10 Ways The Video Game Industry Takes Advantage Of Its Biggest Fans
5. Never Finishing Early Access Games
Again, a practice which isnt intrinsically exploitative, early access has been so horribly abused that its malformed into something altogether sinister.
In principle, early access allows players to invest in a game before its finished, granting them access to an alpha version of the game and promising them a finished version a few months down the line, or a couple of years. Its a practice which was fairly unique to Steam until Microsoft and Sony adopted it for Xbox One and PS4, and its also one that helps underfunded developers finish games that would otherwise have been cancelled, or remained in limbo indefinitely.
Unfortunately, we dont live in a perfect world governed by utopian principles, and so early access has been abused in all manner of deceptive ways. For one, developers are not often obligated to actually finish what theyve started; the money they make goes straight to them, and they can spend it however they like, not necessarily in the way they should.
Games like DayZ for example, have been so monumentally successful that its almost counterproductive for developers Bohemia Interactive to finish the thing; its just been sitting in early access, making buckets of money off players while not technically being in a complete state.