Why do YOU like to do Early Access/Betas?

[Hellmeat]

Just to clarify, they are doing an 'Early Access' for KF2, but it will around beta stage by that point (see here).

In terms of why I like Early Access:

1) You buy the game cheaper than it is on release date (and get to keep it)

2) You're able to play it at a much earlier date than you'd otherwise be able to (especially considering the time it takes to reach retail release)

3) Modders have an insight as to what improvements they could make, prior to the full release of the game (when most people will buy the game)

4) You can actively see them making changes and providing support on a much more regular basis

5) Without an early access, they're less likely to find/patch bugs and/or they'll take more time before releasing the game to do quality assessment/testing

You are talking about KF2 specifically here, the question was about Early Access in general and if people do / do not buy into early access. A majority of the people who read the Tripwire forums would probably buy KF2 as EA simply because Tripwire had such a good run with Killing Floor.

Other Early Access titles? Not so much.

Not sure if you are trying to sell people on KF2 EA or what, most of us already have our wallets out ...

 

[Zetsumei]

The thing i like about early access, is that the main people actually willing to spend money on it will likely be people that are truly interested in it and liked previous games.

This means that unlike an open or public free beta, you will get feedback from people that are more likely to actually want to play the game and are willing to spend money on it. So you are likely to get a game more catered to the current fan base. Instead of getting feedback from a lot of people that basically do not like the game to begin with, and want it completely shift from what makes a killingfloor game a killingfloor game.

Ideally a game released as early access is for a big part already finished or completed, and perhaps nearly bug free. However reviews for a game will generally wait till the official release. With early access developers can do a sort of a slightly too early release and resolve issues, without immediately being penalized by bad reviews when they are willing to change that. Especially if development money is starting to run out at some point.

By having people pay for a full game, then like a preorder beta a lot of content can already be put into a game, allowing to get feedback on a lot of maps. If a beta was free, then the aspect of a demo for a lot of people comes in to play, meaning you have to limit content while a lot of the content provided might not be good enough for a true demo. Its probably better for a company to release a free demo (or free weekend) around the actual finished product release period.