Expensive, Early Access Releases Are Big Business for Publishers

This is going to be the next thing, isn't it?

If this got Micro transactions and season passes out of games I could live with it but with my cynical hat on it will just be an extra cost to go along with micro transactions and season passes.

@get2sammyb If someone wants to pay €40 extra for three days of early access, so be it. But I bet some publisher is going to push this to the limit. I'm more worried about spoilers. And I don't really play multiplayer games, but it gives the people with early access a lot of advantages over other people. We'll see where this goes...

@get2sammyb Yeah sadly your right. I am probably getting to be a grumpy old man but a lot of the practices these companies are pulling these days do rub me the wrong way. But I must admit the day one thing is not a big deal for me anymore I think we have slowly seen this year a lot of games have been discounted a month or two after launch like Onrush and Tomb Raider. So a lot of times it can beneficial just to wait a little while before buying.

It’s a real shame. I wish there was more banding together against this type of thing to be honest. I hate some of the greedy things that have made their way into gaming.

i can live with having a couple days earlier access.

but sooner or later there will be more publishers going as far as giving the most expensive edition a full month of early access,resulting in spoilers,and in MP games a devided playerbase even without the dlc and such.

and the question is if those early copies will be as optimized as the actuall release day copies. because of the rushed day 1 patches for those early copies,whereas the devs can take more time making the patch for the actuall release date copies,resulting in different quality.

It's kind of annoying... If it is ready just release it. I can see early access to online games as giving the player a perceived edge over other players but single player experiences like AC?

@Octane Yeah this just results in spoilers getting out quicker. I really hope this doesn't go further than it already has.

But EA shares have dropped about 40% since July so not working well enough.

@Feena early access for SP games and even online games are just a cheap effortless excuse that the devs add to the more expensive versions so they can "justify" the often stupid 100 dollar/euro etc price tags.

that way they don't have to make more exclusive content (which is already a bad thing,but atleast a better reason to buy those versions)

As your already paying more for an inferior product just by buying any where near launch with the level of bug and performance fixes coming weeks and months into a games life I guess they saw this as a extension of the current state of play

@Bad-MuthaAdebisi well if that company did not screw over it's fanbase with every game they put out then it would work for them aswell.

happy it doesn't seem to help them much.

@jdv95 depends I guess what's in their next financial report, might just be panick selling. Seem to have hit a 5 year high in 2018.

@jdv95 it's super scammy then! Will.not.cave. It would be terrible though to see my friends are playing the next Final Fantasy days before me because they paid 100$

Personally, I prefer to buy 'special/collectors' editions and if one of the 'bonuses' of that is to get the game earlier, so be it. Its not a Bonus that I would go out of my way to get. The way I look at it is that I was prepared to buy the collectors editions before these 'earlier access' bonuses and so I don't see why I shouldn't buy them now with it.

I would still have bought the Special editions of H:ZD, GoW, Spider-Man etc with or without a few extra days. What I would object to though is paying extra just for that. For example, if a standard game cost £50 on its scheduled day of release, I wouldn't pay more to get the game early. If a special edition, steel book version with the usual extras (some bonus cosmetic DLC, Art books, postcards etc) also happens to have a few extra days early access, then I would still pre-order because I want the special edition and would buy it anyway - with or without the earlier access for the steelbook etc.

I think the earlier access bonus suits digital pre-orders better because they can't offer physical bonuses - like steelbooks, statues or Art books. I still see this as a 'bonus' - like getting a few cosmetic DLC items or an Art book. I wouldn't pay more just for earlier access - I can wait a week to save money...

@jdv95 To be fair, I think this new scheme doesn't have a lot of wiggle room. Giving players a whole month of early access means the general public will have forgotten about it when it releases for them. If the gap is too big, it will hurt their sales. That doesn't mean an EA or Activision will try it, but I don't think it will be beneficial for them. There's only so much they can do with this, and a week at most is all I can see.

At least it doesn't affect the game itself.

@nessisonett That's probably part of the reason why they're doing it. ''Want to avoid spoilers? Pay extra to be the first!''

I guess I’m the polar opposite. I’m just now playing Fallout 4.

Lol people have a problem with this, but support microtransactions, and drm practices. Funny.

