mr. Simpson thinks that his group will be okay.