After releasing Ori and the Blind Forest and Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Moon Studio launched No Rest for the Wicked last week, a souls-like very different from the studio's first games which also stands out for its method of distribution since it was launched in early access. While this may seem surprising for a studio like Moon, it seems to have been necessary for the good of the company.
“Choosing Early Access was one of the best decisions”
In a message published on TwitterThomas Mahler, CEO of Moon, has in fact confirmed that just a few days after the launch of early access, it was already clear that choosing early access was one of the studio's best decisions.
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In response to some players “irritated” to see titles like No Rest for the Wicked, Hades 2 or even Baldur's Gate 3 take the path of early access when the studios should have the funds to release the games in the traditional way, he explained that it was much more complicated than that:
I think as games become more and more complex and sophisticated, we'll see some form of early access happening more and more often. In our own experience, we could never have launched No Rest for the Wicked 1.0 without being able to see all the data we see today and get all the user feedback. And I'm talking about real users, not a targeted test group.
Even if we had had 2 or 3 times more staff, it would have been simply impossible, the product is far too complex a machine for that to be reasonably expected. Nine women can't have a baby in a month…
He also claims that certain games would have benefited from an early access launch even before the model existed, and that “it's a way of allowing developers to perfect a product over time”:
Imagine if Dark Souls 1 had been in Early Access – instead of From rushing to deliver a boxed product in a somewhat unfinished state, they probably would have been able to look at the second half of that game and continue training and polishing less polished areas like Lost Izalith, etc.
“It was enough to do updates and DLC! I hear you say… No, often, that's not possible.
Releasing games is always incredibly difficult and stressful, and most of the time it involves making some pretty drastic compromises, especially if your product is trying to accomplish something new. And if you don't know that it's possible to add certain features after the fact, you'll end up saving money before it even goes to market.
So even if you don't like the idea of early access: it's a way of allowing developers to perfect a product over time, so try to understand that there is value in that .
PlayStation and Nintendo will have to adopt early access
He then indicates that he is convinced that we will see games created thanks to early access programs that would never have seen the light of day without this model, and that for this to happen, PlayStation and Nintendo will also have to adopt early access. .
The industry is evolving at a rapid pace and clinging to what was the norm 5-10 years ago is too restrictive.
At the end of the day, people just want to play good games. It shouldn't matter how the game was developed, just that it was developed. If players can't play a great experience on your platform, you're doing your audience a disservice.
Why wasn't the game also released on Xbox in early access?
While Microsoft has already supported the early access model for a long time now via the Xbox Game Preview program, many players have wondered why No Rest for the Wicked was not also released on Xbox in early access.
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Thomas Mahler first responds with humor that he is waiting for Phil Spencer's check, before explaining that overloading the teams with a console port would not be smart at the moment, because it would require a lot of work.
We're still waiting for that check from Phil to cash it… 😂🤣
Seriously, it just wouldn't be smart to overburden ourselves any further right now. Doing ports for consoles and going through all their technical certification processes and such takes a lot of work whereas Steam is a breeze.
If we can't wait to see the game land on Xbox, we will obviously have to wait until its final release to find out. PC players can embark on the adventure now and the least we can say is that the title already seems to have many advantages.
To learn more, you can read our preview of No Rest For the Wicked without further delay. If you have played the game, obviously don't hesitate to give us your impressions in the comments.