Steam let Caves of Qud sell its DLC in Early Access. Can you?
The first Early Access expansion on Steam needed Valve to change its backend by hand. What we know, what's still unclear, and what you can do today.
Kitfox Games and Freehold Games are putting a DLC into Steam Early Access, and nobody seems to have done that before. Caves of Qud: Diaspora, the first expansion for the long-running roguelike, launches on Steam on 9 December as an Early Access release. The base game itself left Early Access in 2024. Game Developer reports that Valve had to change Steam’s backend by hand to make it possible. If you’ve finished a game and want to build an expansion in public, it’s a useful test case.
What happened
Caves of Qud has been in development since 2007. It entered Steam Early Access on 15 July 2015 and reached 1.0 on 5 December 2024, after more than nine years. Normally that’s the end of the Early Access story. DLC for a released game usually ships finished.
Diaspora breaks that pattern. Its store page lists 9 playable animal and 3 plant stocks at launch, a playable True Kin arcology with castes, a new spear skill tree, and rideable saltback tortoises from the caravans. A questline, new factions such as the Foxen and Snailfolk, underground villages, mega-dungeons and new biomes are planned during Early Access, which Kitfox expects to last about a year.
Kitfox co-founder Tanya X. Short told Game Developer she was “a bit hesitant at first”. Freehold’s leads, Jason Grinblat and Brian Bucklew, wanted to keep working the way they had on the base game, with players testing as they go. Game Developer describes Valve as supportive, but the process wasn’t smooth. Valve apparently made a manual change to Steam’s backend to switch the option on, and Short says Steam’s own store page review then flagged the setup as a bug.
Why Freehold wanted it
Game Developer lists three reasons from the studio, and the store page’s Early Access section says the same. The game has many interlocking systems, and the expansion adds more, so Freehold wants players stress-testing it throughout. Development is slow, and the team doesn’t want a fixed deadline forcing cuts. And Early Access sales help pay for the work as it happens.
That last point sits awkwardly with Valve’s rules. Steam’s Early Access guidelines say Early Access isn’t crowdfunding, and players should buy based on what the game is today, not on promises. In practice, every Early Access sale pays for future work. The rule is about what you say on the store page. So if you try this, describe what’s in the DLC now, and keep the roadmap in a separate, clearly labelled section.
Can you do the same?
We don’t know yet. Nobody has said whether any developer can ask for Early Access DLC, or whether this was a one-off for a well-known studio. Game Developer itself says it’s unclear whether Steam’s rules blocked it before or nobody had tried. We couldn’t find a DLC option in the Steamworks documentation, and Valve needing to change things by hand suggests it isn’t a standard setting.
Two things are now clearer, thanks to the Diaspora store page:
- The label. The DLC page shows a “Coming Soon To Early Access” banner and Steam’s usual Early Access notice, just like a game.
- Price direction. Kitfox hasn’t announced a price, but the page says it expects the price to stay the same or rise slightly at full release.
Two things are still unclear:
- Pricing rules. Steam’s Early Access pricing rules (no higher price than elsewhere, no permanent discounts, a 30-day wait for discounts after a price rise) apply to Early Access games. We don’t know if Valve applies them to DLC in the same way.
- Reviews. Steam reviews DLC separately from the base game. It isn’t clear whether Early Access DLC reviews will be marked as such.
The rules that would still apply
If Valve opens this up, expect the usual Early Access rules to come with it. These are the ones most likely to affect an expansion:
- Decide before launch. Steamworks says a released product can’t be re-registered as Early Access later. Don’t count on Valve making an exception.
- No specific promises. Valve asks you not to promise future features or events. Kitfox’s “about a year” is a guide, not a commitment, and your store copy should read the same way.
- Keep updating. Steam shows a notice on Early Access products with no update for more than 12 months.
- Ship something playable. Valve wants a playable product, not a tech demo, and a gameplay trailer at minimum.
What you can do today
You don’t need Valve’s help to build an expansion with your players. Two options already exist.
The first is a public beta branch of your base game. Players opt in from the game’s properties in Steam, with an optional password. You get feedback on new content before it’s final, without selling anything unfinished. The catch is that you aren’t earning from the work until the DLC launches.
The second is a standalone Early Access release, sold as its own game. Players pay as you build, but you start a new store page from zero, with no reviews and no wishlists. You also split your audience, which is a real cost for a small studio.
Early Access DLC, if it opens up, would sit between the two. It keeps your existing page, reviews and audience, and still pays as you build. Until Valve says it’s open to everyone, treat Diaspora as one studio’s arrangement, not a new Steam feature.
Should you care?
| You are | Our verdict |
|---|---|
| Planning DLC for a released game | Plan as if this isn’t available. If you want it, ask your Valve contact early and get the answer in writing. |
| Still in Early Access with the base game | Nothing changes for you. Ship 1.0 first. |
| Wanting feedback on new content now | Use a public beta branch. It’s available today and doesn’t need Valve’s sign-off. |
| A Caves of Qud player | Diaspora arrives on 9 December. Early Access is expected to run for about a year. |
Sources
- Caves of Qud: Diaspora breaks new ground by being the first early access DLC release on Steam (Game Developer)
- Caves of Qud: Diaspora (Steam)
- Caves of Qud (Steam)
- Caves of Qud’s Diaspora expansion (PC Gamer)
- Early Access (Steamworks documentation)
- Branches (Steamworks documentation)
- Steam now warns players if Early Access titles haven’t been updated for a year (PCGamesInsider)
