What is Advanced Access?
Advanced Access is a Pre-Purchase incentive, in which customers that Pre-Purchase a "Deluxe" package(s) of your game are given access to the game earlier than customers that Pre-Purchase the "Standard" (most basic) package.
Overview
Our experience with advanced access is that it tends to be ineffective unless it’s a heavily anticipated, heavily marketed title with a pre-purchase, and even then we encourage developers to really understand what goals they have for their title by offering an advanced access period on Steam.
For most games, it's more ideal to release the game to all players at the same time. This gives your title the biggest opportunity to create buzz and visibility at a point where all players can actually share their excitement with all of their friends. In addition, some types of games are just not a good fit for advanced access. (Short games, single player narrative heavy games, and games where there is a competitive advantage to playing early might all negatively impact player sentiment by having an advanced access period)
For these reasons, we will not support running advanced access except in a few rare cases with partners with which we have a well-established relationship and that have a proven track record on Steam.
How to set up Advanced Access
Please reach out to the Steam team directly, either through your contact or
Steam Support and inform them of the dates/time of advanced Access and the details of the offer. They will help determine if your game is a good fit for advanced access. Advanced Access may not be right for all games. For example, games where getting a head start could give a competitive advantage would deeply impact user sentiment for the overall player base. Another possible poor player experience could be a single player narrative game that can be completed in the duration of the Advanced Access where you are spreading out users and diminishing the excitement around your launch (and possibly spoiling the story before others even have a chance to play.)
How Steam features are affected by Advanced Access
Refunds
During Advanced Access, our refund policy will apply to those packages that receive advanced access. Players who purchase a package that grant advanced access will be able to refund the game as per the
standard refund policy. Players who purchased the "Standard" package are still in pre-purchase and can refund at any point prior to the release of the game.
User Reviews
During Advanced Access, players will be able to submit a review for the game. Please refer to our
documentation on user reviews.Concurrent Users
Steam will show the
concurrent users for your game during Advanced Access,
Store & Client
If it's determined that Advanced Access is a suitable option for your game's pre-purchase, then it needs to be communicated to users as part of the incentive. There are a couple places that this communication should take place.
First, you'll need to describe the pre-purchase incentives and how they differentiate between "Standard" and "Deluxe" packages. You'll do that by navigating from your App's Landing Page to "Edit Store Page" > "Description" tab > "Special Announcement Section". Make sure you include the timing and length of your advanced access period.
We (Steam) will need to stage the Advanced Access start date/time. This information can be communicated with a specific Steam contact directly or with the whole team by
submitting a ticket here.
- The ability to play the game will start at the date/time staged for "Advanced Access" and you will not need to release the game. At the Advanced Access date/time Steam will apply a "release override" to the applicable package(s). Users with this package will be able to play the build on the default branch.
- The store will update to show which package(s) grant access to the ability to play.
- The client will update to enable users to play without needing to restart.
- The library will update to show which package(s) grant access to the ability to play.
Full Release of your Game
You still need to click the "big green button" to release your game for all users. This will transition the game from pre-purchase to release and kick off the
Full Release Launch Visibility.
How your game will be presented in Advanced Access
Before Advanced Access period:
Store Page
During Advanced Access period:
Store Page
FAQ:
Q: What's the difference between Steam Early Access and Advanced Access?
A: Advanced Access on Steam is commonly referred to as "early access" on other platforms, however, Steam Early Access is a completely different thing.
Steam Early Access enables you to sell your game on Steam while it is still being developed, and provides context to customers that a product should be considered "unfinished." Early Access is a place for games that are in a playable alpha or beta state, are worth the current value of the playable build, and that you plan to continue to develop for release.
Q: Is Advanced Access right for my game?
A: Advanced Access may not be right for all games. For example, games where there’s a competitive advantage to getting a head start could deeply impact user sentiment for the overall player base. Additionally, a single player narrative game that could be completed in the duration of the Advanced Access could potentially diminish the excitement around launch or could spoil the story before others even have a chance to play.
Please reach out to the Steam team directly, either through your contact or
Steam Support. They will help determine if your game is a good fit for Advanced Access and if so, they will need to manually add that date into Steamworks.
Q: Is Advanced Access available only for games in Pre-Purchase?
A: Yes, Advanced Access is a Pre-Purchase incentive, so it can only be used during Pre-Purchase.
Q: Can my game use Advanced Access if it's the only Pre-Purchase incentive?
A: No, in order to use Advanced Access, the Pre-Purchase incentive must contain additional value beyond just the Advanced Access time period.
Q: Can all editions of my game have Advanced Access?
A: No. You can't have all editions of your game grant advanced access because then you are essentially just releasing your game early. You also can't just have one edition with advanced access. In this case, we would recommend extending the other pre-purchase incentives to a later date and changing your release date to the earlier date.
Q: Can I set up Advanced Access on my own?
A: No. You need to talk with a Steam representative to determine if Advanced Access is suitable for your game. We need to enable Advanced Access manually.
Q: What if my release date changes?
A: We (Steam) will need to update the Advanced Access date on your behalf. If you change your release date, then please contact us so we can adjust your Advanced Access date accordingly. The best way is to
submit a ticket here.
Q: How does marketing work for Advanced Access?
A: You may be eligible for a "Now Available" marketing message when the entire game is released, but we won't be creating a separate Marketing Message for the start of Advanced Access. If your game is eligible for a marketing message, we will reach out to you to notify you and set that up.
Q: Can I change my capsule art to reflect Advanced Access?
A: No, you should not change your capsule art to include any banners indicating Advanced Access status. Steam will appropriately inform our users of the status of advanced access during the period and before the period.
Q: Can I do a pre-purchase/Advanced Access for an game that's launching into Early Access?
A: No. Advanced Access is only available for the full release of the game.
Q: Will Steam grant advanced access to other content in the package such as pre-order bonus DLCs and soundtracks?
A: Steam will enable access to all of the content that is contained within that Advanced Access package, so if it’s a soundtrack and bonus DLC, then yes, those would be included at that time as well. You’ll still need to release all of the content as per the normal flow at the time of standard edition release.
Q: If we want to open a DLC’s store page at the time of advanced access, how will that work?
A: The content (bits being delivered to the user’s client) will become playable if the DLC is in the package that’s set for advanced access regardless of having a publicly visible store page. You will still need to set the store page live.
Q: What happens with retail keys I've ordered for the Advanced Access Package?
A: If you have keys for the advanced access edition of the game, Valve will need to manually set those keys as usable during that advanced access period. Make sure you inform your Steam contact about these key packages.
Q: Will achievements unlock for a player during Advanced Access?
A: Yes, achievements will unlock during the Advanced Access period. When unlocked, these achievements will pop up in the corner of the players' window and will be marked within an achievement page for that player.
Q: Will Trading Cards drop for a player during Advanced Access?
A: No, Cards will not drop during advanced access, but playtime accrued during advanced access will count towards drops once the game has officially released fully.