The Harsh Reality of Steam Early Access [S01E08]

Al, Tim, and Ian dissect Steam’s early access system where only 25% of games ever finish, AAA studios exploit beta testers, and Star Citizen has burned $750 million over 13 years.

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This episode explores the controversial world of early access gaming, from its valuable role helping indie developers to AAA studios exploiting players as unpaid QA testers. The discussion covers the 75% failure rate of early access titles, the blurred line between beta testing and early access, why games like Star Citizen remain unfinished after 13 years and $750 million in funding, and whether Steam should enforce time limits on development. Three grumpy gamers conclude that while early access can work brilliantly for indies like Manor Lords, the system desperately needs accountability—and some people just take the piss.

Grumpy Old Gamer Podcast – Episode 8 Show Notes

Episode Title: Steam Early Access: The Absolute Cluster
Hosts: Al (host), Tim, Ian
Episode Length: ~38 Minutes

Episode Summary

In the eighth episode of the Grumpy Old Gamer podcast, Al leads Tim and Ian through a comprehensive examination of Steam’s early access program. Starting with the sobering statistic that only 25% of early access games ever reach full release, they explore the distinction between legitimate indie development tools and AAA studio exploitation. The conversation covers infamous examples like Star Citizen’s 13-year development cycle, debates whether beta testing differs from early access, examines Steam’s refund policies, and questions whether developers need accountability measures. The hosts argue passionately about who should use early access, when it becomes exploitation, and why transparency without accountability enables developers to take the piss indefinitely.

Key Topics Discussed

What is Early Access?

Basic Definition:

• Pay to play beta version of incomplete game
• Developers take player feedback to improve game
• Eventually supposed to reach 1.0 release
• “Hopefully” reaches full release (but usually doesn’t)

The Grim Statistics:

• Only 25% of early access titles reach 1.0 release
• 75% are abandoned or stuck in development hell
• Average early access period: 3 years from early access to full release
• Some games remain in early access over 10 years

Steam’s Early Access Launch:

• Introduced by Steam in 2013
• Designed as tool for indie developers
• No restrictions on completion percentage required
• Same refund policy as regular games (under 2 hours, within 14 days)

AAA Developers Using Early Access: “How Dare You”

The Core Complaint:

• “If you are a AAA developer and you are releasing an early access game, how dare you expect me to pay to beta test your mess for you”
• AAA studios have money for proper QA testing
• Should use closed beta tests, not paid early access
• “The audacity of it”

AAA Examples That Used Early Access:

Baldur’s Gate 3:

• Had AAA production values
• Act One playable during development
• Divinity: Original Sin studio (Larian)

Grounded (Obsidian/Microsoft):

• Started early access 2020
• Full release 2 years later (2022)
• Microsoft/Xbox Game Studios backing
• “That’s just that stinks to me”

Forza Motorsport (2023):

• Premium buyers got early access
• Core features unfinished at launch
• Used community to reshape game
• Microsoft published

Halo Infinite:

• Multiplayer released as beta for several months
• Released in beta state
• Debate whether beta = early access

The Distinction Argument:

• “AAA developers have no excuse”
• Have thousands of employees
• Have millions of dollars in budgets
• Can afford proper closed beta testing
• Console gamers expect premium out-of-box experience

Indie Developers: When Early Access Works

Why Early Access is Valuable for Indies:

• “Extremely useful tool” for indie developers
• Provides funding to continue development
• Gets community feedback during development
• Allows hiring additional team members
• Creates close developer-community relationship

Success Stories:

Manalords:

• Solo developer (Slavic Magic)
• Broke early access records
• “Feels like a complete game” already
• Developer hired additional team for sound/music
• Uses funding to expand and improve
• “Really good example of early access done right”
• Working on aesthetic improvements and soundtrack
• Hosts agree it could release as 1.0 now

Valheim:

• “Great game” with strong early access experience
• Smaller indie team
• Really benefited from early access model

Schedule One:

• Uses polls to decide next content
• Community-driven development
• Good use of early access feedback

Minecraft:

• People forget it was early access
• Solo dev (Mojang/Notch originally)
• Out for “a couple years” before official release
• Proof early access can create legendary games

Seven Days to Die:

• Just exited early access after 10+ years
• “At some point, you can’t be early anymore if you’ve been doing this for 10 years”

Beta Testing vs. Early Access: The Great Debate

Ian’s Position: They’re Different:

• Beta periods have time limits and then end
• Lose access when beta concludes
• Early access never ends, just reaches 1.0
• Beta is planned timeframe with player limits
• Beta is fine-tuning, early access is development

