John Buckley, communications and publishing chief at Pocketpair, has voiced concerns that the concept of early access on Steam has lost its original meaning. He believes the rise of hyper-casual and live service gaming cultures has led players to treat early access titles as finished products, rather than works in progress that require community feedback.
Buckley explained that in the past, particularly during the Steam Greenlight era, players who purchased early access games understood they were investing in a project's development. These players were typically engaged and willing to provide feedback to help shape the game. This created a symbiotic relationships where developers received funding and player input, while players gained early access to evolving titles.
However, Buckley noted a significant shift in player expectations. "The culture has changed and early access, essentially, has lost its meaning," he stated. "People just buy an early access game like they buy a normal game and treat it like that's the game." This change, he suggests, makes it more challenging for developers to manage expectations and foster the collaborative environment that early access was designed for.
He also acknowledged that the early access system can be misused, with some developers releasing unfinished games primarily to secure funding. "The biggest way it's abused now is just like, 'We'll release it now because we need money'," Buckley said, comparing it to a modern-day Kickstarter. While this funding model is inherent to early access, it can lead to complications if sales do not sustain continued development or if player expectations are mismanaged.
To mitigate these issues, Buckley emphasized the importance of transparency between developers and their player base. He stated that the best approach is to "softly educate people" about the development status and the nature of upcoming updates. Pocketpair itself has adopted this strategy, recently informing players that Palworld's 1.1 patch would focus on quality-of-life improvements rather than extensive new content, clarifying that the team is "not planning to spend a year making a massive update."