Steam page now offers paid-Alphas, Introversion says such sales are "way forward" for indies

News by Stephany Nunneley-Jackson Former News Editor

Published on March 20, 2013

Steam now developers to sell Alpha access through the system, such as with Arma 3.

The first games to debut the system are as follows perPCgamesN: 1... 2... 3... KICK IT! (Drop That Beat Like an Ugly Baby), Arma 3, Gear Up: Premium, Gnomoria, Kenshi, Kerbal Space Program, Kinetic Void, Prison Architect, StarForge and Under the Ocean.

Offing paid-Alpha access is becoming more popular with independent developers as a way to help finance their games - such as with Introversion's Prison Architect.

"Selling Alpha access is definitely the way forward for indie devs," Introversion co-founder Mark Morris told GI International. "We're by no means the first to try it, but I think we've hit on a nice hybrid that borrows from Kickstarter and crowd-funding ideas.

"We really wanted to be public about how well it has worked and the breakdown of the different tiers to help other devs to decide how to structure their own approach to selling their games."

Alpha access for the aforementioned games runs anywhere from $9.99 to $32.99.

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