While it didn’t technically start last year, in 2023 we saw an increase in the number of games offering “early access” for a price. Mortal Kombat 1, The Crew: Motorfest, Starfield, Diablo 4, and a few others all offered players an option: Pay the standard price to play the game at launch or pay extra to play a few days “early,” assuming the servers are working properly.
To me, it all seemed like an obvious ploy by publishers to milk gamers for even more money than they already do via in-app purchases, cosmetics, battle passes, and XP boosters. I hoped that people would realize that all these publishers were doing was holding back a game’s release for a few days just to make some extra money. I hoped that gamers would see this was a scam and that these early access perks were worthless.
I was apparently wrong. Looking ahead at the rest of 2024, it’s clear that publishers big and small have seen other games making lots of money via early access launches and are following their lead.
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keep in mind that all of the games listed above aren’t actually being released early. I can’t stress that enough. That’s not what’s happening here. Not at all.
If a company can release a game like Madden NFL 25 on August 12 for some, they can release it for everyone, instead of making players wait three days because they didn’t spend an extra $20 on some special edition. A game launched on July 10 for some players still had to go through all the same certifications and testing that any other game released on a console is forced to complete. So the only thing holding the game back for three days is greedy publishers.
Basically, publishers are delaying games by three days for no reason, and then charging you more to play early. They have created a fake problem and are selling you a silly solution.
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In multiplayer games this can lead to people arriving well after others have hit the max level and mastered maps and weapons. And for single-player games, it means folks with less money might have stories spoiled days before they can play. It’s just a real mess of garbage and none of it is necessary at all.
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I also want to give a special shout-out to Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown, which seems to be the first game to take this paid early access shenanigans to the next level with two separate tiers depending on which special edition you pre-order. The silver editions of the game include two days of early access while the even pricier gold edition bumps that up to seven days.
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next year, we might see a game with a 15-day early access period and a separate 18-day super early access window. Are you all excited for that future, because I’m not.
Source: Paying To Play Games Early Is Normal Now And That Sucks
Pre-order is enough of a scam. If you are going to pay beforehand, then you should receive equity. You are taking a risk. But to pay extra for a few days? Really?
Robin Edgar
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