JA:Flashback - Backers Feeling Burned

Nathaniel Liles of cliqist has wrote a new article where he shares his opinion that he thinks backers of Jagged Alliance: Flashback are feeling burned.

A big part of why people back a game on Kickstarter is to get access to the many perks associated with helping a game come full circle. One of the perks people look the most forward too (and often give the most money for) is early access to the games they back. However, as we all know, a good portion of Early Access is done on Steam; and Steam’s Early Access program can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how it’s used. Unfortunately for some backers, Jagged Alliance: Flashback is one of those cases of a bad Early Access experience.

Browsing the comments section for JA: F (looking for a way to finish level one), I was shocked to see outrage directed at the developers about something other than the complete lack of a basic tutorial. Backers of all tiers still aren’t playing the game. It’s currently available on Steam Early Access for $45, which is already far too expensive for a beta, but backers who were told they’d be given access (including some backers that pledged over $50) still don’t have it. People who grabbed the game during the recent Steam sales are playing right now, but many backers still aren’t able to play until they drop the extra $45 to buy something they were already told they’d be getting. The developers are trying to do a bit of damage control, saying that the choices backers made were their own, but I’m sure many thought that “early access” meant that they’d be playing the early access. Backers are still getting the game (eventually), in addition to their other backer-exclusive rewards, but is this fair?

More information.

Sounds like a scummy thing to do and their attitude in response just rubs it in. Glad I've never bought anything of theirs before, sure won't in future.

I'm glad I decided never to play any Early Access for any game, looks like it's saving me from so much drama.

So as i gather they had a beta access tier 75$ in the kickstarter.
I understand the predicament, basically they would have to give backers of a lower tier a reward they didn't buy.
Which could upset the backers that bought the 75$ tier for beta access, then again they already kicked those backers in the groin by offering beta access to every random person for at most 45$.

Great way to screw up i must say and a great attitude to show "appreciation" to your backers.

I just don't see the fascination with early access. This opinion has only been reinforced with my Wasteland 2, JA: Flashback and Original Sin experiences.

You're getting a feature-poor, buggy, spoiler-ific mess. With all the backlash from backers and forum posters, this little trend by the devs may be going the way of the dino's pretty soon anyway.

Oh boy, people complain if the early access is cheaper than on the kickstarter and go just as mental if it's not. They are just trying to make some money to make the game. The original JA had a 4 million budget ffs.

I'm a backer and no I have no interest in playing early access. In the end only a good finished product interests me. Still I think its a stupid decision on the part of the developers. They just barely made their kickstarter goal. So it is quite possible they need the money from early access to finish the game. I just don't understand why they don't give those backers who want early access, early access. I mean, if they are hoping to kickstart again in the future it seems like a pretty stupid move.

This is just funny. Alot of people moaned, complained and bitched like crazy (and still do) over WL2 EA price tag. Which they set in line with the price tag for beta accesss in the Kickstarter.

JA:FB puts the price tag at a lower level than the beta acces of the kickstarter. And now other people whine about that.

I backed both games, neither of them on beta level, and I'm not angry I didn't get to play the unfinished game…

To prevent this in the future, all tiers of a Kickstarter that includes the game should just include early access, or it should be stated very clearly when a tier does NOT include early access, to stop these whiners from complaining… (not thay they will stop anyway, some people are never happy.)

I just read through alot of the steam forums and don't see many backers complaining. In fact most of them seem to be defending the price. It does seem like some Steam Keys might have gotten lost in the post though.

Originally Posted by ManWhoJaped
Oh boy, people complain if the early access is cheaper than on the kickstarter and go just as mental if it's not. They are just trying to make some money to make the game. The original JA had a 4 million budget ffs.

Hmmm. Not sure where you got 4M dollars from? In early 90's even 1 million was considering a very large budget. The most expensive game at that time was Wing Commander 3 which is est to be around 5 million and the lions share of that went on the FMV. Ian even said the budget for Jagged Alliance 3 was circa 3 million.

Anyone actually play it? Is it any good?


http://www.ja-galaxy-forum.com/ubbth…t_for_JA2.html

Here is one place I saw it mentioned, but I have seen it many times. There were ten programmers on the game and it had an intro that was very high tech for its day. That's for JA 2 though, I should have specified.

Would be nice to know for sure but the exact budgets seldom come out.

Situations like this were expected. For video games, I am staying away from KS because I knew conflictual situations with SEA could happen.
The best bet is when the KS makes the situation clear. Not happening everytime though.
Very strange, when released on SEA, prices are either higher or lower. Studios usually do not match their KS price offer with SEA. It would save much ado for sure, but they do not do it.

Originally Posted by ChaosTheory
I just don't see the fascination with early access. This opinion has only been reinforced with my Wasteland 2, JA: Flashback and Original Sin experiences.

You're getting a feature-poor, buggy, spoiler-ific mess. With all the backlash from backers and forum posters, this little trend by the devs may be going the way of the dino's pretty soon anyway.

Unfortunately, it is not as easy as this. The final released version of the game might not be the best version of the game. The best version of the game (gameplaywise) might happen during early access.

One thing to remember with this kind of funding model: they take new money in during the developpment.
As usual, once a consumer has paid, his money is no longer as attractive as the money a not yet consumer has not spent. You dont grow richer by giving what a guy already paid in wants, you get richer by promising to a guy that has not yet paid in what the guy wants.

Attracting new consumers is priority one. In some other funding models, new money is used for maintaining the software piece etc.

Here, new money is attracted to fund the developpment cycle. As a consequence, the gameplay might drift far away from the original idea.

The first priority is to maintain revenues and it comes with consequences.