Why Don’t We Play Early Access Games We Buy? — Transcript

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1. 0:00You bought it. So, why aren't you
2. 0:02playing it? Road to Vostok has sold more
3. 0:04than a quarter of a million copies.
4. 0:06Right now, a few hundred people are
5. 0:08playing it.
6. 0:09Gray Zone Warfare, more than a million
7. 0:12copies sold
8. 0:13and around 3,000 playing it. The Forever
9. 0:16Winter,
10. 0:17hundreds of thousands estimated to own
11. 0:20it. Again, a few hundred playing.
12. 0:23Incursion Red River, same thing.
13. 0:25Hundreds of thousands of estimated
14. 0:27owners, a few hundred people playing.
15. 0:30Now, obviously, I'm not saying everybody
16. 0:32who owns a game should be playing it at
17. 0:33the same time. Nope, that's not the
18. 0:35point.
19. 0:37It's that these two things just don't
20. 0:39seem to belong together. We're willing
21. 0:41to rush out and buy these games before
22. 0:43they're even finished and apparently
23. 0:45become completely comfortable with well,
24. 0:47not playing them. And I'm one of them. I
25. 0:50played Road to Vostok demos, I modded
26. 0:52those demos, the early access arrived
27. 0:54and I bought it. I went through every
28. 0:55area, I found the traders, I played
29. 0:57through weeks of events, and I started
30. 0:59messing around with the mods. And then,
31. 1:01I just stopped playing. And I didn't
32. 1:02stop because I thought Road to Vostok
33. 1:04was [ __ ] I actually really like it. In
34. 1:06recent Steam reviews, it's still very
35. 1:08positive as well. So, this isn't as
36. 1:10simple as people bought a five-game and
37. 1:13left. I bought Road to Vostok, I like
38. 1:16Road to Vostok, but right now, I'm not
39. 1:18playing Road to Vostok and apparently,
40. 1:20I'm far from alone. So, maybe buying a
41. 1:22game and wanting to play that game right
42. 1:23now aren't actually the same decision
43. 1:25anymore. And if that's true,
44. 1:28what exactly are we buying when we buy
45. 1:30early access?
46. 1:32Maybe that's the first answer. You're
47. 1:34not necessarily buying the game that's
48. 1:35sitting in front of you.
49. 1:38You're buying the game that you think
50. 1:39it's going to become. Road to Vostok
51. 1:41makes that pretty obvious. The version
52. 1:42on Steam today isn't the finished state.
53. 1:44There are more areas coming, more AI,
54. 1:46more quests, more systems, more
55. 1:48basically everything. And that's not
56. 1:51some hidden disclaimer, either. That's
57. 1:52the deal. You're being given something
58. 1:54you can play now while knowing that a
59. 1:56big part of what you buying is still
60. 1:58being built. And in Incursion Red River,
61. 2:01they're even more explicit about it. Its
62. 2:03developers say they expect early access
63. 2:05to last between 3 and 4 years. The
64. 2:08version you're going to buy now is a
65. 2:09core loop. It's got three maps, the
66. 2:11beginning of a campaign. The version
67. 2:13they're describing at the end of early
68. 2:14access has more maps, more missions,
69. 2:16expanded mechanics, overhauled AI, and a
70. 2:18fuller narrative. They even say early
71. 2:21access helps financially support game
72. 2:22that. So, you're not just buying what
73. 2:24Incursion means. You're buying into what
74. 2:26Incursion might just become. And maybe
75. 2:29that's the first thing early access
76. 2:30changes about the transaction we have
77. 2:32here. You're not only paying for today's
78. 2:34game. You're paying for access to its
79. 2:36future, which I think sounds perfectly
80. 2:38reasonable. Until you ask the obvious
81. 2:40question, if the game I really might
82. 2:43want still be three or four years away,
83. 2:45then why the [ __ ] am I paying for it
84. 2:47now?
85. 2:49Well,
86. 2:50because it's early. You can do something
87. 2:52waiting doesn't. It can help the game
88. 2:55get there. Incursion again actually says
89. 2:57that. Early access gives them financial
90. 2:59support while they're developing the
91. 3:01game. And if somebody buys Incursion
92. 3:03now, they're not just paying for three
93. 3:04maps and whatever is currently there.
94. 3:06Part of that money is helping fund
95. 3:08whatever comes next. And with Road to
96. 3:10Vostok, that's not theoretical. 5 days
97. 3:13after early access launched, Anti said
98. 3:15sales had secured the entire development
99. 3:18roadmap. People had played the demos.
