It would sometimes be nice to play a game which is completely, 100% finished and bug-free as soon as it's available. But given that we live in an age where releasing early and patching out issues post-launch is easy to do, those days may be long gone. And if that's the case, why shouldn't companies take advantage of the enthusiasm of the community to help playtest -- and market -- their games?

How long, though, before the worst-case scenario happens: a terrible, glitchy mess of a beta becomes an earth-shatteringly brilliant final product that no-one buys because of bad press from the early version? It hasn't happened yet, but as soon as it does, some publishers might start rethinking their current strategies.

This article originally appeared on GamePro.com as