Steam introduces Early Access

all this does is promote half ass games to be released to the public that may or may not get finished. I hope steam gets sued over this when a dev says **** it and stops developing.

This is awesome---IF the developers legitimately use the feedback from players.

early access = you pay to be a tester . Companies will fire all the testers and earn money on behalf of people thinking they are getting the game beforehand .

no thank you!! i will pass

Um... aren't they already?

DotaII, WarZ?

Good for developers, good for Early Access users, good for later release users. Why is this bad again?

Early aceess is sick ! I would love to play some hot games straight from the press but if I would have to pay full retail for them I would opt myself out. You just know that $59.99 dollar game will cost 10.99 during STEAM sale.

Oh, I would love to go into a retail store and ask for Drunken Robot Pornography or reciting the whole name of 1… 2… 3… KICK IT! (Drop That Beat Like an Ugly Baby).

Did I just saw a game called "Drunken Robot Pornography"????

The way most games are released now these days I thought we were already doing this...

whats the point to pay for an unfinished product.

It's like buying a car without wheels wtf

Do it for COH2 PLEASE!!

How different is this from Beta and Alpha?

This is at least a much better approach than Greenlight where everybody voted "yes" on most of the crap that was put on there, only to not buy it in the end anyways.
Besides, the Greenlight was more of a voting for ideas of games (which are years off from release), whereas with Early Access you already have a playable version at hand and can give feedback for future development.

I bought ARMA 3 before the "Early Access" phase as soon as it showed up on Steam and am already vastly enjoying it.
I've had hundreds of hours of enjoyment with Kerbal Space Program, since version 0.14 if I remember correctly and to support them I bought it again on Steam yesterday, even though the key from their store would carry over. (Their store didn't quite allow "gifting" to friends, but Steam of course does, so this was a good decision by them, besides the added exposure to all the gamers on Steam)
Gnomoria is slowly but steadily improving and I think I'll be getting it soon and Prison Architect I've backed from their preorders site half a year ago which I've also put countless hours into.

There are no game breaking bugs in ARMA 3, Kerbal Space Program or Prison Architect and even in their current state if something tragic would happen to the development team or the project would be abandoned, they'd still offer years and years of enjoyment (in my opinion), besides the only "DRM" is SteamWorks which is absolutely acceptable.
Don't like that, then you can still buy it from the developers directly, completely DRM free (except ARMA 3 of course, which is a Steam exclusive).
Don't approve with the current price of the game, then wait for it to show up in a sale, Steam has a very good reputation when it comes to that.

Long story short, it was all money well spent and I'd rather buy these "indie" developer games again and again before even considering wasting it on overpriced, casualized, 4 hour playthrough, DRM infested "AAA" titles that require separate account registrations and have no replay value.

Valve, this is truly the better way and I salute you for making this decision to offer this "Early Access" step for developers.

And what happens if the game never gets a full release? Do you get your money back?

interesting....but people are paying for beta now?

That system already exists... Today games are released in beta states.

Wow...so much hating.

People should decide for themselves what they wanna do...Steam isnt forcing anyone.

I decided I wanted to support Star Forge...so I did. And whatever others think of it...thats their own problem.

"Drunken Robot Pornography"

What the ****???

This should be a dream come true for all those aspiring developers out there. Don't expect anything great if your looking for a full blown game tho.

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Please realize you are buying into a alpha/beta. This is NOT a preorder so don't expect a refund if the game isn't working for you. Expect crashes and poor performance. I know this all sounds obvious but some people are this stupid.

Will we get early access to Episode 3?

Having a say in the process is the future. Steam is always on the cutting edge of stuff. It's completely optional, but for developer wannabes it's a dream.

still have to buy em tho so its not like a closed beta invite or a demo...

Nice , seem to be from all the developers who like to work with the communities.

PC developers tend to usually give a shit and care about feedback.This will work excellently.Ill be taking part for sure.

I already do for Starforge.

holy fucking shit

People are suppose to pay to test their games? Isn't that what game tester get paid to do? What a joke. Why would anyone pay for an unfinished game. This is NOT how games are suppose to be made. Valve is smoking that wacky weed again. Don't fall for this stupid crap.