"A release should not start an ever-accelerating treadmill where developers are forced to run until their mental or physical health breaks down"

The publisher of Manor Lords, the successful medieval city-building game made by solo developer Slavic Magic, has hit out at critics of the game's lenient update schedule since launch: "This is exactly the kind of warped infinite growth/burden of expectations/line must go up perspective that causes so much trouble in the gaming industry, says Hooded Horse CEO Tim Bender on LinkedIn.

Bender was responding to another LinkedIn post by Raphael van Lierop, CEO of Hinterland Studio (the developer of The Long Dark, a Steam hit that had an Early Access release in 2014). In his original post, van Lierop said Manor Lords is "a pretty interesting case study in the pitfalls of early asset development."

Van Lierop said that, although high quality, Manor Lords lacks content, and due to the size of the development team (which is essentially one person), the update rate of the game is slow. He noted that the number of concurrent players of Manor Lords had dropped rapidly since launch, writing: "Given the huge number of wishlists and hype surrounding it leading up to launch, this is something the developer and publisher should have been better prepared for." He advised Early Access developers to have a plan to release "2-3 major updates with new content and features" within three months of the game's release.