{"id":56,"date":"2020-10-21T13:09:28","date_gmt":"2020-10-21T13:09:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/wearepixels\/?p=56"},"modified":"2020-10-21T13:09:28","modified_gmt":"2020-10-21T13:09:28","slug":"what-is-steams-early-access","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/wearepixels\/?p=56","title":{"rendered":"What is Steam’s Early Access?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

EARLY ACCESS <\/strong>is a newer term in the video game sphere, popularized by steam when it launched its Early Access program back in 2013. This term is important to know, because buying games in early access is wayyyy different than buying them normally, and choosing the wrong game to back can burn a hole in your wallet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WHAT IS EARLY ACCESS<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Early Access is a system in place that allows players to play versions of the game while it is still in development. When you buy this game, you\u2019re under the impression that it isn\u2019t finished, things can be added, that this project isn\u2019t a reflection of the final project\u2014but it could be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THAT\u2019S DUMB. WHY DO WE WANNA PLAY UNFINISHED GAMES?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

AAA Companies typically don\u2019t use an Early Access system because they can hire in house game play testers. Indie Companies don\u2019t have that sort of budget, which forces them to rely on other means of playtesting. Early Access has existed before Steam added the program. Engaging in Early Access games helps indie developers develop their game affordably, thus raising the bar of quality indie games<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In steam, Early Access games are easily identifiable with this pop up showing up when you look at a game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
screenshot from kynseed’s steampage taken by Erin Lewis <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

OKAY, SO I SHOULD BUY EARLY ACCESS GAMES ALL THE TIME?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

No. You need to be careful about Early Access Games. You\u2019re buying an unfinished product, putting your trust in a developer that they are going to finish it. Every Early Access game I have ever bought has turned out phenomenal but go on reddit r\/steam page and you\u2019ll find entire threads dedicated to Early Access Disasters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HOW DO I MAKE SURE I\u2019M MAKING A GOOD PURCHASE?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So here are some easy steps when buying an early access game to help you make sure you\u2019re not getting ripped off.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Check the reviews. Anything from positive to overwhelmingly positive is a good sign the game is producing exactly what the players expected. Touch on some bad reviews too, see what the critics are saying<\/li>
  2. Research the developer. Littlewood\u2019s developer Sean Young has a reputation of having unfinished projects backed on Kickstarter. I was going to buy Littlewood in Early Access but decided against it because if he abandoned the project, I\u2019d be $15 poorer. Littlewood did come out and I hear is a smash hit! But at that time, it wasn\u2019t worth the risk.<\/li>
  3. On steam, to be in Early Access you have to answer a series of questions which a player can read on the front of a game\u2019s steam page. Read carefully through that to see exactly what they have in store, and exactly what they\u2019re promising.<\/li>
  4. Make sure the price your paying is worth an unfinished project. Currently, Baulder\u2019s Gate 3 is a $50 Early Access game. Their reasoning is to connect more with players, but no unfinished project should be worth $50.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    That\u2019s all! Happy hunting for Early Access!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    EARLY ACCESS is a newer term in the video game sphere, popularized by steam when it launched its Early Access program back in 2013. This term is important to know, because buying games in early access is wayyyy different than… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8260,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1273248],"tags":[1338237,288,606955,1338094,1191438,576,1489],"class_list":["post-56","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-video-game-literacy","tag-early-access","tag-games","tag-steam","tag-steam-games","tag-valve","tag-video","tag-video-games"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/wearepixels\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/wearepixels\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/wearepixels\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/wearepixels\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8260"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/wearepixels\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=56"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/wearepixels\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/wearepixels\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56\/revisions\/58"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/wearepixels\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=56"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/wearepixels\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=56"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/wearepixels\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=56"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}