This is likely why "Game Tester" is an actual job, or at least used to be. 14 year old me didn't believe it was a real thing... "Early Access" seems to be the

This is likely why "Game Tester" is an actual job, or at least used to be. 14 year old me didn't believe it was a real thing... "Early Access" seems to be the more popular route now. People are happy to pay to test a game and feel like they participated in its development. Check out Star Citizen if you want to be amazed and depressed by this truth at the same time. Sometimes it works well. Sometimes it doesn't. Seems largely dependent on how engaged the devs are with their community.