Al’s Counterargument: They’re the Same:

• Open beta anyone can play = early access
• Closed beta (invite only) is different
• If it’s free = beta, if payable = early access
• “If you’re releasing a beta which anybody can play, then that is an early access release”

Tim’s Position: The Line is Blurring:

• Many early access titles have timed windows
• Server stress tests happen in both
• Cut off at specific times (weekends only, etc.)
• “Early access and beta are basically parallel these days”
• Terminology becoming interchangeable

Key Distinction:

• Closed beta: Invite-only, controlled testing
• Open beta: Anyone can play
• Early access: Pay to play unfinished game

Star Citizen: The $750 Million Question

The Numbers:

• In development for 13 years
• $750 million in funding
• Still not released
• “Taking the piss out of people”

Player Investment:

• Tim invested £300-400 personally
• Bought multiple ships over the years
• Came from Eve Online background
• “Dream game was like Eve Online set first person”

The Paradox:

• “It is a really good game”
• “Really, really good” mechanics and construction
• Only issue: servers
• “They just need to sort out their servers. That’s it.”
• Game itself “immaculate”

Why Still in Early Access?:

• “I don’t know” – Tim’s honest answer
• Just needs server fixes
• Game is constructively complete
• Adding A-list actors (Mark Hamill) to single-player campaign
• “Just push it out”

Original Kickstarter:

• One of the original Kickstarter projects
• Mind-blowing concept in 2012
• Set unrealistic expectations
• Keep pushing back release

The Problem:

• Could argue it’s a live service game (like Destiny 2)
• Should release and add content as DLC/seasons
• “Just release the bloody game”
• “They’re just taking the piss”

The Economics of Early Access

Developer Benefits:

• Get funding during development
• Hire additional team members
• Access to free QA testing
• Community feedback for improvements
• “Getting quality assurance and beta testing and people who pay for the privilege”

Valve/Steam Benefits:

• Takes cut of every early access sale
• No risk – developers bear all responsibility
• Players can’t get refunds after 2 hours
• “Absolute steal for developers and for Valve”

The Exploitation Argument:

• “You’re exploiting your audience. You’re exploiting your community.”
• Players provide valuable QA work
• Players pay for privilege of testing
• Developers should pay QA testers
• “Be honest and say you want you to pay to come and test our game”

The Manalords Model:

• Released early access
• Got influx of cash from sales
• Hired people to work on different aspects
• “Great example of how to do it right”

Should Early Access Have Time Limits?

The Proposed 5-Year Rule:

• Steam could enforce 5-year maximum
• If don’t release within 5 years, face sanctions
• Would prevent indefinite early access

Problems with Time Limits:

Refund Issues:

• Star Citizen would owe $750 million in refunds
• “How are you going to enforce that?”
• Can’t demand money back already spent on development
• Would destroy many developers

Would Developers Abandon Steam?:

• Beyond All Reason (20 years development)
• Self-published outside Steam
• Valve could “cut nose off despite its face”
• Developers might avoid Steam entirely
• Loss of platform monopoly

Rushed Release Problem:

• Developers would rush to meet deadline
• “Release a broken buggy mess”
• Exactly what early access was designed to prevent
• Defeats the purpose

Incentive Alternative:

• Bonus for releasing within timeframe
• “Less of the stick, more of the carrot”
• Same problem: encourages rushing

Al’s Conclusion:

• Incentive or punishment “would break the whole idea of early access”
• System needs transparency AND accountability
• Currently has transparency but no accountability

The Refund Policy Problem

Current Steam Refund Policy:

• Under 2 hours played
• Within 14 days of purchase
• Applies to ALL games equally

Expected Early Access Policy:

• Should be “more relaxed refund rules”
• Not buying a complete product
• Should have opportunity to test longer
• Especially if game sits unfinished for years

The Broken Promise Issue:

• Buy with expectation of full release
• Many never deliver
• “Haven’t you broken your promise to me?”
• Are developers protected by “early access” label?
• Players “pretty much buggered” if game never finishes

Developer Protection:

• “I think they’re protected because they say it’s early access”
• Players buy into the promise
• If doesn’t happen, “where the fuck are you?”
• Majority of time they don’t deliver

Buyer Beware:

• Steam throws “in your face, hey, this is early access”
• “You know what you’re doing. You’re throwing yourself under the bus”
• “It’s not our fault that we can’t develop a game” (bad excuse)

The Transparency vs. Accountability Problem

The Transparency Claim:

• Developers say they’re “being honest”
• “Here’s our broken buggy mess of a game”
• Labeled as early access
• Players accept it because of honesty

