Is PC Gaming heading towards an Unfinished Future?

Sophie Ross
May 27, 2015
2 min read

Digital downloading of games is quickly becoming the new norm for gamers everywhere and with it brings the ability for game developers to release their games to the public before they are completely ready, therefore giving gamers ‘early access’. Whilst this may seem like an advantage for game development, it can be argued that it is not always as successful as it first seems and can even be detrimental to some games.

Early access usually involves games being released during their alpha stage when the game is at its most basic level. This means that there are many unfinished elements within the game and a lot of bugs, errors and crashes involved when playing it. Whilst this might not sound like a positive thing, it allows developers to get immediate responses to their games as they are developing it, and can find out what elements work, what elements don’t, and any other issues gamers are having.

There is a fine line when it comes to early access and once crossed it is very difficult for developers to get back into the safe territory of steady progression. Being in early access can often put a game in the back of the developers mind. Gamers can play and enjoy the game as it is, without having to expect it to be perfect because of the early access tag. Therefore developers can easily lose their drive and the need to finish their game completely. They are making money even when the game isn’t finished, so there is no real urge for them to finish it, the only reason after going early access to finish a game is to please the players – and this is where a good community comes in.

If early access games have a strong community of people playing them, their progress will be very noticeable. H1Z1, a zombie apocalypse survival game, is the perfect example of an early access game that has made huge progression already and has a definite finish line in sight. The developers listen to what those playing it have to say, and are constantly updating the game. It’s easy to feel the progress that they are making; each new update not only brings new elements, but also a finesse to the game, highlighting how important the game is to the developers.

However, not all games can manage to get of the spiralling hole that it early access and this is a shame because a lot of these games could be great, but the developers seem to lose their ambitions after they start making money. DayZ, Rust, Prison Architect, and Starbound are games that have hit a wall in their development; they are still progressing but have lost their urgency and therefore are also slowly losing their players as well. So is early access really a good thing for gaming, or is it simply causing more games to be released unfinished?

Whilst some people are completely against early access, I personally think it can be a great thing for gaming – so long as the developers maintain their drive and never forget their end goal of releasing a full game for those people who have stuck with them throughout their early access.