Last year, a growing trend saw AAA video game publishers offering early access to new games if you pre-ordered a pricey special edition version. I worried then that if some publishers were successful in locking games behind a ransom fee, many others would do the same in the future. And here we are, in 2024, and most upcoming games have multiple release dates now and it all sucks.
While it didn’t technically start last year, in 2023 we saw an increase in the number of games offering “early access” for a price. Mortal Kombat 1, The Crew: Motorfest, Starfield, Diablo 4, and a few others all offered players an option: Pay the standard price to play the game at launch or pay extra to play a few days “early,” assuming the servers are working properly.
To me, it all seemed like an obvious ploy by publishers to milk gamers for even more money than they already do via in-app purchases, cosmetics, battle passes, and XP boosters. I hoped that people would realize that all these publishers were doing was holding back a game’s release for a few days just to make some extra money. I hoped that gamers would see this was a scam and that these early access perks were worthless.
I was apparently wrong. Looking ahead at the rest of 2024, it’s clear that publishers big and small have seen other games making lots of money via early access launches and are following their lead.
Here’s a list of games scheduled to release in 2024 that offer early access via a pricier special edition, how much that version costs, and how early you can play:
- College Football 25 – 3 days – $90
- Madden NFL 25 – 3 days – $90
- Monster Jam Showdown – 3 days – $70
- Star Wars Outlaws – 3 days – $110
- Age of Mythology Retold – 7 days – $50
- Visions of Mana – 1 day – $80
- Space Marine II – 4 days – $100
- Sword Art Online Fractured Daydream – 3 days – $85
- Undisputed – 3 days – $80
- Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO – 3 days – $100
- Sonic X Shadow Generations – 3 days – $60
- Life Is Strange Double Exposure – 14 days (Ch. 1 + 2) – $80
- Assassin’s Creed Shadows – 3 days – $110
- Concord – 3 days – $60
- Silent Hill 2 – 2 days – $80
- Earth Defense Force 6 – 1 day – $90
- Enotria: The Last Song – 3 days – $60
- Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2 – 1 day – $75
- Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown: Silver Edition – 2 days – $80
- Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown: Gold Edition – 7 days – $90
So this is just our future, huh? I know some might say, “Yeah, so what? I get to play games I like early. That’s cool!” But keep in mind that all of the games listed above aren’t actually being released early. I can’t stress that enough. That’s not what’s happening here. Not at all.
If a company can release a game like Madden NFL 25 on August 12 for some, they can release it for everyone, instead of making players wait three days because they didn’t spend an extra $20 on some special edition. A game launched on July 10 for some players still had to go through all the same certifications and testing that any other game released on a console is forced to complete. So the only thing holding the game back for three days is greedy publishers.
Basically, publishers are delaying games by three days for no reason, and then charging you more to play early. They have created a fake problem and are selling you a silly solution.
Gaming gets more expensive and more confusing
Let’s not forget that gaming is one of the most expensive hobbies in the world and now it’s getting even pricier, and some gamers will be locked out from playing a game they bought simply because they couldn’t afford to plop down $30 more for early access.
In multiplayer games this can lead to people arriving well after others have hit the max level and mastered maps and weapons. And for single-player games, it means folks with less money might have stories spoiled days before they can play. It’s just a real mess of garbage and none of it is necessary at all.
And beyond just how nakedly greedy this all is, it also complicates video games even more than before. We already had to check elaborate pre-order charts to see which version of the game to buy, now some people you know will be playing on a Tuesday while everyone else starts playing on Friday.
I also want to give a special shout-out to Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown, which seems to be the first game to take this paid early access shenanigans to the next level with two separate tiers depending on which special edition you pre-order. The silver editions of the game include two days of early access while the even pricier gold edition bumps that up to seven days.
When I was initially writing up this piece I had included a joke about publishers pushing their luck with multiple early access tiers spread across different and expensive versions. Turns out, that’s not a horrible possible future, but our actual reality. Test Drive Unlimted Solar Crown has three different release dates. Welcome to buying games in 2024. It sucks.
But whatever, apparently this is our future and I’m not sure I or anyone else can change that now. So let’s watch and see just how many days publishers will lock behind paid early access. At the moment three days seems to be the most popular number, however, others are pushing beyond that. And hell, next year, we might see a game with a 15-day early access period and a separate 18-day super early access window. Are you all excited for that future, because I’m not.
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