💥 TRENDING: Groups/EarlyAccessGuidelines/discussions// - High Quality

One Year after launch, the Early Access tag will be changed to "Early Access - Past Year One." At this point, the game will no longer be marketed on the Steam front page nor on the general Early Access page; there will be a dedicated page for this subset of Early Access games.

During the "Early Access - Past Year One" period, the developer is required to maintain an update frequency of at least 3 months in order to keep the Early Access designation.

2 years after launch the Early Access designation expires, the game will have to be made Full Release (if appropriate), recategorized/flagged appropriately or removed from the store.

Exceptions and Extensions: Selected games which have adhered to guidelines may be exempted from 2 year limit; scope, update history and progress since launch will be taken into consideration.

Moreover, developers may appeal to the community/players that have purchased the game for an "EAG Extension". Each customer which owns the game on his Steam account would get a single vote, a simple majority vote would determine the outcome.

A project that has not been updated in 6 months is considered abandoned and may lose its Early Access designation and/or be approriately flagged; it may be removed from the store.

On the Steam store page, there will be a button to: "Report Abandoned Game" with a free-text comments section to expand upon the reason; several reasons should also be selectable on a pre-set selection of common scenarios.

The game would automatically attempt an update to the latest Build. However. every published Build of the game should remain selectable to be played by the customer, if they were to so choose. (Steam Library - Right click on Title - Properties - Betas/Builds).

Older Builds would not need developer support and would be provided as is; only the latest Build would be considered the "active" Build in development.

A link to the "Build Changelog" will be made available on the Steam Store page, so that potential customers can have insight into the number, frequency and quality/content of game updates.

No additional monetization should be instituted during the pre-release/Early Access period; exceptions may be made on a case by case basis, for example, Free To Play games.

Plans for base game price during and after Early Access and any additional plans for monetization, if applicable, are to be described at Early Access launch. If stated monetization plans were to change at any time, customers are entitled to a refund, if they were to desire one.

Steam may Charge an Early Access Submission Fee per title per Developer

Developer can have a SINGLE Early Access Game on Steam concurrently
No NEW GAMES can be placed on Steam by a developer that has a title on Early Access

Valve already tells devs NOT TO USE Early Access as a means to fund their title, they could certainly use different means to verify that titles introduced into EAG are funded in SOME capacity and limit day one scams in such a manner

Use personal/corporate identifiable information in order to curb the creation and abuse of sock-puppet companies and duplicitous use/abuse of the system by the same group/developer/publisher/individual under the guise of a different Steam profile/name/company.

Malicious individuals should be disallowed from submitting additional titles into Early Access and/or Greenlight (There should be an actual permanent identifier rather than faceless accounts)

6. Refunds:

If an Early Access title loses its Early Access designation due to the 2 year expiration period, failure to update at least every 3 months during the "Early Access - Past Year One" period or failure to update at least every 6 months at any time; customers are entitled to a refund, if they were to desire one.