Ok enough.
- Thread starter Styo
- Start date
Users who are viewing this thread
If it's a money issue, they could always adopt their past business model. M&B offered buy-in permanent beta access & the full game on release. If they offered alpha access at, say, 60% of the final release cost they'd get a huge cash boost right now. They could offer beta at a later stage for 80% of the full price, which is still a good deal for an anticipated game like this. If the final cost is $40 USD, that would make the alpha $24 USD and the beta $32 USD. With TW self-publishing again, they wouldn't have to give Paradox a cut of that. There are lots of hungry fans that would snatch it up in a heartbeat. They could even do a 70% alpha and 85% beta and still move a lot of copies.
Early access/buy-in testing isn't limited to indie start-ups, and most of the bad press surrounding early access comes from indie start-ups that fail. TW is a trusted developer with two successful titles backing them up. I think lots of people that wouldn't otherwise buy an early access title would do so from TW because it would seem safer.
Early access/buy-in testing isn't limited to indie start-ups, and most of the bad press surrounding early access comes from indie start-ups that fail. TW is a trusted developer with two successful titles backing them up. I think lots of people that wouldn't otherwise buy an early access title would do so from TW because it would seem safer.
Well I don't think they should release anything they aren't comfortable with. I'm just saying they may want to offer paid-for access before they're feature complete if they're strapped for cash. As long as they're upfront about the state of the game and what you're paying for, it's hard to justify any feeling of being ripped off. Plaster "Alpha Test, everything is subject to change" across all the menus and loading screens, and even a little watermark in the corner during play if you want. Of course, if there are radical departures from past games then there are going to be people who feel like it's not what they expected. That's going to happen anyway, so it's a bit of a moot point, but opening up a public buy-in test that they could presumably gather community feedback from could give those people a constructive way to criticize and possibly influence the game's development.
I don't really think they're having money problems, actually. I get the impression that they're just trying to make the game the best they can before releasing it.
