Hopefully this will start to change the way more publishers understand the term early access, because they’re a little out of touch with how they use the term today.

When we think of early access today, it can be used in two ways. One is the traditional way, which is what Baldur’s Gate 3 used (and judging by the number of awards Larian Studios’ game has won, it worked for them), where the game is released to the public early in development and gradually expanded until it reaches version 1.0, i.e. it becomes “store-ready”. This approach is fine, it’s not what Valve is going for.

The other method, however, is more of a marketing ploy to squeeze as much money out of the public as possible so they can get the game a few days early. For example, a deluxe edition of a game; this was the case with Starfield, where the premium edition was made available several days before the “normal” release date. Now, this is what Gabe Newell’s platform is against: if a publisher uses this method, they can’t use the term Early Access, but rather Advanced Access, where you can buy early access to a game that is already finished…

The most sensible solution would be for Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, and many other publishers to stop allowing you to play more expensive versions of games 2-3 days early (and this is often a pre-order bonus), but Valve has done this more to close the refund loophole, because until now, if you played a game before it was released, it didn’t count towards the two hours you could claim back.

The exception to this is beta testing, where you have access to special beta builds of games (such as a press version, where you need a separate beta code for the game before release), or if you are invited by the developer/publisher. Either way, this is a step forward.

Source: PCGamer, Valve