One of my most anticipated games of the year, Starsand Island, just confirmed it's hitting Early Access on Steam & Xbox Game Pass before fully releasing later this year, and it's got me thinking about the pros and cons of EA. It's a great opportunity for developers to get feedback (and often cash flow). But as a gamer, how do you feel about Early Access releases? Do you like to play games early, or wait until they fully release?

Personally, I don't mind playing in Early Access, but I feel like the mileage varies a LOT with quality and amount of content. Plus, most EA titles are only on Steam/PC, so that can be limiting for those of us without high-powered gaming PCs.

It varies from game to game, but I typically hold off until the 1.0 version drops. My backlog is so extensive that playing something "unfinished" usually isn't that enticing to me.

Early Access felt more novel back in the 2010s. I feel like we've gotten away from what the original intention of it was.

I mostly pass on early access because 90% of the games released like that are just rough concept demos that never get turned into an actual game. There are exceptions, of course, but I guess the model is an easy way for devs to publish their games as fast as possible and get some income rolling, including devs who are extremely new to game production and have no idea how to turn their projects into polished experiences (or worse, don't even understand if their ideas might work or not). Game design is hard, and people brush off the planning phase too often.