Al’s Challenge:

• “How transparent are you being?”
• “Can you have transparency without accountability?”
• “There’s no accountability”
• Just an excuse

The Fear Paralysis:

• In early access: bugs are okay, “we’re still working on it”
• After 1.0 release: must accept criticism
• Can’t make excuses anymore
• Fear of losing ability to deflect criticism
• “As soon as you leave you lose that ability to make an excuse”

The Development Loop:

• Someone criticizes aspect of game
• “It’s okay because it’s early access”
• Fix that, something else criticized
• “Still early access, still working on it”
• Cycle never ends
• Some developers get “off the loose”

What Needs to Change

The Honesty Check:

• “Bit of an honesty check, a bit of an integrity check”
• Admit players are paying to test game
• Stop pretending it’s “for the community”
• “You just want me to test your game for you”

The Community Exploitation:

• Not really “for the community”
• It’s for free QA testing
• Valuable to developers
• Should pay testers or make it free

Quality Assurance Reality:

• Players doing valuable work
• Developers getting paid for unfinished product
• Players should either:
  • Test for free (like real beta)
  • Get paid (like real QA)
  • Get finished product

The Completion Problem:

• Can developers release “anything” as early access?
• Does Steam require certain completion level?
• “So many early access ideas” that sound fantastic
• Never get to completion point
• Die because “well it was early access anyway”

NextFest Comparison

Similar Problems:

• Many demos are just concepts
• “Stapled to a game design document”
• Released as playable demo
• Shouldn’t be there
• Same lack of standards

The Pattern:

• Whether early access or NextFest
• “Some people take the piss”
• “Never going to change”
• Needs better quality control

Notable Quotes

On Early Access Statistics:

• “Only about 25% of early access titles actually reach a 1.0 release”
• “75% of them are abandoned or they stay in development hell”
• “An early access game takes 3 years from early access release to full release and that’s a hell of a lot of time”

On AAA Developers:

• “If you are a AAA developer and you are releasing an early access game, how dare you expect me to pay to beta test your mess for you”
• “AAA developers have no excuse”
• “You piece of poo. Like how dare you, you know?”
• “Playing like 60 dollars or like 50 quid to beta test the game because they haven’t… that’s despicable”

On Star Citizen:

• “13 years and has had 750 million in funding”
• “They’re just taking the piss out of people”
• “It is a really good game. The only issue that they have is the servers”
• “The game itself immaculate. Amazing game.”
• “They just need to sort out their servers. That’s it.”
• “I don’t know” – why it’s still not released

On Beta vs Early Access:

• “Betas are different than early access because beta periods typically end and then you lose your access”
• “Early access and beta are basically parallel these days when it comes to that kind of terminology”

On Manalords:

• “I think that was a complete game. Honestly, like it’s absolutely fantastic”
• “Early access done right”
• “The game itself immaculate”
• “He just wants to have a sexy soundtrack whilst it lands”

On Exploitation:

• “You’re exploiting your audience. You’re exploiting your community”
• “They are asking the community to test an unfinished product”
• “People who pay for the privilege of doing that”
• “Absolute steal for developers and for Valve”

On Transparency vs Accountability:

• “Can you have transparency without accountability?”
• “There’s no accountability”
• “We’re being transparent. It’s like, well, but really, how transparent are you being?”
• “It’s just an excuse”

On The System:

• “Some people take the piss, and that’s never going to change”
• “Early access or not, some people take the piss”
• “They should rename early access to Some People Take the Piss”

On Developer Honesty:

• “It isn’t really for the community. You just want me to test your game for you”
• “Let people test it for free or pay them to QA”
• “At the very least they should be getting they should be free”

On Release Fear:

• “Is there like a paralysis, a fear paralysis where if you are in early access the fear is as soon as you leave you lose that ability to make an excuse”
• “Somebody should be on his team to say, ‘Hey, it’s time to land this bird'”

Memorable Moments

The Opening Anger Check:

• Al asking if everyone has “angry pants on”
• Tim “slightly off today”
• Ian “away with the fairies”
• Perfect setup for rant episode

The 25% Statistic Revelation:

• Immediate shock at 75% failure rate
• Set tone for entire discussion
• Became recurring reference point

Tim’s Star Citizen Confession:

• “I’ve probably put about like 300 400 quid into it”
• “What? Yeah. Yeah.”
• Defending the game while admitting the problem
• “I kind of like shun people away like shut up stop talking about Star Citizen”

The Beta Definition Battle:

• Ian dying on the hill
• Al’s complete disagreement
• Tim saying the line is blurring
• No resolution reached

The Manalords Love-In:

• All three agreeing it’s fantastic
• “Already complete”
• Developer just wants sexy soundtrack
• “The bird’s already landed”

The Refund Policy Surprise:

• Expectation of relaxed rules
• Reality: exactly the same as regular games
• Collective “wait, really?”

