If the company has a history of releasing solid, complete products or properly using Early Access for its intended purpose (BG3), or is punching above its weight and just doesn't have the money to reach the finish line (Palworld) I don't see it as intrinsically bad, as long as you as a consumer understand that there's a risk that the end result is dissapointing. On the other hand, there's Paradox, that releases supposedly complete games and advertises them as such despite clearly having the means to slow down and put them through QA before selling them in a mechanically broken state. They'll still become great games though, after 8 years of further development and 14 DLC.

I've been playing beamNg for 4+ years and it's been in ea the entire time since 2015, possibly the best car game you can get for 20€.

Slay the spire I've also owned since early access, it's maybe the most beautiful single player card game to exist. Although it only spent 1-2 years in ea.

Don't be the first to buy ea games I guess but if the game is already fun why not.

I buy what game I want, whether it is EA or not. Worked out great with BG3. Palworld is another one with tons of content for an EA title and I had a blad with the universim during all of EA and it is now released with even more content.

Regarding pre-ordering games, I think Eric Cartman said it best

Enshrouded too good

I have 10 times more full release fail buys than early access. While early access often costs half of a AAA title. So you better switch those images.

I wait until the complete game is on sale and has mods that are stable. Just got firewatch for $2 and got the VR mod off itch.io which has its own single mod manager. Such a awesome game so far, story wise and with the vr mod.

I've played early access games far better than full releases and vice versa. The divide between early access vs not early access is arbitrary and unnecessary in my opinion. Buy games that are worth the price for the fun they offer for you. The only blanket rule I would say is to avoid pre-ordering.

Techtonica is early access and looks like it's going to be amazing.

The real problem is old companies like EA and Bethesda releasing crap on Launch Day and expecting its customers to be its beta testers for the next couple of years while they slowly patch the game into a playable state. (Or not. Why should they care? They got your money.)

I don't regret the $20 I spent on Dyson Sphere Program, spent more time enjoying that than I have playing most of my library of supposedly "finished" games.

It's a democratic economy! Why should capitalists get to make all the stupid decisions?

Don't preorder, and only buy early access if you're happy with the game as it is at the moment you buy it

Project zomboid fans 🫥

It's an odd concept for sure. People pay extra money to be beta testers for a game company. That's an actual paid career, yet people are willing to pay to do it.

What do you mean? Suicide squad early access purchasers got their games automatically completed!