And here I am only buying games that have come out for at least a year.

@RoyalGuard Yeah, I'd take this over all the other nonsense. It's still stupid... but the least harmful I think. This wouldn't really affect me. Anyway, too bad this doesn't replace MTX, it's going to be another stupid layer on top of it all.

Well I'm not surprised to see which publishers are pushing this practice, luckily for me I tend to have little interest in their games anyway

@lacerz Fallout 4 is addictively FUN. I'm 91% of the trophies, just dragging the Plat cause I love it so much I wanna take time and find those bobbleheads myself. I feel Bethesda put a lot of effort in it to some extent, no wonder they wanna use that same template for 76 - though I'm not interested in that. In terms of gameplay, I enjoyed it more than Witcher 3. Don't listen to internet naysayers.

Remember when people review-bomb Shadow of the Tomb Raider because of a temporary price drop? People were furious because they insulted the fans who have the "privilege" of buying the game day one at full price.
People want the privilege of being the first to obtain something, and companies are exploiting that impulse. I mean, I see many gaming youtubers doing the same thing, asking for patronage and rewarding the patrons by being the first to consume any content they produce.

Never buy special editions, rarely pre-order,only buy season pass for dlc when i know content is quality and would never pay for early access. If someone is so invested in a game that they would pay 15 quid extra to play it a week earlier, that's their choice but in my opinion, more bloody fool them!

And I don't see many gaming journalists complaining about this practice, but they are really fast to attack Sony and the crossplay thing.
They clearly have an agenda.

I don't understand why people would want to obtain games much earlier than the rest of us, when even day one patches don't fix all the bugs on certain publishers' games! This becoming the next big monetisation trend won't affect me, as I don't do Twitter and already have a huge backlog of both old and recent releases to either start or 100℅, but I can see why it would really annoy those who are more active on social media and game streaming sites, as there would likely be spoilers everywhere if publishers take this to the extreme too, which they obviously will!

To be honest I have pretty much stopped buying day 1 anyway these days except for proper 1st party releases from Sony or Nintendo. Got burned too often where I feel like i've been taken for a mug be it buggy, incomplete games, or huge discounts sometimes within weeks of release.

How it was:
Day One = Release date = full price.
Sounds legit.
How it is:
Early Access = Real Release date = full price + 20%.
Day One = Delayed Release date = full price.
Sounds stupid.

The only early release I went for was the Shadow of the Tomb Raider. And it will be the last. I did it because I was super excited to play it and I believed that the season pass looked pretty decent! I enjoyed the last 2 remakes and loved the games as a kid!

It ended up being a complete buggy mess, trophies not unlocking and parts of the game just missing! That was resolved and now there’s issues with the first DLC! I can’t even access part of it!
I’m not mad it got reduced! I think it needed to! There’s absolutely no replayability because once you killed the enemies, there’s no more!

So I’ve learned my lesson! Wait for the reviews!

I'm happy. Paid early access. Gameshared with the misses and we both playing early. Don't like it early you don't need to buy it. Simple.

Companies know some people will gladly fork over extra money to get a game early. Then, that person convinces their friends to get an early copy and that's 2-4 sales right there for the early edition.

This thread reminds me, remember the online pass craze back on the PS3 days? Where, if you bought a game used. you had to spend extra to play that game online. I know Plus wasn't required to play online back then, but I always hated the online passes.

I blame the players who share accounts. They're the ones going halves on buying these versions.

I'll get BfV next week, more than happy to wait a week.

No cos it's not worth it. Premium was worth it, this is a joke. It offers nothing of any worth other than to play early, but the fact the game was delayed and they still did it is a ridiculous pi*s take. I'd have paid if it was worth it. It really annoys me though cos I like to get in early, especially with FPS games cos you want to get the weapons unlocked and learn the maps quick so you can enjoy it and hold your own. When people who have get enough money to waste wiping their noses on £50 notes get in there early it's a joke. Like I said, i'd happily pay for premium cos of the maps, the weapons, it all seems worth it to me but for a pack of facepaints that literally just says 'i'm one of the guys who burns £20's', and a few days early playtime, it's the most worthless offer i've ever seen.