With more games including early access as bonuses for purchasing the Deluxe Edition, it can be immensely frustrating when this advanced release date seemingly chooses to simply not work. In this case, time is literally money, and every minute you can’t get in is money wasted.
This is, unfortunately, a risk regardless of the platform you play on, but Steam’s version—aptly named Steam Advanced Access—seems to face these issues more often than most. If you’ve been facing issues with your Advanced Access period for a game you’ve been hotly anticipating, trying a few of these troubleshooting tips should get you playing in no time.
How do you fix Steam’s Advanced Access not working?
Notably, Advanced Access is different from early access, which lets players support the development of a game in progress. With that important distinction out of the way, let’s get into the best ways to get past that Advanced Access barrier. There are a few methods you have at your disposal, including the following:
- Restart Steam
- Restart your computer
- Check your edition
- Wait out the issue
Restart Steam
Steam doesn’t update Advanced Access status in real time. If you’ve passed the Advanced Access threshold (which varies from game to game) but Steam isn’t recognizing it, this is likely the cause. You’re going to want to exit the Steam Client completely, making sure to close the app through the system tray and stop it with Task Manager if applicable. When you next open Steam, it should realize what time it is and let you either download or play the game depending on its pre-load status.
Restart your computer
Like Step 1, but a little more involved. This eliminates the potential for any hidden background processes that may keep Steam from updating lingering and continuing to produce the error. When I personally faced this issue with Starfield‘s Advanced Access launch, this was the solution that finally let me get into the Settled Systems. In most cases, this will finally smack some sense into Steam and let it recognize that you should be in and playing.
Check your edition
If Steam still isn’t letting you through the gate, it might be worth checking if you actually have the key. Generally, only higher-tier deluxe editions of games will let you take advantage of Advanced Access, so if you mistakenly bought the basic edition, it naturally won’t work. In addition, buying only the base version of a game and then the deluxe upgrade has a proven track record of not activating Advanced Access. In this case, you’ll want to refund the game and DLC through Steam and re-purchase the all-in-one deluxe edition—it’s a frustrating trap that many have fallen into.
Wait
I know, I know, this is by far the least satisfactory option, but sometimes it’s the only one. As with Sifu‘s launch debacle, sometimes early access not properly working is on the developer and/or publisher rather than the storefront it’s hosted on. In that case, there’s nothing to do but keep an eye out for updates either on the game’s social media or through Steam’s built-in news feature and hope that the game will either be up soon or that, if nothing else, you’ll get some bonus goodies to compensate. Sifu players got a whole host of bonus outfits, so at least that delay wasn’t for nothing.
Unfortunately for players, short of opening up a Steam support ticket, this is everything a player can do that’s been proven to fix this error. If worst comes to worst, you may just have to wait the extra few days and play with the plebeians.
