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[RoboFu]

Being all digital for years now I have not preordered anything fir a long time. I will still purchase the Witcher 4 day 1 though.

 

[Fbh]

I just don't see the point of pre ordering these days when games don't sell out.
As I grow older that need to own a game the very seconds it's available has pretty much gone away. If I get it a couple of days later instead of at midnight on the day of release it really doesn't make a difference.

With that said, if it's something you know you really want and you are getting it from a place that offers refunds I don't really see the harm.

 

[Crimson_Fate]

I have no problem pre ordering games . There is usually a perceived value in pre-ordering , reduced cost or other DLC... I have no problem pre-ordering the Witcher 4 because I am a fan of the series.

The only things I will not pre-order are any $70 titles. Its the principal of the thing . I'll gladly wait for the price drop.

 

[Arun1910]

I don't see the point either but I really don't care what other people do with their money.

I don't get the point in this thread. Let people do what they want.

 

[supernova8]

I just don't see the point of pre ordering these days when games don't sell out.
As I grow older that need to own a game the very seconds it's available has pretty much gone away. If I get it a couple of days later instead of at midnight on the day of release it really doesn't make a difference.

With that said, if it's something you know you really want and you are getting it from a place that offers refunds I don't really see the harm.

Yeah this is the crux of it. It's not like back in the day when games were physical items and could be sold out. Nowadays you can pretty much always get it digital if you really must have it, it really isn't going anywhere.

I suppose some people either have really bad FOMO or they want to "support the studio" (whatever that even means..)

 

[Astral Dog]

There is always a risk when you pre order something, but if i trust the company/series i pre order some times, like the Bloodstained kickstarter or Capcom games

However i would never, never pre order from CDPR thats a $5-7 dollar sale tier after patches

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Pre-orders.

Makes sense for things in total limited supply like concert tickets for a show arriving next year, or buying a brand new home built from the ground up. ETA 2 years. OK, during covid some things are in short supply so if you want fancy kitchen appliances, you might have to buy now and wait 6 months for delivery.

However, most things in life are readily available, and gaming is trending more and more to digital which is infinite availability. And games get delayed a lot where no ETA is safe.

I dont see people pre-ordering movies or music, yet gaming is probably the biggest industry out there with pre-orders when you dont need to.

I've pre-ordered for 30% off or buy 2 get 1 free when these deals pop up during E3 for games coming out that fall. Makes sense to save a buck. But preordering at regular price? And for a game that might come out in 3 years? lol

 

[Phoenix RISING]

How about we have a game journalist media that actually reports on the state of games prior to release?

Because many devs circumvent this by offering review copies super-exclusively. As in, the day of release.

Bethsesda has been doing this lately.

 

[Denton]

I preorder Collector's Editions of games I expect to love to make sure I actually get one, and I will keep preordering digital games if there are discounts from devs I trust, and you OP should go fuck yourself (literally) instead of caring what other people do with their money

 

[Daymos]

What about Zelda? Can't I preorder botw2? 30 years of Zelda games, all of them are pretty good, very few bugs, and rarely fall in price.

Just that one.. then I'll stop..

 

[Arun1910]

What about Zelda? Can't I preorder botw2? 30 years of Zelda games, all of them are pretty good, very few bugs, and rarely fall in price.

Just that one.. then I'll stop..

No. OP will turn up to your house and shit in your disc tray.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Yeah this is the crux of it. It's not like back in the day when games were physical items and could be sold out. Nowadays you can pretty much always get it digital if you really must have it, it really isn't going anywhere.

I suppose some people either have really bad FOMO or they want to "support the studio" (whatever that even means..)

Unless someone is buying a disc of an obscure game and doesn't want to get nailed by ebay guys jacking up the price, or wants a $150 collectors pack that might have a limited run (which no COD or Ass Creed does as they are dumped for $50 a year later), or the preorder has a good discount, I see no reason to pre-order.

Putting up money for regular price for something there's tons of, and an ETA that is never locked in stone. Forget it.

When that shitty Xbox game Below was announced, Future Shop had it on pre-order for $60 or $70 cdn. Game didn't come out for 4 years.

(Edit: I googled it. 5.5 years).

 

[KRYPT83]

For starters, I can care less if OP posted that as a "what-if" question. How many times do we have to beat around the bushes to figure out NO MATTER WHAT!! Under any circumstances, we DO NOT PREORDER ANY GAMES. I don't understand why people who pay attention to gaming news and are not common consumers continue to do this, time after time, after time, after so many times over. Gaming companies have learned that it doesn't matter how much of a broken game they may release. They can do whatever they want. Because one of the main things gamers keep doing is what? --- Preordering games.

