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Has Early Access Become the New Rental?

Has Early Access Become the New Rental?

EA has started something. Usually, that sort of sentence is a precursor to grumbling. You know, something like, “EA started selling season passes for all of its games, and now everyone else is too.” Or maybe the classic, “EA put microtransactions in its games, and other developers are doing it too.” Fortunately, today’s article is a more positive look at that. EA has done something right, and other publishers should follow suit. I’m talking about early access as a reward for digital pre-orders.

The last few months, EA has been experimenting with giving people a chance to play games ahead of launch as a reward for digital loyalty. By placing a pre-order or subscribing to a service, you get a head start on a new game. It’s never a huge lead, a month at first so far, but it’s a good move that helps build hype, players’ confidence in the product, and goodwill for the developer and publisher involved.

This all started with EA Access. People who subscribe to this Xbox One service occasionally receive Play First opportunities. That means people can try select games before launch, all because they’ve subscribed to the service. Some of the most recent games people were able to play for a bit before launch include Madden 17, Star Wars Battlefront, Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst, FIFA 17, and UFC 2. You get to sample the game and, if you buy a digital copy, you get 10% off the price and the ability to carry over your saves from that trial. As helpful as reviews and advance footage can be, nothing beats going hands-on ahead of time and getting feedback from fans.

Early access has since continued to other EA games outside of this service. NBA 2K17 had a pre-order promotion that provided people early access to the full game. If you went digital, you were able to start playing on September 16 instead of waiting until September 20. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare’ s PS4 digital pre-order opportunity is even better. If you commit to a copy of that game now, you can start playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered immediately. That’s instant access to the part of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare that most people want to play. Each opportunity gave people a chance to start appreciating something they really wanted early and made a digital purchase more appealing.

Has Early Access Become the New Rental?

Even unintended early digital access helps. When Paper Mario: Color Splash’ s pre-load option appeared for people who pre-ordered a digital copy from the Nintendo eShop, those buyers found something went wrong. They could actually begin playing the game. While Nintendo’s since plugged that hole, what followed actually helped build interest for the game. People started sharing screenshots and videos of its incredible script, which got people excited about how clever and hilarious the writing was. The increased exposure helped get people talking about a game for a system that doesn’t always get that much fanfare.

When selling products, you need to find new incentives to encourage people to purchase the game. Giving people early access to AAA games as a thank you for pre-ordering is a wonderful idea. It builds all sorts of hype, is cost effective, can be seen as a goodwill gesture, and might encourage more people to buy something new instead of waiting for a used copy. Early access to digital games could be a real game changer, and more companies need to follow EA’s example and offer it as a pre-order reward.

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