The 5-Year Rule Debate:

• Star Citizen owing $750 million
• Beyond All Reason leaving Steam
• Developers rushing broken games
• Every solution creates new problems

The Exploitation Epiphany:

• Realization players are unpaid QA
• “Pay for the privilege”
• Should test free or get paid
• “Absolute steal”

The NextFest Comparison:

• “Concepts stapled to a game design document”
• Same problem, different system
• Pattern of taking the piss

The Final Mantra:

• “Some people take the piss”
• Should rename early access
• Perfect summary
• Episode 9 teaser drama (Ian spat dummy out)

Technical Details and References

Early Access History:

• Steam early access launched 2013
• 12 years of early access titles
• Thousands of games released
• Only 25% completion rate

Game Examples Discussed:

• Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios)
• Grounded (Obsidian/Microsoft, 2020-2022)
• Halo Infinite multiplayer beta
• Forza Motorsport 2023
• Star Citizen (13 years, $750M)
• Manalords (Slavic Magic, solo dev)
• Valheim
• Schedule One
• Minecraft (Mojang/Notch)
• Seven Days to Die (10+ years)
• Beyond All Reason (20 years, RTS, Total Annihilation mod)

Development Timeframes:

• Average early access: 3 years
• Star Citizen: 13 years ongoing
• Seven Days to Die: 10+ years
• Beyond All Reason: 20 years
• Minecraft: “Couple years” in early access
• Grounded: 2 years (2020-2022)

Financial Figures:

• Star Citizen: $750 million funding
• Tim’s personal Star Citizen investment: £300-400
• Manalords: Record-breaking early access sales
• AAA game prices: $60/£50 for early access

Refund Policy:

• Under 2 hours played
• Within 14 days of purchase
• Same for early access and regular games
• No special early access exceptions

Developer Types:

• Solo developers (Manalords, original Minecraft)
• Indie studios (Valheim, Schedule One)
• AAA studios (Microsoft, Obsidian)
• Publisher-backed (Xbox Game Studios)

Platform References:

• Steam (primary platform)
• Epic Games (mentioned for early access)
• PlayStation (mentioned for early access)
• Microsoft/Xbox (mentioned for early access)

Future Episode Teases

Episode 9 Announcement:

• Originally planned: “Best games of the year so far”
• Ian “spat dummy out”
• “Might do something different”
• Tune in to find out

Recurring Themes for Future:

• Community engagement requests
• Discord invitation for arguments
• “Tell us how horrible we are”
• “We’d love to have an argument with you because that’s what we live for”

Contact & Community

Listen: Spotify | Apple | Amazon | YouTube
Follow / Community: Discord | Twitch | Steam | Curator | Facebook | Twitter | Bluesky | Instagram | Threads
Contact: Website | grumpyoldgamer[at]gog.fm

Special Call to Action:

• Come to Discord and argue about early access
• Tell hosts they’re wrong
• “We’d love for you to do that”

Episode Verdict

The hosts conclude that early access is a fundamentally flawed system that works brilliantly in rare cases and fails catastrophically most of the time. While legitimate indie developers like the Manalords creator use it properly—getting community funding to hire team members and improve already-solid games—the 75% failure rate proves the system lacks essential accountability.

The discussion reveals that early access has become an excuse factory where developers exploit players as unpaid QA testers while hiding behind “transparency.” AAA studios using early access deserve special contempt for charging full price to beta test games they have millions to develop properly. Meanwhile, Star Citizen represents the system’s worst excesses: 13 years, $750 million, and still no release despite having a fundamentally complete game that just needs server fixes.

The hosts debated solutions—time limits, refund extensions, completion requirements—but each creates new problems. Ultimately, they agreed that without accountability to match transparency, early access will continue enabling developers to take the piss. The system needs either enforcement or honesty: charge nothing for testing, pay QA properly, or release finished games.

Key Takeaway: Early access is an “absolute steal” for developers and Valve, extracting free labor from paying customers. It works when developers like Manalords use funding to genuinely improve solid foundations, but the 75% abandonment rate proves most developers either can’t deliver or never intended to. The mantra is simple: “Some people take the piss, and that’s never going to change.”

The Bottom Line: Early access should be renamed “Some People Take the Piss” because that’s what 75% of developers do with it.