Ok so why does everyone complain when EA or Ubisoft does this, but not when Frontier does it? There's no consistency.
Even if you're right, it's become a standard in the PC video game industry, to charge the alpha/beta access. Sad, but what can we do ? Nothing !
You know, it's like StarWars :
If they go too far in the dark side (with an overly aggressive pricing policy), there will be a balance in the force, and players will begin to hack the game.
For now, this is "acceptable"
And, even if it's too expensive, the "Coaster Head Club" is here more to support the team than anything else. And by the way, seeing the work they have shown us so far, there is no reason to complain, at least, for now.
- If it's just during the game development period (to fund part of the development), this is not going to break their corporate image (well a bit, but this is too negligible to worry about)
- If they apply the same strategy after the release, they will end up like the last SimCity, or like any other "frequently illegally downloaded games" (like you said : EA/Ubi Games)
Conclusion :
No need to panic for the moment, it's just borderline, but still okay.
