If you release in early access, perhaps expect players not being ready to jump into a buggy, in-development competitive shooter?
Only early access games I’ll pick up are ones where it’s not PvP and I doubt I’m alone in that.
Bizarre they’re effectively treating the game as “released” and studying telemetry yet when players see “early access”, they see it as “beta” and not actually released.
I think you’re hitting the nail on the head. A lot of publishers are blatantly misusing EA to put out an unfinished piece of software to socialize the testing, and hope for a more understanding playerbase because of the EA status. Not only is it manipulative, it also skews reception like it does here. Personally, I categorically skip all EA because I only buy finished products. Doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be interested in a good tribes game.
If you want awesome early access games, I can definitely recommend Abiotic Factor, Going Medieval, and of course Project Zomboid.
AF is basically a mix of Half-Life and SCP, and it’s a 1-6 player survival game where you use office supplies and such to make fortifications and weapons. It’s about to get its first big content update in the next couple weeks, and has had a few smaller content updates since it went into EA.
Going Medieval is kinda like Rimworld, where you start a colony after a plague has wiped out a huge chunk of the general population. It went into EA a couple years ago, but it’s still actively getting updates with new mechanics, objects, weapons and such.
If you release in early access, perhaps expect players not being ready to jump into a buggy, in-development competitive shooter?
Only early access games I’ll pick up are ones where it’s not PvP and I doubt I’m alone in that.
Bizarre they’re effectively treating the game as “released” and studying telemetry yet when players see “early access”, they see it as “beta” and not actually released.
I think you’re hitting the nail on the head. A lot of publishers are blatantly misusing EA to put out an unfinished piece of software to socialize the testing, and hope for a more understanding playerbase because of the EA status. Not only is it manipulative, it also skews reception like it does here. Personally, I categorically skip all EA because I only buy finished products. Doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be interested in a good tribes game.
If you want awesome early access games, I can definitely recommend Abiotic Factor, Going Medieval, and of course Project Zomboid.
AF is basically a mix of Half-Life and SCP, and it’s a 1-6 player survival game where you use office supplies and such to make fortifications and weapons. It’s about to get its first big content update in the next couple weeks, and has had a few smaller content updates since it went into EA.
Going Medieval is kinda like Rimworld, where you start a colony after a plague has wiped out a huge chunk of the general population. It went into EA a couple years ago, but it’s still actively getting updates with new mechanics, objects, weapons and such.
And I’m sure you know Zomboid.