Larian Studios' director of publishing Michael Douse has admitted releasing games in early access is “scary”.
Larian Studios' director of publishing Michael Douse has admitted releasing games in early access is 'scary'
The company launched the popular 2023 role-playing-game ‘Baldur’s Gate 3’ in alpha form - essentially meaning it was a demo - and are likely do the same for their next title despite finding it daunting.
During an interview with GameFile, the Larian boss said: “It's scary. It turns your company sort of into a live service company, because you've got to feed that machine.
“But we were very open about not doing that.
“[We said:] ‘We're not going to add story. Don't expect that.’ We didn't really add content. We added some, but we really slowed down.
“Setting expectations is really key. It's just going to be this one sort of fractal loop that's going to sort of adapt.
“If you don't know how to do early access, I wouldn't do early access, but if you are interested in creating a really strong core gameplay loop and then building around that, to foster a strong community, that's a really good way to do it. It's probably the best way to do it.”
Douse explained the company was looking to release their next title in early access as it is “the only way” to launch a game now.
He said: “This is the only way to do it now, especially if you consider the fact that the whole point of this stuff is to create social resonance, to create a situation where you have a constant dialogue with the players.
“Our next - whatever the next thing will be - will also probably be in early access. That way you remove a lot of the prediction, too.
“When you release a game in AAA, whatever method, [if] you don't have early access, you're taking a huge bet on the fact that this is good and people like it. In early access, you find out very quickly. It helps you steer the massive ship.”