10 Ways The Video Game Industry Takes Advantage Of Its Biggest Fans

5. Never Finishing Early Access Games

Again, a practice which isn€™t intrinsically exploitative, early access has been so horribly abused that it€™s malformed into something altogether sinister.

In principle, early access allows players to invest in a game before it€™s 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. It€™s a practice which was fairly unique to Steam until Microsoft and Sony adopted it for Xbox One and PS4, and it€™s also one that helps underfunded developers finish games that would otherwise have been cancelled, or remained in limbo indefinitely.

Unfortunately, we don€™t 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 they€™ve 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 it€™s almost counterproductive for developers Bohemia Interactive to finish the thing; it€™s just been sitting in early access, making buckets of money off players while not technically being in a complete state.

Contributor
Contributor

Formerly an assistant editor, Richard's interests include detective fiction and Japanese horror movies.