It is a strange time for gaming, there have been many shifts and changes in the industry, culture, community and the way they interact. Not the least of these changes is the idea of playing and paying for games before they’re completed. This idea would have been crazy and unthinkable only 5-10 years ago, but here we are, in the age of Early Access.
Essentially, Early Access (as it works on Steam) allows developers to put their unfinished game up for sale on the store front and let people buy and play it. The idea here is to let gamers play upcoming games and provide real-time suggestions and feedback as the game is being developed. This idea is huge. It basically turns your entire user base into a giant play testing group that developers can directly interact with. This enables them to actually make money before the game has actually “gone gold.”