This isn't full square enix, this is probably a corporate head that loved KSP and was able to get resources to initiate a v2.0. which... didn't they switch dev studios or something? I can't really see a sandbox style game becoming a AAA hit. There is a lot of fan love for the game but to get mainstream appeal it will probably have to lose the sandbox elements that made the original so great.

Why _wouldn't_ they do Early Access? People are more than willing to pay for an early version of the game, knowing full well it will be incomplete and broken. It's a sequel to a game that was effectively in early access for a very, very long time. Also a shit ton of players actually playing the game finds bugs and generates feedback faster than any QA team. Especially a QA team working in house on a bunch of identically spec'd PCs and multiplayer being routed through their LAN.

eRe4s3r wrote on Oct 21, 2022, 14:22:

Burrito of Peace wrote on Oct 21, 2022, 13:43:

eRe4s3r wrote on Oct 21, 2022, 12:30:
And how do you propose they test multiplayer with mod support, dynamic space-craft, bases, mining, new engine etc. without players?

They have these positions called "QA testers". I know this because the game companies I have worked for employed many of them. They can, and do, test all the things you have mentioned.

Take Two can afford to fork out the budget to hire them instead of gaming people in to paying them for being alpha and beta testers.

Yeah, but we both know they aren't going to do that for a niche game.

Early Access serves two purposes for big publishers with deep pockets: people pay them to alpha/beta test their product while gauging general interest. If the interest is less than what they expect, they'll sprinkle an update or two and then call it a day under the guise of some happy-talk PR nonsense.

Burrito of Peace wrote on Oct 21, 2022, 13:43:

eRe4s3r wrote on Oct 21, 2022, 12:30:
And how do you propose they test multiplayer with mod support, dynamic space-craft, bases, mining, new engine etc. without players?

They have these positions called "QA testers". I know this because the game companies I have worked for employed many of them. They can, and do, test all the things you have mentioned.

Take Two can afford to fork out the budget to hire them instead of gaming people in to paying them for being alpha and beta testers.

Yeah, but we both know they aren't going to do that for a niche game.

eRe4s3r wrote on Oct 21, 2022, 12:30:
And how do you propose they test multiplayer with mod support, dynamic space-craft, bases, mining, new engine etc. without players?

They have these positions called "QA testers". I know this because the game companies I have worked for employed many of them. They can, and do, test all the things you have mentioned.

Take Two can afford to fork out the budget to hire them instead of gaming people in to paying them for being alpha and beta testers.

Kxmode wrote on Oct 21, 2022, 11:39:
Private Division was founded and is funded by Take-Two Interactive. They have MORE than enough money to release a finished game. Early access is for publishers who don't have the funds to complete a game.

And how do you propose they test multiplayer with mod support, dynamic space-craft, bases, mining, new engine etc. without players? I'd rather they use Early Access for exactly that, fine-tune systems and making sure modding isn't such a clusterfuck as it is with KSP 1 (unsecured, unsigned dll files and 4 different platforms)... making sure MP works from day 1 and making sure all the systems work and there aren't weird things going on like the Kraken in KSP 1

Better to test early and fix stuff quickly, than be someone like Creative Assembly, who even after 12 patches still haven't managed to make Warhammer 3 into a valid sequel to Warhammer 2 and who bring, with every patch, new issues into the game instead of fixing them.

Kxmode wrote on Oct 21, 2022, 11:39:
Private Division was founded and is funded by Take-Two Interactive. They have MORE than enough money to release a finished game. Early access is for publishers who don't have the funds to complete a game.

It's also used to get community feedback and I would argue this is an ideal game for that type of development. That said, I'm not going to hold my breath after all the bad press this game has gotten.

Private Division was founded and is funded by Take-Two Interactive. They have MORE than enough money to release a finished game. Early access is for publishers who don't have the funds to complete a game.