Putting together an RPG is hard. Regardless of type, they're nebulous projects that require all sorts of creativity to get right. The Outer Worlds and Avowed studio Obsidian Entertainment would know, since the studio's released quite a few, and according to its findings, putting out a beta build first doesn't necessarily help, though there are exceptions.
At Summer Game Fest 2026, Chris Parker, game director for Grounded 2, explained to us that letting players in earlier can work in some instances, but not for sprawling role-playing adventures. "Obsidian got its first real taste for this with Pillars of Eternity, which was not an early access game per se, it was a Kickstarter, but we were constantly updating the community and letting them know about stuff," he tells GamesRadar+.
