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Sony is looking into bringing early access/paid alphas to PSN

Drensch said:
Paying to test an incomplete game. Sounds like a bad idea.
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Seriously. I do miss the days when invited you were rewarded for helping the developers of games as essentially you were assisting their work. This is like paying to work, makes no sense.
 
Destiny would be a positive aspect to the kind of thing, that said... the shit that goes on in Steam and EA releasing beta's as "full retail" makes me wary of this slippery slope.
 
I guess this is Sony's way of trying to make people go all digital. Give some decent discounts and I might actually consider it. No fucking way with current prices though.
 
“We live in a different world, there are people out there who … enjoy trying things that they know aren’t going to be finished,” he said.
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Hm, this is really interesting.
Could be a nice idea.
 
I hope this doesn't get added as I wouldn't use it, so nobody should be able to use it.
 
I don't even really want to play unfinished games for free, let alone pay full price for them as though they were a final product. Count me out.
 
I don't get the logic behind paid alpha. Yes you can get an early access but why did i bug test the game for developer and even after that give them money
 
Spineker said:
Oh yeah because it's working so well for Steam.
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How has it not? Tons of smaller developers have made money to further develop their games and tons of gamers have got early access to titles they would have had to wait years to experience.

I hear about some duds now and then but personally I have nothing but enjoyed following along with games development so I like it.
 
I would fine with this as long as the certification for this is strict and the game isn't VERY early. If it's something like The Forest or something like that I think that's fine but nothing less than that tbh.
 
Mostly early access games remain on early access for years :( and never seems to be released ever...
Steam situation in that point is depressing.
The gaming future is so horrible, if we do not have enough with mobile games, pay to win games now the future is always beta games.
I remember those times when testers were paid for play devs games, not people pay for being a tester.
 
Early Access would be a great opportunity for Sony and developers alike. As long as it is made clear that a game is in Early Access and is not a complete title, I see no reason as to why these games should not be on the Sony marketplace. Out of all the early access games I have bought (DayZ, Rust, The Forest, Stomping Lands, Starbound, ArmA 3, Damned, Kerbal Space Program, and Prison Architect) I would say that there is only one that I felt I haven't got my moneys worth out of yet (Stomping Lands). The best part is these games will still have more to offer me in the future, as more updates are rolled out. This is after some 200 hours in Rust and over 120 hours in DayZ and if I can include the mod as well in that total it would be damn near if not over 1000 hours.

Also I find it wrong to say that you are paying for an Alpha as it implies that it is all you will be getting, but in truth you will always have access to the game all the way to and including the final product, and in some cases you get the game at a reduced price as well. In a lot of ways I see early access in the same way I see a kickstarter but you get a proof of concept with your purchase.
 
Chuck said:
If Steam is any indication of the results, this is a bad idea.
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Some projects on Steam were good in doing this. In fact, the most prolific I can think of was ArmA III. You essentially got the game at half-price, and the modding community got months of time to plan and work out addons.

Sadly, it seems titles like that are vastly, vastly outnumbered.
 
I feel like this should be left on PC, it's ideal for that market. But this goes against everything consoles should be about. It was bad enough when they started becoming patchathons. What happened to the days when consoles were all about plugging a cartridge in and the game was complete and just worked? My bigger concern is the trend this could set.
 
As long as they warn buyers about the risk in purchasing an early access game, I don't think there's any problem. Personally I think it'd be a lot of fun to try out some of the more ambitious work-in-progress games.
 
i just don't touch anything "early access" on Steam, as a general rule of thumb, so whatever.
If this means that titles will forever be in a beta state, though, well that sucks.
 
I'm happy enough supporting smaller developers who don't have the QA facilities to clean up their games, but the bigger developers can fuck right off with this shit.
 
I want this so bad. I actually enjoy playing games while developers work on them. It also means I get to play games way earlier than their actual release date. Granted, as long as the game gets continually worked on and improved, then I think it's totally worth it. Especially if studios take into consideration feedback from the player base. The incentive needs to be there for the dev to not abandon the project after gamers have shelved out money for an Alpha build.

Edit: As long as it lets me play No Man's Sky earlier than launch day, I'll be happy.
 
I honestly doubt this will be as open as it is on Steam... I'm sure this will be quite limited in its inception, if it does come to fruition.
 
I am all for choice. I personally do not buy early access games and rarely play betas (Destiny has been the exception). But I think for devs it is good since it allows them to have more testers for the game. It honestly does not impact me at all whether they do this or not. I can see it negatively impacting people that do not know better and buy a product thinking it is the final version. I think the best way would be to have a separate store front page just for these types of games. That way it makes it more obvious to people what they are getting into.
 
Im guessing this will begin with H1Z1 seems like good timing.

Im ok with this , as long as theres not numerous broken games being put out.
I worry because i doubt console versions will get patched as quickly as pc ones , hopefully im wrong in that regard.

I also beleive the console market wont be as forgiving , as Nafai1123 mentioned.
 
Blackage said:
I don't think they're aiming for the trash heap of Early Access games like steam, I think they're aiming more for alphas like Destiny, games the masses want to play, and are easy to market as a feature of the Playstation.

Indies are tricky to market, and incomplete half-ass indie games showing up on Steam lately are the opposite of what you want to market as a feature to your system.
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This right here. Destiny Alpha turned out to be HUGE for PS4. HUGE.

Bring me moar.
 
Put them, sure. Just don't expect me to pay for an incomplete game.
 
Please no Sony.

Look how bad Steam became. Steam is practically useless to me now.

Not everything can be in service of the developer. To be honest, I like Playstation as a curator more than a crowded pleaser.
 
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