What do the early-year hit Palworld, the 2023 phenomenon Baldur’s Gate 3, one of the most anticipated games of 2024, Hades 2 or Bodycam – a title developed from Nanterre by two brothers aged 18 and 21 – have in common, well on their way to becoming the summer hit? They have all experienced or are experiencing the “early access” stage on Steam, the benchmark platform for online PC video game sales. A practice that consists of launching a game in a non-final version and at a lower price than during the “real” commercial release.
Launched about ten years ago on Steam, this technique was for a long time the preserve of independent studios. But more and more players in the sector are getting into it, as the profits can be there… provided you have a title tailored for it. “Not all games lend themselves to it. A corridor and narrative single-player game like The Last of Us, for example, has no place in it because the story is linear. Conversely, multiplayer games, sports games, ‘roguelikes’ (an exploration game where levels are randomly generated and the player dies regularly) or construction games (‘city-builder’) are perfectly suited,” explains Francis Ingrand, CEO of Plug In Digital.
