Coffee Stain Studios on Satisfactory's Early Access journey so far & Update 8
The advent of the Early Access game has been immense for game developers.
Though Steam practically gave it the platform, technically unfinished games making it to market have spread out thoroughly across the industry, both with the support of a larger publisher or without it. The greatest success story of this structure is of course Minecraft, a game that launched in Alpha and went on to become perhaps the biggest gaming phenomenon in history, and now as games appear on Game Pass as Game Previews, we’re starting to see companies embrace that the next Minecraft could be nestled under our noses in the form of Valheim or Phasmophobia.
Games have made the most of this for a while now, and there are plenty that exemplify the successes that can be enjoyed by the practice - but few have succeeded in a community-led way quite like Satisfactory has, bringing its fans along for the ride at every turn, almost as an act of gratitude for their faith. And now that the game has sold five million copies and grows to be better than ever, there is no better time to appraise the work of Coffee Stain Studios.
