Release dates for games that are not officially released / Have early access?

[vigorousjammer]

So, I'm wondering what the release dates for games that have early access should be?

I'm talking about games like Minecraft, who have a so-called "beta" period where they are still selling the game prior to any sort of "official" release.

This is the case for games such as Don't Starve, Dota 2, Arma III, and many others.

My initial thought would be to simply add the release date for the official release, seeing as how normally with these early access releases they don't even list any sort of release date aside from the upcoming one... but then that poses the question: does that actually signify when the game became available for purchase, and was widely available to everybody? Not really, no.
Should a separate page be created for the early access version? Normally when you purchase early access you're also getting the full version of the game when it is released, as well, so the only people who wouldn't own the early access version are people who purchased it afterwards (but is that enough of a differentiating factor to have two separate pages?).

Perhaps it would be useful to be able to add multiple release dates to the same game, although that could also cause some confusion for users.

What do you guys think would be the best solution for this stuff?

[foxhack]

I edit the actual release date when the game is released. For Steam's alpha games, I just add the date the game became available and mention that it's not a final release in the entry notes. Once the full version is out, I say "this was previously available as an alpha blah blah and a final version was released on yadda yadda."

[vigorousjammer]

Hmm, yeah, I suppose noting it in the description is probably the best method for this kind of stuff. Thanks.

[desocietas]

I edit the actual release date when the game is released. For Steam's alpha games, I just add the date the game became available and mention that it's not a final release in the entry notes. Once the full version is out, I say "this was previously available as an alpha blah blah and a final version was released on yadda yadda."

That's a good idea, Foxhack