I think it’s an age thing a lot of times. It’s like telling my kids to brush their teeth because of my experiences with dental, or you can plug any example like that.
I can tell kids not to preorder all I want. They just haven’t had the opportunity to be burned as many times as we have yet.
I don't pre-order games nor do I really buy any games new.
I mean why should I when I can buy complete version of the game for like 10-20 bucks 1-3 years later. Honestly I've simply discarded the idea of being consumer and shifted to thinking myself as customer instead. Its not my job to support the developers and keep their studios afloat its their job by making good games that are actually worth their price tag.
I already have backlog of games that would take years clear thanks to steam sales, playstation plus and all sorts of bundle offers. I am in no hurry to buy new games and I can easily wait for the developers to actually finish the game and buy the GOTY/Ultimate/Definite edition that includes most if not all the expansions and dlc for a discounted price.
As for free 2 play and live service games I simply don't have the time and interest to play those. If I ever make an exception to this then I'll be using only default skins/cosmetics, no gatcha and ignoring the battle pass completely.
I miss the age of videogame demos, it feels like nothing but a distant memory now. And the only reason companies let people play their broken betas now is to gauge excitement for their games and fix any serious game breaking bugs.
Developer here - currently indie but was in the machine at one point. Cold hard fact is that demos hurt sales for AAA games, and pre-orders get cash in the door today to keep the lights on. With millions and years invested, they must hedge and limit risk as hard and as quickly as possible.
I've never understood the concept of pre ordering digital content, it's not going to run out of stock. And why pay extra for a few graphical items that don't change the way the game plays?
Also, surely digital games would be cheaper because there's no physical product to send to the customer? But there you go. Base copy of Diablo 4 is £70!! Wow!
Financially, preorders without a “preorder bonus” are a zero interest loan to the developer. Preorders with the “preorder bonus” are a loan with the bonus as interest. Even if the game were guaranteed to be good, you could most likely be doing something better with the money until it comes out. Since the game is not guaranteed to be good, it is a risky loan as well. Without any of the protections you get when you make an actual loan.
I pre-ordered baldurs gate 3 after playing the developers previous game divinity original sin 2 and hearing a rather large amount of praise for the content available in the early access.
It's something I wouldn't regularly do but in their short line of recent games Larian studios have left a very good impression on me and I trust them individually.
My money, my choice. Everyone saying otherwise can eat a bag of dicks. I'll preorder for bonuses if a game looks good, and I'll refund that purchase if it releases in a garbage state.
I must remeber the history of gaming completely differently. Noone was demanding trials. Majority of people went to a store, looked at box art, made a purchase based on the art and description on the back. Plenty of stinkers in the mix.
Trails would be nice sure, not going to deny that. But I fail to see how pre-ordering is linked to no trials lol.
The concept of needing to pre-order a digital asset is already dumb as fuck. It won't run out of stock or anything. That should be the reason to stop pre-orders, not due to a lack of arbitrary trails. Only reason I do it os the bonues or early access/head starts.
There are enough games out there that I can game all I want without ever spending a penny on any games from any companies in this video.
EA games were shit starting around the time of Battlefield 3, I did not need to buy Battlefront to know it would be shit. Absolutely refuse to spend a penny on ANY game from ANY studio owned by EA, and this will not change until the board and entire executive team have turned over.
I expect based on Fallout 76, Starfield will run but be weaksauce with bare mechanics and go the DLC route w/ content to maximize revenue. Studios got shit for that but not as much shit as broken games, so why not give THAT a shot this time?
I agree with this; we used to pre-order back when physical copies were the only way to get a game, in order to reserve a copy. Now they use it to squeeze extra money out of you for "exclusive content." As somebody who is as militantly against exclusive content (because it screws over late adopters) as always-online content, I can't agree enough that digital pre-ordering needs to die.
When AEW Fight Forever I had friends asking if I was going to preorder a game they knew I was buying digitally.
