Early Access games are like a box of chocolates , you ' ll never know what you will get . OK , OK , I know I used that before . But yes as others ' pointed out , the situation is unique and you don ' t know if you ' ll keep getting updates because the developer is passionate about their project or if they ' ll bail out entirely because they feel if they ' ll never make another sale . I personally buy Early Access when I like a game , because it looks like something I would really enjoy playing . If it has a lot of bugs or things don ' t work the way they should , best thing to do is offer feedback . If the developer doesn ' t update or at least respond within a reasonable time frame , then there is cause for suspicion . I wish there were a perfect way to gauge a game from a simple trailer or snippet of game play , but there ' s not . If for some reason , the final game does not live up to the expectations and gathers bad reviews and low sales as a result , at least the developer who chose Early Access fell softly and hopefully not in a deliberate attempt to defraud purchasers . However , a developer who waits until the completion of their project may find that they get no income during its development , it gets dashed on the rocks by reviewers , don ' t make the income they expect from their game and are left holding the bag . It ' s kind of a doubleedged sword . If a developer chooses to go with closed development and a closed alphabeta channels , are they really getting the feedback they need as opposed to Early Access adopters who have paid to get the software into the hands of the public willing to invest in it first ? I would like to think that anyone making a game , Early Access or not , would be doing so for the love of the art and not trying to rip anyone off however , it ' s not a perfect world and people do it . From what I ' ve seen so far , there have been a few Early Access titles I ' ve purchased which haven ' t checked in within a few months , but it ' s the holiday season , so I ' ll keep my reservations until next year .