“Early Access” has become increasingly popular on the PC gaming market. For those who are unaware, early access is a feature used by game developers to sell the game before it is actually completed. Customers can pay a certain amount to gain access to the game before its official release and can experience it like a sort of beta. While early access has proved to be hugely successful for games like Minecraft, some less honorable developers have been known to take peoples money and then never finish the game properly. This has led to some people becoming critical of the feature and even claiming it may ruin gaming. Whether you love it or hate it, it seems unlikely it will come to consoles.
Read the entire interview after the jump.
The developer of the popular indie game, Don’t Starve, Kevin Forbes has said that while early access may continue to thrive on the PC, it is unlikely to transfer over to consoles. Forbes stated:
“Given the way that console publishing has traditionally worked, I would be very surprised if they started to allow early access,” Forbes told NowGamer.
“The certification process is pretty intense for a console game!”
When asked about early access on the PC, Forbes said:
“I think that it will grow, but I don’t think it works for every type of game or studio,”
“Narrative games are really prone to spoilers, and I can see a lot of players wanting to save the experience for the final product.”
“You also need to be pretty disciplined to develop with early access…You need to set real deadlines, and keep you players in the loop when plans change.”
“With early access, you can get real feedback while you are working on the game, and try different ideas out on an actual audience”
“I think this lets you try out and refine crazy ideas (like a long-play game with permadeath) that you would be too reckless to spring on an audience with no testing.”
Forbes game, Don’t Starve did have early access but is a great example of the feature being used properly. Don’t Starve has been met with praise and great reviews. The game is available to download on the PC and PlayStation 4 plus a Vita port is on its way. There are currently no plans for the game to come to Wii U or Xbox but Forbes said he was open to the idea.
For more information on early access gaming, check out this video:
Source: NowGamer
