In 2023, Baldur’s Gate 3 demonstrated the strengths of putting a big game through early access ahead of a wide release. The RPG’s successful years of early testing shaped it into a better game, making it a clear Game of the Year winner.
In 2024, early access games only continued to thrive. Some of the biggest games of the year, like Palworld and Hades 2, became big hits even though they were part of a Steam program that allows developers to release games before they hit 1.0 in order to get feedback from players to inform development. Other hits that popped up throughout the year — like Enshrouded, Manor Lords, Abiotic Factor, and No Rest for the Wicked — were all early access titles as well.
Early access games used to have a stigma around them because developers asked players to pay for an unfinished product. Now, players flock to them en masse, and more developers are finding the concept appealing. Whether it was a single-player experience or not, early access in 2024 created a unique kind of live service that hooked players by making them collaborators in the artistic process.
Why early access?
On every Steam page for an early access game, a developer must explain why they’re using access. For example, Supergiant Games explained on the Steam page for Hades 2 that “we believe everything about this game benefits from ongoing feedback, from the balancing to the storytelling.” While the early access game page on Steam used to be dominated by unknown indie developers making vague promises, studios like Supergiant are putting their reputations on the line by embracing early access to get feedback.
Even Ubisoft got in on the action this year. Made by former Dead Cells developers at Evil Empire, The Rogue Prince of Persia is an action-platformer roguelike in which players repeatedly try to save their kingdom from the Huns as the titular Prince. Writing over email, game director Lucie Dewagnier, producer Jolan Reyanud, and artistic director Dylan Eurlings told Digital Trends they “shared a collective dream of using early access to put players at the heart of the development process,” as this unique release format gave them a way to get helpful suggestions and feedback from players every day. “Our goal was to meet our players and shape the future of the game together, engaging with them every single day,” they added.
And while much bigger players are in the space, small indie games are still thriving in early access in 2024. Fiveamp released its Vampire Survivors-inspired gun-building action game Nimrods: GunCraft Survival into early access earlier this year and has found success; it’s seeing what players want from a Vampire Survivors alternative rather than just presenting them with one.
“By observing how real players interact with the game, we can fine-tune Nimrods to make it the best experience possible,” Fiveamp explained. That’s the optimistic view most developers and players have regarding early access nowadays. Rather than just being a way to get money from players as early as possible, it’s a way for developers big and small to create communities, get more feedback than in-house playtesting could ever provide, and make sure they have the best game possible once the 1.0 release finally arrives.
A new kind of live service
Players are drawn to early access games for many of the same reasons as live service games. Nowadays, most players want to feel like they’re actively part of a community, have their feedback heard by developers, and see a game they enjoy constantly evolve over time. Even for single-player games like The Rogue Prince of Persia and Nimrods, being in early access provides all of those feelings to players just as a game like Fortnite or Helldivers 2 would. They also make them feel like they’re getting in on the ground floor of something special. Of course, that means that early access games come with some of the same stressors for developers as live service games.
“Once the game is live, sifting through the flood of feedback to find actionable insights can be demanding — especially with the community eager for regular updates,” Fiveamp says. “Each iteration feels more like running a live service than developing in a vacuum, so we must approach every new feature or tweak with a careful strategy. Balancing community expectations, pacing content updates, and maintaining a transparent road map all require a delicate touch throughout the early access journey.”
More players than ever before are finding themselves invested in early access titles. Whether they know it or not, everyone who picks up a game like Palworld or Path of Exile 2 to have some fun with friends is contributing in some way to the ongoing development of a piece of art. The frequency of early access updates and financial incentive of having bought into an early access title gives players more of a reason to keep playing. This is reflected in The Rogue Prince of Persia team’s own experience with feedback from players who paid for the game.
“These players are more vocal, more critical, and their feedback can be harder to process because it can shake us,” the studio says. “But it’s this kind of feedback that’s the most valuable for helping the game grow. Positive feedback is, of course, wonderful and necessary to keep pushing forward, but the real strength lies in turning negative feedback into positive outcomes. There’s no greater feeling than seeing a former detractor become a passionate advocate for the game after working hard to address their concerns. The trust we earn from players who feel heard is worth more than any negative comment we might receive.”
Embracing early access
While player engagement might sound like a boring statistic, it’s critically important to the success of games in the modern age. Early access helps with marketing on that front, creating a community that deeply cares about a game before it even hits 1.0. Fiveamp says early access gave Nimrods helpful visibility on Steam that it may not have gotten otherwise, while Evil Empire and Ubisoft get to be the big dogs in an indie-dominated space. Survival games like Palworld and Enshrouded get a pass for being a little messy because players have faith that the developers will build the experience into something special based on their feedback. That’s not a feeling players can get from games that aren’t in early access.
In 2024, early access allowed developers to embrace their community and obtain the knowledge needed to improve a game’s worst parts and polish its best ones. That applies to The Rogue Prince of Persia, Nimrods, and every other high-profile early access game released this year. It’s now a widely accepted way for developers to build a community and for players to get invested in the day-to-day operations of a studio. Many of 2024’s most popular games came from early access and that will most likely continue to be the case in the coming years.
