What is the appeal of Early Access?

Most games don't make it out of EA so it's the best you're gonna get.

I'm gonna pay $30 for grounded 2 early access next week and get it $20 cheaper than when it releases in a few years.
 
August Levasseur said:
From a gamer perspective, you don't have to wait for a game to fully release before playing it, and you usually don't have to pay as much as if you bought it once it fully releases.
From a dev perspective, you get to make money while the game is still in development, build a community before completing the game (this includes a lot of free marketing), and get community feedback on what features/mechanics gamers actually like/want vs ones they hate.
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Isn’t that just shareware? Release a level for free, then if they like it, sell them the rest?
 
Fuck if I know. Same with "subscribe to my Patreon and you get videos a week early" You still only get one video a week.
 
There's been many solid games that have come through early access, and many games that have become really big hits because of it.

Things like Thronefall, Vampire Survivors, Ratopia. It's very interesting to see.

But there's also been many many more games that have failed, be it a lack of skill by the developers, community abandonment, a lack of interest, or having a ex-Blizzard employee with a ferret fetish involved.

Early access is somewhat of a risk, but... let's be honest, so is buying any game.

Look at Moonbreaker. Entered early access in 2022, being done by the Subnautica devs, 1000+ positive reviews, left early access in February 2024 to 255 players.

It's currently at 3.
 
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