Tim Schafer and his minions over at Double Fine have announced some changes to the way their pointy-clicky adventure game Broken Age will be released. Last summer Tim gave some people the vapors when he lamented how fast money can get spent, especially when you end up raising far more than you asked for. As a way to keep free coffee and creamer in the break room Tim announced that the first half of Broken Age would be available in January via Steam’s Early Access program, which is basically a way for gamers to buy unfinished games. The upside was that gamers would get a chance to play Broken Age earlier than they might otherwise get to, and the team at Double Fine wouldn’t have to start applying for call center jobs.
Fast forward to today and word has dropped that Broken Age will not be made available via Early Access, but rather as a season pass. The difference is that now you’ll get the entire game as part of your purchase price, even if you’ll need to wait a while for the rest of it. Given that the deep discounts that used to happen with Early Access games don’t seem to happen much anymore, the season pass route is a positive one. Pay for the whole game up-front and get the rest when it’s available without having to do a separate purchase, or just wait for all parts to be released.
Act 1 of Broken Age is available for purchase from Steam now at a 10% discount, bringing the cost down to $22.49. You’ll be able to download and play it once it’s released on January 28th.
(Spotted on Joystiq)
