Do you preorder?

[Madia]

It's seems recently (especially with the Arkham Knight pc debacle) that preordering is becoming taboo and a lot of people think it's bad for consumers. I was wondering what your thoughts are on preordering.

In the past I rarely preordering and when I did it was only for a game I was really looking forward to. However, after Dragon Age 2 and Mass Effect 3 I stopped preordering games just because I really wanted to play them. Right now I do occasionally preorder but only for games giving a discount and ones I'm almost sure will be good. I got 2 $50 psn gift cards for $40 a piece and preordered Bloodborne and Witcher 3 (which was on sale for $53) when psn was giving $15 credit for spending $100+. I preordered MKX for $60 at dell and got a $25 store credit that I used for Arkham Knight (PS4 edition) and got a $15 credit out of that which I will probably use for Fallout 4.

So if there's a good deal on a game that I'm almost sure will be good I'll still preorder. Also, if a company actually shows confidence in their game and it gets reviewed a week or 2 before release (such as Dragon Age Inquistion) I'll also consider preordering it. However, I've never been enticed to preorder on the basis of exclusive content and even if I'm hyped for a game (Fallout 4, Persona 5) I'll wait until the reviews come before purchasing.

 

[Tweak155]

Yes.

 

[Protoman25]

I haven't preordered in 5+ years. Every game I've wanted I've been able to find on release day or later (I rarely buy on release day anymore anyway) with no problems.

 

[Anubis]

sometimes

 

[JujuFish]

The only time I buy a game before release is if I'm confident I'll like the game and there's a deal that will match any I can expect to see within the first few months of the game's life.

 

[Fulle]

I used to pre-order up until Diablo 3. Before Diablo 3, I felt like there were some developers that have consistent quality, that I could pre-order from safely. I thought that I was buying a game from a good developer that had a reputation of releasing quality stuff, and then when I tried to play the game it was terrible. Oh man! It was SO broken! Just an amazingly bad experience.

So, from that point forward I've had the stance that nothing is a sure thing with new games anymore. And, it's helped me avoid other disasters like 'Assassin's Creed Unity'.

 

[Lil Frier]

I don't get why anyone WOULDN'T pre-order. You typically get some added DLC benefit, and in the case of Best Buy, you get $10 in rewards for major releases. Why wouldn't I want to get $10 towards my next game for pre-ordering? On top of that, you can still just wait for reviews to pick a game up, and if it reviews badly, you can just cancel the pre-order and get the $5 back. Or, you can pick it up, not open it, then return it if the reviews go south.

 

[sactoking]

I never preorder. Why would you invest in something that as often as not is garbage?

Heck, I rarely ever buy something within 6-12 months of it being released. The last time I did, with Skyrim about 3 months after release, I was sorely disappointed.

 

[Lil Frier]

Because the funds are yours until you open the game. There is plenty to gain from pre-orders, but little to lose.

 

[ImpulsE69]

In most cases no, however if I'm going to buy a game regardless and I get a nice discount then I have. Since I do it so rarely, I've never been disappointed (yet).

I could care less about 'added on DLC', but I did get the FO4 pip-boy edition....first time ever bothering with a LE.

In a general sense, pre-ordering as it stands now is not anything like what pre-ordering was for in the past. There is zero reason to pre-order a game at retail price.

 

[purbeast0]

usually no i don't, but sometimes i do. i don't give a shit about the bonus dlc that comes with preordering.

i preordered sf5 on ps4 though solely because i want to play in the beta, and only way to get in is preordering.

sometimes i'll preorder though if i KNOW it is a game i'm getting on launch, solely for convenience reasons. i'll preorder from amazon and it'll be at my house when i get home from work on launch day, plus they don't charge until they ship.

 

[Imported]

I pre-order games I know I'd buy without needing to read reviews.. otherwise sometimes I'll wait until the week of and hope to still get release-date delivery/pickup and the DLC/rewards/whatever. Though I did pre-order Forza 6 since I had an expiring reward from Best Buy and figured $46 after tax was a decent price for it.

 

[polarmystery]

As a previous Gamestop employee, pre-ordering was absolutely pointless (although I was required to tell customers to do it regularly). It was only for impatient gamers who couldn't wait a week after a game launched to get their copy.

That was back in the era when PS2 / Xbox games were new. Now, *shrug*

 

[darkswordsman17]

Nope. Last game I pre-ordered I think was Halo 2? Even with the benefit of preload from digital distribution I still don't (but that's largely because very few games are worth buying new any more, especially on PC they so routinely come out with major issues that I can't justify paying full price for them).

Pre-orders might've been really beneficial back in like the N64 era, as I remember games being quite a bit more scarce, guessing due to production numbers or something. It took a while for me to finally be able to buy a copy of Ocarina of Time for instance. Even Halo 2, I pre-ordered but could've just went into Wal-Mart at midnight and bought it as well.