Stop doing that, no matter what gaming companies have on it. CD Project Red should have taught us by now by doing that they can do whatever they want and release a broken game. Wait till release it's not going anywhere and wait for all the criticism to come out to see if it's worth your pathetic $60 to $70. I would have thought by now we would have learned from games like Cyperpunk 2077, but I guess the hell not.


Anyways rant over. -- I just wanted to get that off my chest. Stop preordering, not worth it.

And I will continue to do so with my money if I feel the need to, why ain't you starting a thread about people pathetically buying a 30 dollar arcade title on PS5 for $70 that does more damage to the industry then me preordering games I know for a fact I'm going to buy. Resident evil village already purchased and downloaded baby

 

[StreetsofBeige]

And I will continue to do so with my money if I feel the need to, why ain't you starting a thread about people pathetically buying a 30 dollar arcade title on PS5 for $70 that does more damage to the industry then me preordering games I know for a fact I'm going to buy. Resident evil village already purchased and downloaded baby

Video game industry at record profits already.

 

[jakinov]

• There's benefits/incentives for pre-ordering a game.
• In most cases you can refund your pre-order as long as you don't open, or play your game for too long
• Whether you pre-order a game or buy it after official release has no difference on whether or not you have bugs or issues.
• The only downside to pre-ordering is that you have to potentially manage your transaction more if you were to refund. Apart from that there's just benefits.

 

[supernova8]

• There's benefits/incentives for pre-ordering a game.
• In most cases you can refund your pre-order as long as you don't open, or play your game for too long
• Whether you pre-order a game or buy it after official release has no difference on whether or not you have bugs or issues.
• The only downside to pre-ordering is that you have to potentially manage your transaction more if you were to refund. Apart from that there's just benefits.

I suppose it comes down to who we're actually talking about with regard to pre-ordering.

If it's the early adopter types who absolutely must have it first before anyone - sure I agree they will pre-order regardless. If, however, we're talking about the people who occasionally pre-order but are not married to the idea, they may not have pre-ordered something like Cyberpunk 2077 if they'd known about all the bugs.

 

[Rikku-X]

 

[jakinov]

I suppose it comes down to who we're actually talking about with regard to pre-ordering.

If it's the early adopter types who absolutely must have it first before anyone - sure I agree they will pre-order regardless. If, however, we're talking about the people who occasionally pre-order but are not married to the idea, they may not have pre-ordered something like Cyberpunk 2077 if they'd known about all the bugs.

My main point is, that they can still refund pre-orders and you don't have to engage with pre-ordered content right way. People spread this idea that there's no benefit to pre-ordered and if you pre-order you are stuck with the game. In most cases you are not stuck with the game. You are only stuck with the game if you play/open it after release and at that point it doesn't matter whether or not it was a pre-ordered copy or a post-release copy you started playing, you are stuck with that game.

For example whether you pre-ordered cyberpunk at 11:59PM the day before release or at 12:00AM. The only main difference is the person who pre-ordered got a pre-order bonus. Both scenarios, people can only play the game on/after 12:00AM. They both paid the same. They both can't refund (except for some digital storefronts, you can actually refund a played game under X hours).

Lets say you don't want to play it right away and want to see what reviews or fan reception is like before you play. Well in that case pre-order person has X days depending on when he pre-ordered to cancel/return his pre-order and the person who doesn't does nothing until they decide to buy it. The trade-off for the person who now needs to potentially return/refund a game is that they had the opportunity to get free stuff. Whereas the benefit for the person who doesn't pre-order is that he/she saved themselves from having to request a refund or from making trips to the store instead of getting pre-order bonuses.

Pre-orders are currently a way to get free stuff for a game you think you are going to buy but don't actually have to keep. One tip that i would give is that you should only pre-order PlayStation Store games as close as possible to release as their policy is one of the worst.

 

[bentanchorbolt]

Pre-ordering games incentivizes launch a game in a broken or unfinished state since they know they are gonna get paid regardless. Just wait.

 

[NahaNago]

And someone breaking the story that the big upcoming game everyone has been hyped about for years is actually totally broken wouldn't be a big story? I'm sorry, they have no excuse. That would get so many clicks. The journo would be a hero to all gamers.

