What is Advance Access?

Advance 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 advance 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 advance 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 advance 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 advance access period)

For these reasons, we will not support running advance 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 Advance Access

Please reach out to the Steam team directly, either through your contact or Steam Support and inform them of the dates/time of advance Access and the details of the offer. They will help determine if your game is a good fit for advance access. Advance 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 Advance 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 Advance Access

Refunds

During Advance Access, our refund policy will apply to those packages that receive advance access. Players who purchase a package that grant advance 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 Advance 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 Advance Access,

Store & Client

If it's determined that Advance 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 advance access period.

We (Steam) will need to stage the Advance 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 "Advance Access" and you will not need to release the game. At the Advance 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

How your game will be presented in Advance Access

Before Advance Access period:

Store Page

During Advance Access period:

Store Page

FAQ:

Q: What's the difference between Steam Early Access and Advance Access?

A: Advance 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 Advance Access right for my game?

A: Advance 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 Advance 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 Advance Access and if so, they will need to manually add that date into Steamworks.

Q: Is Advance Access available only for games in Pre-Purchase?

A: Yes, Advance Access is a Pre-Purchase incentive, so it can only be used during Pre-Purchase.

Q: Can my game use Advance Access if it's the only Pre-Purchase incentive?

A: No, in order to use Advance Access, the Pre-Purchase incentive must contain additional value beyond just the Advance Access time period.

Q: Can all editions of my game have Advance Access?

A: No. You can't have all editions of your game grant advance access because then you are essentially just releasing your game early. You also can't just have one edition with advance 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 Advance Access on my own?

A: No. You need to talk with a Steam representative to determine if Advance Access is suitable for your game. We need to enable Advance Access manually.

Q: What if my release date changes?

A: We (Steam) will need to update the Advance Access date on your behalf. If you change your release date, then please contact us so we can adjust your Advance Access date accordingly. The best way is to submit a ticket here.

Q: How does marketing work for Advance 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 Advance 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 Advance Access?

A: No, you should not change your capsule art to include any banners indicating Advance Access status. Steam will appropriately inform our users of the status of advance access during the period and before the period.

Q: Can I do a pre-purchase/Advance Access for an game that's launching into Early Access?

A: No. Advance Access is only available for the full release of the game.

Q: Will Steam grant advance 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 Advance 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 advance 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 advance 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 Advance Access Package?

A: If you have keys for the advance access edition of the game, Valve will need to manually set those keys as usable during that advance access period. Make sure you inform your Steam contact about these key packages.

Q: Will achievements unlock for a player during Advance Access?

A: Yes, achievements will unlock during the Advance 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 Advance Access?

A: No, Cards will not drop during advance access, but playtime accrued during advancd access will count towards drops once the game has officially released fully.