So, a game called Shadowrun Chronicles was released on Steam today...
...and while perusing the Steam forums for the game, just to see what was what[1], I happened along this little gem of a thread (OP dated March 17, 2015, i.e. a little over a month before the game's release today). If you can ignore the OP's atrocious and repeated misspelling of the word "beta" and make it down to the developer's comments (the second reply, and then some more later), then what you will find is a textbook example of exactly what the fuck is wrong, at least in part, with the video game industry nowadays, in a nutshell.
In case the comment or thread later gets deleted, I will copy/paste it here:
"primetide_dev [developer] Mar 17 @ 9:59am
"Beta has become an ijcreasingly [sic] meaningless turn. [sic] Online game [sic] usually launch into 'open beta' when they appear. End of Alpha technically means feature complete - which we are not yet - so while some of the game has 'Beta Quality', it still is in Alpha or even pre-Alpha depending on how you define that.
"Let's just say I am sure we will want to do more for the game after release :)"
And so, the developer freely admits that their game is still "in alpha or even pre-alpha" state at the time of his post, probably not even realizing how much of a complete imbecile that makes him sound, at least to me. (Though he also says that "some of the game has 'Beta Quality'," whatever the fuck that is supposed to mean. ō_ô The game either is or is not feature complete. You cannot have only "some" of the game be feature complete. It's all or none.)
Just to restate this and make it absolutely crystal clear: the above post was made a mere fucking month before release. And he is freely admitting that the development of the game will continue after the game is "released," too. So, yes, in what is increasingly being called the "paid beta" (which is actually a misnomer, because it's really more like "paid alpha" or "paid pre-alpha" in most cases, this one included), this game, as with so many other of its contemporaries, will be released unfinished and (if the gamers who foolishly buy this game are extremely lucky) will be bugtested and maybe even completed at some point, well after its so-called "release."
Needless to say, I will not be purchasing this Shadowrun Chronicles game.
(EDIT) Yes, I am fully aware that Minecraft did (and is still doing) the exact same thing, i.e. "released" the game as 1.0 and then continued development and bugtesting on it long after that point, while still charging full price for it (though luckily for me, I managed to snag Minecraft for relatively dirt cheap while it was still in so-called "alpha"). Hell, I wouldn't call even Minecraft "finished" to this day. I bought into the scheme then, because it was a relatively novel new concept at the time, but I didn't realize then what I realize now, which is that such development is, by and large, an incredibly idiotic way to go about the business of making video games, because more often than not it leads to broken shit that never gets finished, due to the devs either running out of money, realizing that they don't actually have the skill required to finish, or simply losing interest in continuing to work on their game, etc. The novelty of "early access" has worn off for me. Now, I am so done with that bullshit (though this Shadowrun Chronicles game isn't even considered to be "early access" anymore, and is considered to be "released," despite actually being "early access" still, in everything but name). Either give me a complete, finished, bug-tested video game, or fuck off. Hell, that's part of the reason I stopped playing Minecraft as well. The game just kept changing after "release," and sometimes not for the better. (/EDIT)
[1] - Mainly to see what, if any, connection this game might have to the previous recent Shadowrun games. And I found out that there is apparently no connection whatsoever, thankfully, aside from them all being in the Shadowrun setting.
In case the comment or thread later gets deleted, I will copy/paste it here:
"primetide_dev [developer] Mar 17 @ 9:59am
"Beta has become an ijcreasingly [sic] meaningless turn. [sic] Online game [sic] usually launch into 'open beta' when they appear. End of Alpha technically means feature complete - which we are not yet - so while some of the game has 'Beta Quality', it still is in Alpha or even pre-Alpha depending on how you define that.
"Let's just say I am sure we will want to do more for the game after release :)"
And so, the developer freely admits that their game is still "in alpha or even pre-alpha" state at the time of his post, probably not even realizing how much of a complete imbecile that makes him sound, at least to me. (Though he also says that "some of the game has 'Beta Quality'," whatever the fuck that is supposed to mean. ō_ô The game either is or is not feature complete. You cannot have only "some" of the game be feature complete. It's all or none.)
Just to restate this and make it absolutely crystal clear: the above post was made a mere fucking month before release. And he is freely admitting that the development of the game will continue after the game is "released," too. So, yes, in what is increasingly being called the "paid beta" (which is actually a misnomer, because it's really more like "paid alpha" or "paid pre-alpha" in most cases, this one included), this game, as with so many other of its contemporaries, will be released unfinished and (if the gamers who foolishly buy this game are extremely lucky) will be bugtested and maybe even completed at some point, well after its so-called "release."
Needless to say, I will not be purchasing this Shadowrun Chronicles game.
(EDIT) Yes, I am fully aware that Minecraft did (and is still doing) the exact same thing, i.e. "released" the game as 1.0 and then continued development and bugtesting on it long after that point, while still charging full price for it (though luckily for me, I managed to snag Minecraft for relatively dirt cheap while it was still in so-called "alpha"). Hell, I wouldn't call even Minecraft "finished" to this day. I bought into the scheme then, because it was a relatively novel new concept at the time, but I didn't realize then what I realize now, which is that such development is, by and large, an incredibly idiotic way to go about the business of making video games, because more often than not it leads to broken shit that never gets finished, due to the devs either running out of money, realizing that they don't actually have the skill required to finish, or simply losing interest in continuing to work on their game, etc. The novelty of "early access" has worn off for me. Now, I am so done with that bullshit (though this Shadowrun Chronicles game isn't even considered to be "early access" anymore, and is considered to be "released," despite actually being "early access" still, in everything but name). Either give me a complete, finished, bug-tested video game, or fuck off. Hell, that's part of the reason I stopped playing Minecraft as well. The game just kept changing after "release," and sometimes not for the better. (/EDIT)
[1] - Mainly to see what, if any, connection this game might have to the previous recent Shadowrun games. And I found out that there is apparently no connection whatsoever, thankfully, aside from them all being in the Shadowrun setting.