100. 3:21They'd given feedback. They'd watched
101. 3:22the dev logs. They'd followed him
102. 3:24building this thing for a couple of
103. 3:25years. Then eventually, there was
104. 3:27something they could actually buy. And
105. 3:29buying it became a way of saying, "I
106. 3:31want you to keep making this, Anti."
107. 3:33But there's another reason to buy early
108. 3:35as well. It can be cheaper. Ahead of the
109. 3:38big 1.3 update, the price went from
110. 3:40$18.99 to $21.99. More game was coming,
111. 3:44so the price was going to go up with it.
112. 3:46And Road to Vostok says its price will
113. 3:48gradually increase as more builds,
114. 3:49content, and features are added as well.
115. 3:51So, if you're already convinced you want
116. 3:53to wait for the finished game, waiting
117. 3:55can actually mean you're paying more for
118. 3:56it, which creates this strange
119. 3:58situation, I think. The game isn't
120. 4:00finished. The version you really want
121. 4:02might still be years away, but buying it
122. 4:04now can still make complete sense.
123. 4:07You're supporting something you want to
124. 4:09exist. You're getting in before the
125. 4:10price goes up, and whatever Road to
126. 4:12Vostok or Incursion becomes next, you,
127. 4:15my friend, already own it. And maybe
128. 4:17that's the weird part, because once
129. 4:19you've bought it,
130. 4:20I've already got the thing I was worried
131. 4:21about missing.
132. 4:23And this is the bit I recognize in
133. 4:25myself. If there's a game I already know
134. 4:27I'm probably going to want, sometimes
135. 4:29I'd just rather buy it. Then I've got
136. 4:31it. I don't need to keep checking the
137. 4:33price. I don't need to remember when the
138. 4:35next update comes out, and I don't need
139. 4:37to make that decision again. It's just
140. 4:39there. And there is actually something
141. 4:41going on there. Researchers call it part
142. 4:44of choice closure. Basically, once a
143. 4:46decision feels final, you stop going
144. 4:48back over the alternatives. Do I want
145. 4:50it? Should I?
146. 4:52Should I wait? Once I've bought it, I
147. 4:54can stop making that decision. And I
148. 4:56think that's a really interesting thing
149. 4:57with early access, because purchase can
150. 5:00feel finished, even though the game
151. 5:02really isn't. I've got it.
152. 5:05I've got Road to Vostok. I'm in.
153. 5:07Whatever happens next, I don't need to
154. 5:09worry about whether I buy it. Early
155. 5:11access gives you another reason to want
156. 5:12to be in early as well, because the
157. 5:14launch itself is part of it. Everyone is
158. 5:17discovering things. People are talking
159. 5:19about it. There's a buzz. They're in the
160. 5:21Discord. They're finding things you
161. 5:23haven't seen next. They're watching the
162. 5:25developer and what he does next. And
163. 5:27that moment doesn't really ever happen
164. 5:29again. The game might still be there in
165. 5:313 years, but everybody is discovering it
166. 5:33now for the first time. That happens
167. 5:35just once. And if you've followed
168. 5:37something like Road to Vostok for years,
169. 5:39there's probably some value in being
170. 5:40there while it changes as well. You
171. 5:42played the demos. You watched it
172. 5:44develop. The The access arrives, and now
173. 5:46you're part of that next stage. You're
174. 5:48not waiting for the finished game.
175. 5:49You're watching it become the finished
176. 5:51game and sometimes you're helping. And
177. 5:54that's one of the actual points of early
178. 5:55access, feedback, bug reports,
179. 5:57balancing, telling the developer what
180. 5:59works and what doesn't. Maybe everyone
181. 6:01complains about the same system, the
182. 6:02developer changes it. And now in some
183. 6:05tiny way, you are part of that. There's
184. 6:08again actual research into this as well.
185. 6:10When people get involved in shaping
186. 6:12something, they can develop what's
187. 6:13called psychological ownership. Not that
188. 6:16you literally own more of the game, you
189. 6:19just feel more invested in it because
190. 6:21you've had some part in what it became.
191. 6:23And that really does make sense to me.
192. 6:24People like feeling like they matter. I
193. 6:27reported that bug.
194. 6:28We complained about that mechanic. They
195. 6:30changed it. I was there when this thing
196. 6:32was completely different. That could be
197. 6:34part of the appeal here. And obviously,
198. 6:37it's another way of looking at all this
199. 6:38because
200. 6:39wait a minute.
201. 6:41Hang on.
202. 6:42I paid you.
