Battlefield, Evolve Devs Considering Early Access

Games like Day Z and Rust have proven that smaller developers can make a lot of money on games before they’re even finished, and now bigger publishers and developers are considering taking the same path.

Battlefield 4 developer DICE’s general manager Karl Magnus Troedsson recently told Game Informer that the company doesn't have anything to announce yet, but that it’s had discussions about the early access model for future games. "It comes not from a business perspective, but more from a perspective of if it would help us have a stable launch of the game," he said.

DICE recently launched a new Community Test Environment for Battlefield 4, which enables it to test new improvements and changes with the help of PC players. That method has already yielded a helpful netcode patch for a game that has suffered from a great deal of technical difficulties. Early access to future DICE games before they officially launch could supposedly help mitigate those types of issues.

In an interview with Gamasutra, Evolve developer Turtle Rock Studios’ Phill Robb said that it would be great to have gamers witness and become a part of the development process. "Even on [Evolve], as we were playing it all these years, the game changed a lot, and there'd be features that'd go in, features that'd come out,” he said. “We always kind of lamented the fact that we couldn't take the community along on that ride.” He added that he and Turtle Rock co-founder and design director Chris Ashton would “love” to release a Steam Early Access game at some point.

Would you pay for early access to the next Battlefield or Turtle Rock game? Let us know in the comments below.

Emanuel Maiberg is a freelance writer. You can follow him on Twitter @emanuelmaiberg and Google+.
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