Does Early Access work or is it giving developers with alterior motives a platform on which to throw out a dodgy alpha build and leave it there whilst they are busy counting their coins? Who ensures there is some kind of quality control - is it ultimately up to the gamer?
Half-Life and Portal writer Erik Wolpaw has detailed how his team has been using Generative AI for research and development at Valve.
Valve has responded to New York Attorney General Letitia James' lawsuit against the firm, stating it does not believe that lootboxes in its Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, and Team Fortress 2 games unlawfully encourage minors to gamble, adding it was "disappointed" to see the action go ahead despite efforts to "educate" the NYAG about virtual items since "early 2023."
Depends on the developer and the price.
If it's a well respected developer (like Introvision with Prison Architect) then it's worth the risk. Their game is still in Alpha, and yet is better than many final releases I have seen. their previous games have been excellent.
If the developer is unknown, and the price is low then I may take a risk. For example, Darkwood. The KS price was low enough to take a gamble. It has paid off so far.
However, in general I am now extremely wary of KickStarter campaigns and Early Access. I backed one campaign where the dev has gone silent. And another that offered refunds as they realised they had no clue how much to budget and couldn't afford to finish the game made! So neither of these even got to Early Access stage!
But with problems, like Towns - where the dev stopped updating the game, never finished it, and then started talking about releasing a sequel - that experience leaves a sour taste.
There does need to be a better method for people to get involved with Early Access. For example, I think that after paying to play an early access game on Steam, the buyer should be able to get a refund within 7 - 30 days. That would avoid the situation where Steam have to get involved to refund people for broken games. After the 'trial' period expires the funds are released to the dev.
For longer term projects that never deliver, I dunno what the advice is other than 'buyer beware'.
It depends on the person I think. For example I like game development and the process, and watching a game grow and change, so i would enjoy it more than someone who expects a full, bug free game at launch.
If you do enough research, there's usually not much risk involved.
I personally won't pick one up and I have not yet to this point. It's like paying for a alpha/beta, unless you truly believe in the product I would not do it.
I bought 7 days to die at 13.49 so I think its worth it once the fully polished game is complete. If they don't finish it I still got my 13.49 worth of gameplay.