Our games are digital and we cannot run out of stock
We can buy them on our platforms at a moments notice, from the comfort of our homes. The days of lining up at a store until midnight is over. Therefore there is no reason to preorder, if there is a bonus that you must have wait until the last moment read every preview and buy it minutes to release, but remember anything that is given away as a bonus that is separate from the base game is almost always frivolous and doesn't really contribute to the game in any real way.
Oh yeah? Well what about the new thing to do that's even better than pre-ordering. Take Starfield for example. Wanna play it earlier than everyone else? Well their early access option is the one for you.
"Anyone can dive in then if they're willing to pay the price - it's only available to those who buy the expensive Constellation Edition of the game (for roughly £250/$300) or the Premium Edition (for about £100/$100)"
Edit: deleted comment was additional edit, realised I could just edit original comment
I don't bother pre-ordering anymore. Can't afford to. Most AAA games are £60-£70 on release (up to £90 if you want the Upgraded Super Deluxe Gold version). I wait until a game goes on sale before I buy it. By then all the bugs have been patched and most of the DLC has been released so you get a better experience.
You don't need to pre-order anything except limited edition collector's releases of which there will be relatively few physical copies. You don't need to pre-order EA Sports titles, Bethesda titles, Halo, Gears of War, Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty, and especially not digital games. Pre-ordering systems are inherently anti-consumer. Even systems that don't require a down payment on the game, still exist to prove to publishers that pre-ordering is a viable way to make money. Not only that, but your personal information is now in a database that you don't control or can consent to 3rd party access. Just don't do it.
I wanna talk about DLC. I bought a physical copy of Fire Emblem Engage. I also bought the DLC. I had to go out to take someone somewhere and wait, so I brought my Switch. The game was running before I left home. Had to connect to the internet to resume the game while I was waiting for the person.
I don't often preorder, but when I do it's because I know I won't regret my purchase, and I know I want a physical copy to arrive on day 1. Of course I know there's some risk, but if I felt a game really was that risky then I would wait, I just buy the ones I feel are safe bets.
I know what developers and series I like, and if one of my favorite games is getting a sequel I know I'm playing it. Even if the sequel isn't quite as good as the prior game I liked, they're never bad enough for me to not want to play them at all.
I suppose it helps that my tastes lie far enough outside the kinds of mainstream AAA games that are prone to totally botched launches that I've never been truly burned.
every game has a built in trial these days. trial the game for up to 2 hours in the first 2 weeks of buying it, and if you don't like it, steam refund it.
I pretty much don't even buy a game after it's been launched now and I wait a couple of months to see what happens. They haven't bought out a game since Halo that I've cared enough about to even buy on day 1 and it's not like I don't have a fat library of other games I already enjoy.
I generally don't preorder games because I like to be able to watch streamers play a bit of the game to get an idea of what the game is like and if it's any good. However, I will preorder Nintendo games since their first party games are almost always good. I think the only first party Nintendo game I've ever played that I was disappointed with in the past 20 years was Skyward Sword.
I played the Lies of P demo for almost 6 hours. First pre-order in years.
Last game I pre-ordered before was Cyberpunk 2077, of course that turned out to be a huge lesson. I no longer pre-order anything, Lies of P was the exception because their push for people to try the game themselves along with their reaction to feedback was reassuring. Plus with early access to the game at a date that is perfect for me to dive in based on my schedule, seemed like a good time to show some appreciation.
I stopped preordering awhile ago but honestly I just stopped buying games in general. I already have enough games to last me a lifetime and there is just so much trash getting released that I skip it all together.
I am going to keep pre-ordering games on solid platforms like Steam. The pros of pre-ordering tend to outweigh the cons. But people here, and on Reddit, love to exaggerate the cons of pre-ordering. As long as I can painlessly return a game if it turns out to be a stinker, it's not a big deal.
