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Sony is looking into bringing early access/paid alphas to PSN
- Thread starter Killthee
- Start date
Why does it have to be like steam? I would hope sony would iterate and improve on the concept and execution.
BananaSprinkles
Banned
Praise Zeus I hope this doesn't happen.
LiquidSolid
Member
That's what it sounds like to me too.
The problem with Steam is that with their move to open things up and remove some of the burden from themselves, they've also removed most of the standards that most modern stores keep. If they actually moderated their content more and kept their standards up, then selling Early Access games like Rust, DayZ, H1Z1, etc. would be perfectly fine.
ShinMaruku
Member
Some consumers are so game hungry they do this many times. As evidenced by steam. Of course Sony won't have steam laxness
LyleLanley
Banned
This seems like a bad idea. I can't imagine what the reaction will be like when someone who doesn't know what an alpha is buys access to a game that is barely useable. Unless of course they just mean it as a marketing term kind of like how public beta tests are thought of today.
He's talking about gamers paying to play games that are still in development. Think of PC titles like Minecraft, Starbound, Don't Starve, Rust, DayZ, Everquest Landmark, Planetside 2, DoTA 2, etc...
You fork over the cash (usually full price or a few bucks off the final price) while the game is still in development and you get access to the current dev build. You can then go to the dev's forum and tell the devs what you like about the game, what you hate about it, and what you would like to see in the future. As the game continues in development you get access to the latest dev build up to the final complete release. There's a whole category of games launching like this on Steam.
maneil99
Member
If you are selling a game to people that you claim is going to be completed yet cannot complete the game if enough people are going to buy it you shouldn't be selling it in the first place.
jts
...hate me...
I lol'd.
You do eventually get the game. Also insert obvious BF4 joke here.
Shining Sunshine
Banned
I hope Everquest Next and H1Z1 are first in line.
AyaisMUsikWhore
Member
Anything can happen. People shooting down an idea to make better games is much more disappointing than complaining when the game was out and protesting that it should of been beta tested before people spent their $60.
Who wants to pay for a staff of project managers to keep tabs on a ton of indie devs? If anything, create mini studios to help support promising indie teams but don't let them self-publish half-baked games.
They can already do alphas like Destiny. This is about paid alphas like Steam early access...so you're arguing against your own point.
I wasn't shooting down the idea of making games better. I agree with your general idea. Just the idea that "we don't know, maybe they're paying us!" when they clearly are not saying that is what I disagreed with.
Dr. Kitty Muffins
Member
Okay, thats what I originally thought.
On the one hand, this makes the cost of development a bit more easy to swallow for devs but on the other, I could see exploitation as a potential pitfall for some. I'd bet the whales in the anime loving crowd would pay up.lol
SolidSnakex
Member
I'm 100% in favor of this because PSN in its current form is nowhere near as open as Steam. So they aren't going to be creating a place where users will find horror stories like those Jim Sterling makes videos about. I wouldn't be at all surprised if they were restricted to games that have already proven themselves on Steam like a Starbound or some of their internally developed games.
Sorcerer Supreme
Member
No, fuck this trend and fuck paying for alphas and unfinished games.
EmptySpace
Banned
maneil99
Member
it's worse because there will be tons of collateral casual/lay back gamers that have no idea the games buggy OR that the game might not finish
LyleLanley
Banned
Crowd-funding isn't an inherently awful idea.
Only if those devs decide too. So no t all... most of the alphas on steam are team so porting over while doing an alpha might be to much for some
plenty of console owners do it.
only they also pay for the rest of the game where most early access stuff if updated for free.
Yeah. They need some sort of go between or some sort of additional, dedicated staff to make sure that these devs meet their deadlines and are able to keep the promises they made. I mean, I'm not against the idea. It can work. We see it work on Steam. There is just a lot of potential for ambiguity, exploitation, bullshit and other fuckery. I don't want to see people pay into early access of a game and then get screwed over because the devs fail to deliver or decide to change the terms and conditions as to what they were meant to release in the final build. They need to put in some pretty concrete ground rules and lay things out first.
FriedConsole
Banned
If people want to pay for unfinished broken games, let them. I will let people pay to beta test and enjoy the benefits.
BladeoftheImmortal
Member
popular doesn't mean good.
Blackage
Member
A paid indie Alpha for an unproven product is different then a paid alpha for a major franchise from a AAA developer, that's the point I'm arguing.
Almost all the Early Access stuff on steam is Indie.
I think Sony thinking more along the lines of a program to get people paid early Alpha for like Battlefield/Mass Effect/Assassin's Creed/etc etc
NervousXtian
Thought Emoji Movie was good. Take that as you will.
Where are getting those numbers?
EA hasn't been around long enough to come to any conclusions yet on the success ratio of how well EA games do and how they turn out.
Orthogonal
Member
Hmmm... I don't know. There's usually several dumpster fire's released for every gem. As long as it is walled within it's own section of PSN that I can skip over, I guess it's alright.
TangibleDream
Banned
No, I don't mean release or update certification. I'm talking about them implementing an alpha/beta certification program stricter than Steam. The nature of Steam's platform (PC) sort of has this side effect of more lenient guidelines, for better or worse.
On consoles, a certain level of polish is sort of more expected. Still, they are inherently Alphas at the end of the day, so if people expect this to be software 1 month away from being Gold, then they will be sorely disappointed. Those who get in this know what they are getting into, much like the Steam folks.
Luckily Sony actually has that quality certification your game needs to pass in order to be even put on PSN.
BibiMaghoo
Member
Dear Sony.
Please bring the Steam market to PSN instead.
Kind regards,
Everyone.
Please bring the Steam market to PSN instead.
Kind regards,
Everyone.
velociraptor
Junior Member
No thanks. I'd rather play a polished product.
Console players would be overjoyed to get Rust and DayZ on the platform.
Past that I'm not sure how this would work on PSN. I know early access devs wouldn't want to be there with the current guidelines so things would need to change in a big way. And obviously much of the community doesn't want them there either.
Past that I'm not sure how this would work on PSN. I know early access devs wouldn't want to be there with the current guidelines so things would need to change in a big way. And obviously much of the community doesn't want them there either.
ArkkAngel007
Member
It's not something I'm interested in taking part in, but it will be interesting to see how it turn out. My main concern is that it sets the precedent for it to become the rule, rather than the exception in game development/releases.
BibiMaghoo
Member
You can't have both?
Being early access doesn't mean it has to be janky, just that not all features are present at launch. It can be superbly polished, and still an alpha.