Along with Double Fine, InXile were one of the big Kickstarter successes, raising almost $3 million for Wasteland 2. Turns out they’re also a big success in Steam’s Early Access program. According to a post on Kickstarter, by selling copies of the unfinished game InXile have “doubled Wasteland 2’s initial budget.”
“Every penny coming in from sales is still going back into making Wasteland 2. I can promise that the game we are close to releasing would not have been the same without [Early Access].”
“While Wasteland 2 would have been released months ago without Early Access, it would not have the polish, detail, and scope that we are bringing to you in very near future,” writes Chris Keenan, project lead on Wasteland 2. “The past few years have been one large learning and refining process for all of us, and in hindsight, we can measurably say this had a huge positive impact on the game. Nothing beats the feedback from tons of you playing the game and the resources and time to act on that feedback.”
They also had something to say about life after launch. “We fully plan on significant post-release support. The most obvious of that will be the mod-kit and of course post-release patches.”
Surprisingly, Keenan says they “do not have any expansions currently planned.” Though, “that doesn’t mean there won’t be any in the future. We will keep an eye on feedback just like we have during the beta period and be open to taking another look at features that are highly requested.”
With all the flak Early Access has been catching recently, it’s good to hear a story about how our eager purchase has been rewarded. I’ve not had a chance to play Wasteland 2 yet but I’m keen to get my teeth into its irradiated RPG action this August.