I usually only pre order when I'm 99% sure I'm gonna love the game and it's made by a company with a good reputation of having games be good at launch Ex: Zelda tears of the kingdom
Eh. I think "don't pre-order" is a good rule of thumb.
But if you get a discount/"free" DLC and it is an outlet with good return policies (so... Steam?) AND you expect to play it at launch? It isn't a bad idea. That said, unless it is a REALLY good time limited discount (and you should question why that is...), there is zero reason to do so before the review embargo is up. It costs the same to preorder a year ahead of release and 4 hours ahead of release. One is a blind buy. One is you knowing that your favorite youtuber likes it.
Thank you for the reminder. I will promptly pay attention to it, and yet, have 0 impact on the world as this issue is a big numbers problem and we're the small numbers.
In my oponion the two recent Steam Demofests have been a breath of fresh air for the gaming world and might be the first good thing in a long time to happen in gaming. Since the early 2000s demos grew mainly out of fashion and have been replaced by Early Access™ and consumer friendly refund policies. If a game had a Demo it was often out of date and a subpar representation of a game. But with definitve events like Demofest, developers have the opportunity to show of their goods through free and up to date Demos without the fear of piracy or location constraints of gaming conventions. If some Indie Dev shows me that the game is 90% done and the release is with a reasonable time, I surley can spend 20$ to help polish out the last flaws before release. Indie developers are often ride or die with their games and could use the income as early as possible.
Ironically the last games I preorded where AAA games. Resident Evil 2 and 4 Remakes, both of which had extensive Demos. I played them and immediately thought "Yep, this is it, that's worth $60."
Demos are an effective marketing tool and can fully justify a preorder.
I love this advice for 99% of games, but I pre-ordered Baldur's Gate III around three years ago now and have been able to play Early Access as a result.
I preorder physical stuff only, especially titles which are going to be in limited quantities due to low interest and number of copy printed.
Where I preorder still has a 7 day return policy as well so if it’s seriously bad or broken like Cyberpunk 2077 then I can just return and get my money back.
Don’t normally do digital preorders since it’s hard to cancel it and usually no point.
The only game I've ever done that for in any way was Pillars of Eternity, and that was because I never expected the Kickstarter to succeed so explosively.
I have however pre-ordered collectables which "come with a game" (despite the collectables likely being more than the game) or the privilege of being able to hang out with my friends at midnight to collect a game on release. And of those games Halo 2, Halo 3, and Battlefield 3 were the only 3.
These days there is even less reason to pre-order, but where I lived and the local small game shop, sometimes the only way to get a game within the first MONTH of release was a pre-order, where the store would literally..... Pre order. Its not a pre-order for you at the store, its the store ordering it from the distributor / publisher.
The very first game i ever purchased on Steam was a game where i went in for the 3rd week in a row and they said "sorry, still not had any come in for re-stock".
And now even more than ever is a BETTER time to pre-order. "Back in my days" good fucking luck being able to return a game if the 7 seals of security purity were not damaged. now, almost universal refunds for digital goods from most of the major game platform hosts.
Cyberpunk was the nail in my pre-order coffin, fuck those clowns and their shitty releases. I don't want the game to be good and playable 3 years after I bought it.
Oh and for the fan bois if the game was so good when released, why did they have to do a complete overhaul of basically the entire game to make it good?
The release was trash and the game released with as little product as possible while charging people full price.
I don't even play half the games I buy. I just pre-order them so I get the cool goodies that come with the game like art books, metal cases, tapestries, etc.
There's no excuse anymore as to what's there to find out about a game that'll determine whether or not it's worth it to pre-order. It all boils down to - FOMO. Nobody wants to be that person, who'll get the game a week after or even a day after. They want to be there Day 1. They want to be there as the first batch of people who've bought the game. They want to be the first to review it, to stream it, to have hands on .etc Whatever reason they prop up as an excuse to pre-order in the first place.
And I wouldn't restrict it to This Year, it should be an all around precaution of common sense. Games are steadily going into the $70 default price tag now and yet there's gullible people who'll still slap down just for bragging rights and FOMO.
