First-person survival adventure game Serum will launch in Early Access for PC via Steam on May 23, publisher TopLitz Productions and developer Game Island announced.
24.04.2024 - 15:27 / engadget.com / Kris Holt
Valve has closed a loophole in Steam's refund policy that effectively allowed players to beat a game before its official release date and get their money back. The company has long had a policy in place whereby users could refund a game, no questions asked, as long as they haven’t played for more than two hours within 14 days. Until now, the refund policy was far more lenient for games in early access or advanced access, but Valve has nipped that in the bud.
«When you purchase a title on Steam prior to the release date, the two hour playtime limit for refunds will apply (except for beta testing), but the 14-day period for refunds will not start until the release date,» Valve's updated policy reads, as noted by IGN. «For example, if you purchase a game that is in Early Access or Advanced Access, any playtime will count against the two-hour refund limit. If you pre-purchase a title which is not playable prior to the release date, you can request a refund at any time prior to release of that title, and the standard 14-day/two-hour refund period will apply starting on the game’s release date.»
Early access enables players to try an incomplete version of a game. It’s helpful for developers as they can take feedback from players and use that to improve their project before ramping up the marketing campaign ahead of the official release. Supergiant famously used this strategy to tremendous success with Hades(and is perhaps looking to repeat that trick with the sequel). But a game can remain in early access for years. Under the previous policy, players could put many hours into an early access game and still claim a refund on Steam.
As for advanced access, that relates to playing a full version of a game before its proper debut. It's pretty common for publishers to sell a deluxe edition of a game that lets players dive in a few days early. However, Steam made it possible for someone to beat a game in advanced access and get their money back before the standard version was available to everyone.
Now, the two-hour time limit applies to games in early access and advanced access. There's also a new advanced access label to make it clear when a game offers that.
There is one other key issue with the otherwise generous two-hour refund policy that Steam hasn't fully addressed, however. It's not uncommon for players to roll credits on very short games, typically indie titles. That leaves the game's developer and publisher out of pocket.
First-person survival adventure game Serum will launch in Early Access for PC via Steam on May 23, publisher TopLitz Productions and developer Game Island announced.
Roguelite action game Realm of Ink will launch in Early Access for PC via Steam on May 17, publisher 663 Games and developers Leap Studio and Maple Leaf Studio announced. A full release will follow for unspecified consoles and PC later in 2024.
It's happening again. A small indie developer comes out of nowhere and has everyone flipping their lid over some revolutionary new game, and you can buy it for half the price of a traditional AAA game. Except this time, there isn't some post-launch slow burn as super-streamer after super-streamer gets their chat cults all riled up. Nope, this go-around, medieval city builder Manor Lordsarrived at its Early Access launch with a wishlist army over three million strong, reaching 170,000+ concurrent players on Steam multiple times during launch weekend. But with many of its features still unfinished, Manor Lords may be just a flash in the pan, at least for now.
Between Palworld, Helldivers 2, and now Manor Lords, it’s been a year of games coming out of left field and achieving runaway success.
Cozy Caravan, a single-player top-down adventure game set in a cozy world, will launch in Early Access for PC via Steam on May 16, developer 5 Lives Studios announced.
Paradox Interactive has told players not to expect any further delays to its upcoming life simulation game Life by You.
Free-to-play 60-player racing game Stampede: Racing Royale will launch in Early Access for Xbox Series and PC via Steam and Microsoft Store this summer, publisher Secret Mode and developer Sumo Leamington announced. The Xbox Series and Microsoft Store versions are newly announced.
Hades 2 developer Supergiant Games has signaled the end of the game’s technical test and early access launch soon afterwards.
Popular life/farming sim Slime Rancher has had a sequel in the works for a long time, but it's now nearly ready to make the leap to PS5. Slime Rancher 2 has been in early access on PC and Xbox since 2022, and it'll soon add PS5 to the party when it arrives on 11th June, 2024.
Monomi Park will release Slime Rancher 2 in Early Access for PlayStation 5 on June 11, the developer announced. Pre-orders are available now via PlayStation Store for $29.99 and include four days of advance access to the game on June 7, as well as the exclusive in-game item “Slime Toy.”
PC giant Valve has come up with a new term for when consumers can play a game ahead of its release because they pre-ordered.
No Rest for the Wicked's director has cited Baldur's Gate 3 and Hades 2 as examples of how early access launches can be fantastic, and said releasing in early access is "one of the best decisions we could've made."