Sony is apparently thinking about introducing an early access program for PlayStation 4 in the same vain as Steam early access on PC. On Steam, early access enables players purchase and sample titles that are still in development. Such a program gives developers revenue to help fund the final stages in finishing the game, while gleaning invaluable feedback from the community, as well as bug reports and so on. It could be potentially win-win, especially for indie devs. "That’s one of the massive conversations we have internally — that, at what point does [a game meet standards of release]?" said Sony's Adam Boyes in a Gamasutra interview. "We still at some point ensure that we're being mindful of the consumer. We don't want somebody to stumble across that title and expect a full product, and have a negative experience." Sony could also potentially attract a wider audience of players who want to participate in helping finish a game, lending their feedback through buying an early copy of the game. "That's the thing - we live in a different world. There are different types of people. There people who always back games, enjoy Kickstarters, try things that they know aren't finished but are willing to help make better," Boyes continued, adding that the experience would have to be smooth and straightforward on PS4. "Honestly, we're working through that right now. We're figuring out what's OK," Boyes said. "We obviously have our tech requirement checklist that people have to adhere to. So we're internally discussing, what does that list look like this? What are the caveats? Stuff like this. So it's still a project that a lot of minds are considering. No details yet, but it's something on the top of my mind every day." Source - PST org
