Eh, it's a double edge sword. In my observation the key to "Early Access release" is that the developers need to be well disciplined and have nerve of steel ... well, maybe not that dramatic but ... close. Basically, I mean they need to have good resistance to 'entitled' backers and focus in their vision, instead of viewing it as a popularity contest. The mindset should be:
- Hey, we have this idea for a great game, and if you have faith in our vision please show us your support.
And not:
- Hey, we'll do this together and in the end it will be a game that YOU want it to be.
I either had backed, backing, follow, or purchased full release of previously Early Access games in decent number, and it's the pattern I had noticed. Games follow the former pattern tend to see the light of the tunnel and end up being decent or great, games that follow the latter pattern tend to end up ... well, death. Sadly, there are far more developers go down the second pattern then the first, and I guess it's a PR thing. They want people to get on board so they throw out all these promisse to make their backers feel important like 'always listen to feedback, transparent and constant feedback" ...etc... and most of those things are eventually their downfall. I don't know if you visit the X4 forum recently and notice this hysteria about "MOAR INFORMATION". Some of that you can attribute to the excitement on the game coming out, but I think for the most part it's just part of that "24/7 news feed" culture we're living in. And when that thirst is not constantly sated ... it can get ugly. Now you look at what happen on the X4 board and then go to an Early Access board ... and it tends to be a lot worse. People haven't paid any thing for X4 and yet if they are still ... think about the entitlement backers allow themselves to have because they had 'paid' for it.
A good example is Folk Tale. In its hayday, it was the picture perfect of PRing: clear roadmap, weekly let's play session or video with the dev, monthly blog ...etc... you know ... the usual stuffs you see people ask of Egosoft about their unreleased game. It went even farther, the original plan for a campaign was scrapped and switch to a skirmish model due to "popular demand", the dev even take off resource to release modding tool ... for a game that is still in Alpha. And guess what ... all of that time and resources had to come from somewhere, eventually all of that mushy mushy talk turn into anxiety and hostility, I think the dev of Folk Tale suffered depression after things gone south.
I feel for them whenever I see Bernd or CBJ, or any other devs had to come out and defend themselves against the demand for more information, stating they can't afford to cut in development time to make these videos want to see ... they speak the truth. Don't think people understand that though.
That makes sense from the player POV, and I'm kinda of the same. Most of the game I bought I don't really invest that much time following closely, not due to the lack of interest, but I think it's simply more healthy for me. For example I have a very strong interest in Bannerlord, but imagine being someone who try to follow its development for the last few yearsI'm sort of glad that they don't, since there's an air of mystery and expectation there that promotes a purchase. I assume they have plenty of testing help, so that may not be an issue.
From the developer's POV though, I think it's just a way to protect their vision and more importantly their sanity. I think the embarrassment of releasing a buggy game, or the stress of being on a tight rope financially are nothing compared to the harassment you can get from an Early Access tittle. Commit to Early Access release is like making a pact with Clavicus Vile, there is 1 out of 10 chance of you gonna struck gold, with the other 9 part of you gonna die ... in a very unpleasant way.