I very rarely buy early access anymore, but the small amount that I have, I've been 9 times out of 10 happy with it. Battle it is awesome, BeamNG drive is awesome, Barotrauma is awesome. But sometimes I don't quite hit the mark but the game ends up turning out better later on like No Man's Sky and Cyberpunk. But usually, if it's from a "triple A" developer/publisher, I will not buy it in early access, those are the ones people really really need to adhere to that with.
There's very few games I've ever purchased, and usually to go against some circlejerk against a developer I trust. The best thing about not doing so and waiting is a cheaper, more patched up, and usually more complete experience at a lower price. And the latest one involved a developer that had built a reputation with its extensive season pass DLC, decided to cash in and crash its reputation for money, which results in no more preorders from even the exception.
I can still understand that people who game more socially probably don't have the patience, as it excludes them socially. Maybe there should be game clubs that take after book clubs, where everyone agrees to play such and such an old game each week.
Personally, I still preorder games but look to use retailers with easy cancellations that do not bill until shipment, and have lowest price guarantees. I’ve occasionally saved a decent amount of money by preordering on say Amazon because a game I had an order on momentarily dropped right down in price before being bumped back up, and I payed the lower price. Collectors editions for less than the standard, and the like. In more recent times as an example, I got Far Cry 6 Gold Edition (with season pass) for $79AUD day one where the retail was $149AUD for that edition.
It’s quite predatory, but sometimes the preorder bonuses are alright too.
If it’s looking like a game will suck, or my preorder price isn’t good, then I may cancel approaching the release. I do try and stick to developers or franchises I trust...Nintendo and the like.
I’m ordering physical games here rather than digital. In Australia Day one or week physical sales are often cheaper, and then the games jump back up. In the case of Nintendo published games, they then often stay high for a long time and almost never drop dramatically, so I see no reason not to grab those titles early if I’m confident in the game itself, as I won’t save much or anything waiting.
It's installed when I want to play it. Usually the counter I hear is that internet is fast enough where that isn't a problem. This is an argument, that gamers use to contend when the idea of online only was considered by Microsoft. The fact that I can preinstall 100GB of data beforehand at my leisure is worth it.
Especially now considering that steam offers free refunds up to 2 hours of gametime or 15 days after release? Realistically on PC there is very little reason to argue against it at this point in my opinion (obviously this is referring to PC, no need to do that for Consoles that don't provide these opportunities.
This isn't really a pro preorder, I just lost my frustrations with it when the risk was mitigated
I've pre-ordered AC Mirage (Amazon version with the physical map etc). but in my defence, i have played every AC game, platinumed most of them, and have NEVER had the pleasure of playing one at launch, so I'm allowed.
But after the fiasco that is Jedi Survivor (Which is now firmly half completed shoved in my backlog), I will never ever buy an EA launch title.
Downvote edit: Maybe you didn’t like that reality with people living through high inflation but it is what it is around here. It becomes still more expensive than a preorder even with a discount after a few months.
If I could spare the cash at the moment, I’d preorder Spidey 2. I’ll preorder Marvel’s Wolverine when it opens as well. I don’t trust EA games to deliver but I’m positively biased towards Insomniac & Naughty Dog, for example. They never disappointed me.
One solid reason for preordering them in my country is the fact that prices go up at least 1.5 to 2x when they release. So if I care about the game, I do so to lock in a much cheaper price. Yeah, inflation and third world problems. So there’s that.
Normies will continue to pre-order games. You are just shouting at clouds. Please stop wasting our times with these posts. The battle was lost years ago.
I couldn’t give less fucks about this tbh. I always pre order games I know I’ll play or that look interesting to me, and I’m not going to change it. Every single COD since BO4, every single AC since Origins. And I’m going to do the same this and every year. I didn’t regret it yet and if I would, there is always a refund option 🤷🏼♂️.