 

[Blanky]

No. Last one was bioshock infinite and although it cost me nothing I felt the preorder bonus, when it came to actually getting it, was so crap I felt ripped off.

Too much crap out these days. If I had to preorder a game it would be fallout 4, but I can't on principle. The odds of them not printing enough discs to buy on release day if the reviews say it's good are exceptionally low anyway.

 

[themule1406]

No, Last game was CoD 2. For most games, I just purchase the day of if I want the game, but usually end up waiting a month or too to make sure day zero patches and other issues are ironed out.

 

[balloonshark]

No. I'll never pre-order a game again. The last game I pre-ordered was GT6 that came out Dec. 2013 and the game still isn't finished to this day.

 

[Andy43]

I used to, until I realised that there's not really such a thing as a 'pre-order'. You just order the game and it arrives when it becomes available. Publishers only do pre-orders to ensure high sales figures for the first day. 'Look, our new game has shifted 1.2 million on its first day!'

 

[xantub]

I only preorder if I get something I would want (typically if I get a 20% or more discount). Preordering just because of hype is the worst thing you could do, as you get nothing and you don't really know if the game will be good or a flop.

 

[Kneedragger]

I don't really preorder anymore. I don't have a problem getting games locally anymore so no need to. Especially since preorder bonus are weak now and aren't worth it.

 

[TeknoBug]

I have pre-ordered a few games, I don't pre-order that often and nowadays I definitely won't with all these games being released broken and unplayable. Amount of pre-orders on the rise but game quality on the fall- game devs are getting the message that they can release an unfinished game while still getting money.

 

[purbeast0]

I have pre-ordered a few games, I don't pre-order that often and nowadays I definitely won't with all these games being released broken and unplayable. Amount of pre-orders on the rise but game quality on the fall- game devs are getting the message that they can release an unfinished game while still getting money.

and on the flipside, you have people supporting developers on kickstarter, paying the price of a full game (and sometimes WAY more than that) before a fraction of the game has even been developed and/or shown. funny how that works.

as i've mentioned before i will never ever support a kickstarter funded game.

 

[cmdrdredd]

I do. For the bonuses that pre-ordering gets you. Often as well there's a day one edition of a game or something. Many times I've wanted a collectors edition, if you don't pre-order early you'll miss out on the collectors edition stuff.

People complaining about games releasing broken, I don't get it. Just cancel your pre-order if the game isn't that good. It doesn't count as a sale if you just have a pre-order.

I used to, until I realised that there's not really such a thing as a 'pre-order'. You just order the game and it arrives when it becomes available. Publishers only do pre-orders to ensure high sales figures for the first day. 'Look, our new game has shifted 1.2 million on its first day!'

If a game like GTA5 didn't do any pre-orders and just advertised the game it would probably still sell the same number.

Pre-orders are for the retailer. They get you in the store not once, but twice. First you go to do the pre-order and they can try to sell you other stuff and get impulse buys. Then again when you come back to pick up the game they can try to sell you more stuff. The pre-order bonuses are setup between the retailer and the publisher/developer. BestBuy, Walmart, Gamestop etc all go to the publisher and ask for something they can use to entice customers to pre-order the game.

 

[cmdrdredd]

and on the flipside, you have people supporting developers on kickstarter, paying the price of a full game (and sometimes WAY more than that) before a fraction of the game has even been developed and/or shown. funny how that works.

as i've mentioned before i will never ever support a kickstarter funded game.

We've had threads on this but I'll give my thoughts on this.

Do understand that some games have a cult following and when a publisher refuses to release a new one and the developer still wants to do it, Kickstarter is probably the easiest way to make it happen. Fans often get collectors edition content for backing the project. People have no problem spending $150 on a collectors edition of a game with a statue, art book, special packaging etc. Kickstarter offers this too but the risk is, you don't get to see the game for a long time just some concept footage and there's no money back option. For some people and some games this is fine, they want the game to be made. Some people just have a deep passion for a certain idea or certain genre. Some developers even allow backers to take part in some of the development process by being able to offer feedback and play various builds of the game prior to release.

It's probably a matter of differing points of view. On one hand you put the risk on the consumer and they don't get money back, on the other there's a chance for treasured franchises to be revived.

 

[TeknoBug]

and on the flipside, you have people supporting developers on kickstarter, paying the price of a full game (and sometimes WAY more than that) before a fraction of the game has even been developed and/or shown. funny how that works.

as i've mentioned before i will never ever support a kickstarter funded game.

Project CARS turned out pretty well, however less than a month after release they mention Project CARS 2, which is giving us a hint that they're probably going to put Project CARS on the backburner, not such a great idea to do with a crowd funded game.