'While there are clearly many benefits to an Early Access model, there is also the possibility of a broken promise to the consumer,' says EEDAR's Patrick Walker

Just a quarter of Steam Early Access games have had a full release

MCV Staff 17th November 2014 PC

EEDAR’s head of insights and analytics Patrick Walker has on Games Industry said that only 25 per cent of Early Access have ever gone on to receive a full Steam release. This is as true for games released in 2013 as it is those released in 2014.

In fact, of the nine games that launched Steam’s Early Access service back in March 2013 only three of them – or one third – were ever released as full games.

Of the 103 Early Access games released in 2013 just 43 have subsequently received a full release. In 2014 so far that ratio stands at 231-to-48.

“While there are clearly many benefits to an Early Access model, there is also the possibility of a broken promise to the consumer,” Walker said. “This is not unlike other models in the games industry, such as crowdfunding through Kickstarter or selling a DLC Season Pass, where the consumer pays up front for promised content.

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