RoboCop: Rogue City

There will always be something completely ignorable to sell for an extra tenner, be it pointless skins or a digital art book, or an early in-game unlock, or 3 day access. There is literally nothing that is worth paying over the base release of any game, unless they’re just bundling expansion content (which is arguably an even worse purchase as you’re buying something before you even have any idea what it contains).

Early access is pretty much the single most beneficial purchase out of everything they could offer, imo. It just gives me the thing I want rather than any digital tat I don’t care for. That’s not to say it’s always worthwhile, but if it falls on the right busy week then it may land on the right side of the cost/value scale.

For sure, hence it being ignorable.

Ha, yeah. I'm not a fan of that behaviour either. 

What's the issue you guys are having with it?

I realise that comes across a bit aggressive. I genuinely don't have a massive bugbear with it but it just leaves a nasty taste in the mouth. I think I'd just rather it wasn't a thing.

It’s not really any advantage though, it’s just perception. Nothing is truly fair.
You can buy something the same day as someone else and within 2 days they may have had more free time to play, or be naturally better. You could come to a game months later and still be good enough to compete, and better than most of the audience, provided you have the time and inclination to practice.

By the same token, you could get it 2 days early to play, be busy for the 2 days of launch, and by day 6 be at the same time played as someone that bought it on launch and played for the weekend.

Derblington I don't know if you have experience with fighting games but sorry, that extra time carries a distinct advantage in that particular area. People are getting to figure things out much earlier. The FGC is quite a different breed and if they get a chance to play something early they will 100% take advantage of that.

When did I say you'll never be able to compete with them? I didn't, I said it creates an unfair advantage, that is true at the beginning, after that yeah sure you can get better but we have no indication of how far publishers will go with early access where it may create discernible disadvantages but yeah sure poo poo the shit stuff that the game industry does.

It’s only true if you think it’s even to begin with. It’s not. And then you take play time/availability into account and it’s completely skewed. You’re only on even footing with someone that has the same skill, reflexes, ability, focus and play time as you. There’s no need to worry about 48 hours once you consider all of that. It’s a blip, whether it’s the first 2 days, in the first week or first month. You can’t stop people having more free time than you.

Publishers will continually find things to monetise. That’s part of the business. We covered that at the top. it’s ignorable because it’s offering nothing of value unless that time is valuable to you.

It's maybe just hard to stomach the fact that games have come full circle. Back in the mists of time they were literally there to make people money. Sink coins in an impossibly hard arcade machine (I'm looking at you Ghosts 'n' Goblins). Games made to be cheap and difficult so you would spend money. They evolved into something more though. A legitimate entertainment and - dare I say it - art form as well. Some are just fucking beautiful, others deal with themes in a way that other mediums cannot. Grief, loss, terminal illness, family estrangement, ageing, the very meaning of life. It's all getting explored in ways we have never been able to get a hold of before. It's because of that, that the old practises seem so blunt and greedy. We all know why games exist. We all know they are to make money. Perhaps our generation is more aware of it simply because we've seen it all evolve into something bigger. I personally find it really difficult to merge these two disparate worlds - the artistic and narratively credible on one hand, and the commercial profit driven on the other - but I recognise why each exists.

Give me art over profit any day, but I'm probably the minority.

That person will always exist. Someone will take the day off, or launch it at midnight and stay up, or have more free time generally. An early access period that a minority of the player are taking advantage of won’t change the general stats of the title or player skill. It has no bearing on your game. For the most part you won’t even know who has it and who doesn’t.

You know you don't have to Mr. Logic everything.

Publishers are constantly making record profits, yet somehow they need to keep finding ways to further monetise games, as if to suggest they're struggling and barely making ends meet

They don't need to monetise games, they just want more money and that's all this is

Oh no, you got me with a spelling error. You win.