203. 6:44And now I'm finding your bugs.
204. 6:47I'm testing your balance. I'm stress
205. 6:49testing your systems. I'm giving you
206. 6:51feedback what needs changing. Sometimes
207. 6:54I'm even helping steer decisions on how
208. 6:56a game should work. And on top of all
209. 6:58that, I'm taking the risk thinking I'm
210. 7:00buying a game that might actually never
211. 7:02become the game.
212. 7:03Development could change, features could
213. 7:04disappear, project can stall. It can
214. 7:06even be abandoned. So, one person looks
215. 7:09at early access and they say, "I'm
216. 7:12helping shape a game I believe in."
217. 7:14Someone else looks at exactly the same
218. 7:16thing and says, "Mate,
219. 7:17you're a tester who paid them." And the
220. 7:20weird thing is,
221. 7:22they're both basically right. And this
222. 7:23is where the cynical bit of it kicks in
223. 7:26because whether anybody consciously
224. 7:27designed it this way or not, early
225. 7:29access is an incredibly good at turning
226. 7:32all of those feelings into a reason to
227. 7:33buy, support the developer, get in
228. 7:36before the price rises, be there at
229. 7:37launch, join the community, help shape
230. 7:39the game. Don't miss what happens next.
231. 7:42There are loads of reasons to feel like
232. 7:44you should get involved now, but once
233. 7:45I've actually bought in,
234. 7:47none of those necessarily give me a
235. 7:48reason to play it tonight. The urgency
236. 7:51that got me through the checkout, it
237. 7:52didn't necessarily keep me in the game.
238. 7:57But not everybody buying early access
239. 7:59wants to be part of all that. Some
240. 8:01people don't want to test it, they don't
241. 8:02want to report the bugs, they don't want
242. 8:04to play the build as it arrives. They
243. 8:06just want the game, the finished one.
244. 8:08And again, I completely understand that
245. 8:10because another problem with playing
246. 8:12games through early access is you end up
247. 8:14watching the whole thing being built.
248. 8:15The new area arrives, you play it,
249. 8:17systems get added, you test it, AI
250. 8:19changes, and you go back again. Another
251. 8:22quest line, you finish that. And
252. 8:24eventually 1.0 arrives, and you've
253. 8:26already seen so much of what it's got
254. 8:28there, there's no big reveal anymore.
255. 8:31There's no first time walking into that
256. 8:33area, there's no discovering how all
257. 8:34these systems work together. You've
258. 8:36basically watched things grow up like a
259. 8:38small child. And for some people,
260. 8:40they just don't want that. They believe
261. 8:42in the game, they've already decided
262. 8:43they want it, they bought it maybe
263. 8:45because it was cheaper, maybe because
264. 8:46they wanted to support the developer.
265. 8:48Either way, I've got it. Now, I can
266. 8:51leave it alone. I can put it back on the
267. 8:53shelf and just forget about it. I don't
268. 8:55need every dev log or update because
269. 8:58I'm actually waiting for the version I
270. 8:59imagined when I bought in, the finished
271. 9:02thing. And it's almost the complete
272. 9:03opposite of what we've just talked
273. 9:04about. One person buys early access
274. 9:07because they want to be there while the
275. 9:08game's being made. The other buys it
276. 9:10deliberately to get out of the way until
277. 9:12it's finished. Same purchase, but
278. 9:13completely different relationship with
279. 9:16what happens next. And maybe the strange
280. 9:18thing about all of this, early access
281. 9:20can make me feel urgent about buying the
282. 9:21game and then completely patient about
283. 9:24playing it. I've paid for it, it's mine,
284. 9:26I'm safe. Now, wake me up when it's
285. 9:28ready.
286. 9:30So, maybe that's why all those numbers
287. 9:32at the beginning aren't quite as strange
288. 9:34as they first looked.
289. 9:35People can buy into an early access
290. 9:37game, They can play it, stop playing it,
291. 9:39and still be happy that they bought it.
292. 9:41Maybe you bought it because you wanted
293. 9:43to support that developer or because you
294. 9:44wanted to get in there and test it and
295. 9:46tell them what was wrong with it. Maybe
296. 9:48you bought it because you know what you
297. 9:49want eventually and you're waiting for
298. 9:51that finished thing.
299. 9:53So, what early access game did you buy?
300. 9:57Which one were you? Did you buy it to
301. 9:59support it or critique it or just wait
302. 10:02for it? Let me know in the comments.
303. 10:04Cheers for watching, peeps. Love you.
304. 10:06Bye.