01-22-2014, 04:41 PM
Valid point. I dunno. It feels like it makes for a poorer experience all around. Given the choice between fewer games of higher quality and a plethora of substandard product, I know which I would choose. If it were here and there, it wouldn't really be a big deal. But over the past couple years, the trend has become ridiculous. Pull up Steam on any given day and something to the tune of 70% of the featured games will be early access. It's crazy. Whatever happened to getting an investor, getting a loan or pitching your idea to an established company?
In the end, it doesn't seem like it's good for the games either. Look at PoE. Throughout the open beta, the fanboys used the beta crutch to bludgeon anyone who brought up a valid concern. Then the game officially released... to smaller numbers than the open beta peaks. Steam's promotion of it was the only reason why they have any current users at all. Everyone else had their fill during the beta and moved on. Meanwhile, people's memories are of desync plagues, glitches and a lousy end game. Maybe GGG fixed all of this and PoE is perfection incarnate. But it's too late. People have moved on and based their opinion on their beta experiences. Just how likely are they to come back to an expansion or another GGG product?
In the end, it doesn't seem like it's good for the games either. Look at PoE. Throughout the open beta, the fanboys used the beta crutch to bludgeon anyone who brought up a valid concern. Then the game officially released... to smaller numbers than the open beta peaks. Steam's promotion of it was the only reason why they have any current users at all. Everyone else had their fill during the beta and moved on. Meanwhile, people's memories are of desync plagues, glitches and a lousy end game. Maybe GGG fixed all of this and PoE is perfection incarnate. But it's too late. People have moved on and based their opinion on their beta experiences. Just how likely are they to come back to an expansion or another GGG product?