Early Access is a tricky subject. On one hand, it’s absolutely great to see some amazing titles come out early where a community can actively be involved in the development and progress of a cool and otherwise unfundable project. On the other hand, Early Access can also be a cesspool of uninspired drivel. GOG has announced they will be trying their hand at the system, but with strict curation to keep out the junk.
The storefront of GOG.com is hosting this new model. Supposedly, GOG will only go after games that meet some specific guidelines to be there. They certainly have some games that have spent time and gained traction in Early Access on Steam, including Starbound and Project Zomboid.
GOG certainly seems dedicated to their cause to bring players only the best out of this new system. Where Steam has quite a few games come and go out of the system, GOG Managing Director Piotr Karwowsk claims that will not be the case with games in development on GOG.
”We’ve always been about offering a selection of noteworthy, carefully evaluated games. In short, we’re about quality over quantity,” claims Karwowsk. ”With games in development we have no way of judging the final product. That makes things a bit more difficult and a bit more risky — and that’s why our goal is to minimize the long-term dangers by choosing the projects we think are most likely to succeed.”
Regardless of the pedigree of games picked, players truly have nothing to fear if they play a game in development and it turns out sour. GOG’s system offers a 14-day no-questions-asked period in which players can get a full refund if they don’t find one of these games to be a satisfactory experience. It will be interesting to see how and if GOG’s system progresses and evolves, but it certainly sounds worthwhile.
