The "alpha" release vs. "final product" in game development is an artifact of the shift in the way software is developed in general. Even in traditional big biz

The "alpha" release vs. "final product" in game development is an artifact of the shift in the way software is developed in general. Even in traditional big biz software development, instead of a waterfall process with a quarterly release, you have much more frequent releases and much more incremental process with active user feedback built in to the cycle. All you're seeing is this process moved to game development and relabeled with a marketing term that's acceptable to consumers.