I agree but Journos also want the access to the news for the games so they don't want to burn any bridges. So nothing truly negative about a company unless it is just considered the norm to view it as such.

So the people that are entirely responsible for being the intermediary between the game companies and the consumer, that is their ENTIRE JOB, why should we not want them to do that? The consumers should be fine to be entirely in the dark, with journos existing as mere parasites to push their social propaganda and climb corporate ladders? We need to demand more from THEM. Not you demanding more from us.

You are simply holding them to a standard that doesn't exist anymore for journalist. Most journalist are parasites and social propagandist who wish to climb the corporate ladder so they can spread their views even more. You can demand all you want from them but they aren't going to listen.

This is the problem. We have a system setup: companies publish the games, studios make the games, journalists cover the games, consumers buy the games. This system is set up. THEY HAVE THE POWER. It seems very shitty to take it out on consumers, which is what OP seems to be doing. He doesn't want to blame these companies for the bad shit they are doing (which is, what? OP hasn't even spelled out what pre-orderers are "responsible for"). Game studios have the power. Journos have the power. Consumers are at the bottom of the ladder and you are shitting all over them.

Why are you letting game devs and studios and journalists off the hook here? Why are you putting all the blame on the consumers, the people with the least amount of information and the least amount of power?

I mean, come on. Be reasonable. Who has the ability to do anything here? Devs can't leak it because their jobs are threatened. If a journo leaks it, then they get infinite accolades, they get so much clout, for doing "the real work" and putting in the effort to bring people information they should have in the first place.

But no, OP is blaming consumers for some reason. And just the people who buy games before release date. If you buy on release date, or after, it is totally fine. He is not mad at you. Lol.

Journos aren't going to leak it. It is no different than youtuber journalist. You can't say anything too negative in order to not lose access to the news, updates, and perks your receive from the company your reporting news on.

Nothing is going to change with these video game companies or journos unless they are forced to change. Similar to how European countries keep going after EA for loot boxes.

I can understand the op's point of view on this though. We as gamer consumers keep getting burned by preorders but we preorder anyways. Like how many times are we going to keep touching that hot stove before we realize that it will burn us. Preorders make very little sense in this day and age unless it is some limited run game.

 

[RoadHazard]

Pre-ordering games here in Sweden means nothing except a guaranteed copy IF you decide you want it. No payment upfront, and you can cancel whenever. So I usually do it for games I'm interested in, just to "set it and forget it".

I would never do it if it meant paying upfront.

 

[kiphalfton]

"I feel so strongly about this, I have to make my own thread about it [because nobody would otherwise care what my opinion is in the other thread and I EXPECT to be heard]"

- OP

 

[kyussman]

Depends on the dev for me....like,some devs have earnt my trust over the years....Sony's big studios,yea,I've no issue pre-ordering their games if they interest me.
Bethesda studios games.....hell no,let me know in six months when they've patched it up,lol.

 

[Patrick S.]

I don't see the point in preordering because of some 15% discount when I can buy a game day one over at cdkeys.com for 30% less. Sure, you don't get a two hour trial period, but to be fair, I think those get abused too much anyway and probably do the industry more harm than good, and I've never wished for a game return because I always do my homerwork before clicking the BUY button.

What's sad is that companies put in some "exclusive" stuff you only get if your preorder. But I, as a matter of principle, would never support these practices. If I enjoy the game less because I don't have preorder gimmick 85, you are ripping me off and you can keep your shit.

The only scenario where preordering makes at least some kind of sense is if not doing so would mean I might not get my toy the day I absolutely, positively want it, ie a physical store might sell every copy before I can grab one. But I'd only do that for an absolute must-have or something I've seen reviews of.

 

[Rolla]

CDPR will never get a preorder from me. A great game is a great game and if they craft one, I'll be there to play it. But they're business practices are intentionally deceptive and because of that due diligence is recommended.

 

[fart town usa]

There really is no point in preordering games, unless it's a limited run or a special edition. The last time I remember a game being hard to find at launch was GTA3.

I did preorder RE8 (deluxe edition) but it's just because I was going to buy it day 1 regardless. Might as well pay it off sooner. RE is the only series I preorder.

 

[balls of snow]

My money my rules bud. I funnel it to the companies I love while other lesser games (that you probably like) get the pittance they deserve during sales.

 

[Aion002]

No one is going to stop me from preordering games from From Software!

 

[ShinraMiddleMananger]