"4 years of development" is inaccurate. The Town Square was rebuilt about 3 times. Of those 3 times, the most recent was this past year which is the build everyone is playing on now. You could pay 15$ now and never have to pay a dime again in order to play the game when released. Or pay 15$ more equaling 30$ for all 3 module access, beta access, and game access. That seems like a pretty good deal to me. Not to mention access to a free studio apartment to decorate(Even if you didn't purchase one) until beta releases. I believe they don't have to copy the norm of other companies release practices when it comes to early access/beta/game release. This isn't a huge company, their turn-around for releasing product will be slower than what's expected. Just because one company does one thing, or releases a game in a certain amount of time, or prices their products differently doesn't mean anything.