Pre-ordering games

[MetalSoup]

I'm curious to know why people still pre-order games.

In my opinion, you almost never win by doing it. You hardly ever save a significant amount, and you risk being severely disappointed if the game is unplayable, not what you expected, or simply terrible. If you're lucky the best you can hope to get with your pre-order is some crappy free cosmetic bonus items, that often don't even fit into the game world.

To make matters even worse, in a couple of months you can buy a superior, more complete version of the game, often at a hugely reduced price.

Is it simply an ego thing? Do you have to to be the first to play a new game? Do think other people think you are cool if you play the game before them? Is it a fear of missing out?

So what upcoming games do you still have on pre-order? Do you trust the publishers to deliver what they promised?

I have mostly been pre-order free for last couple of months, with only one or two exceptions, but I don't think I will make any more exceptions in the future.

TLDR: Pre-ordering is bad. Stop doing it. Do you agree/disagree?

[James]

I'll probably order the Arkham Knight collector's edition - Rocksteady hasn't let me down yet.

Other than that, the Watch Dogs debacle has left me bitter.

[TheAvenged87]

I've only ever pre-ordered two games: Mass Effect 2 and 3. But only because I knew what to expect from them.

Pre-ordering is a huge risk and that has become so much more evident by reading this forum over the past 2 years.

[Lycanthrope]

Other than that, the Watch Dogs debacle has left me bitter.

You and me both.

But it's always so tricky... Especially when pre-order incentives spare you R150-odd and you suspect you'll want to buy the game in the end anyway.

And it's nice to play the same games as everyone else so that you can bitch, moan and rant about them. Like now, it's loads of fun (certainly kept me occupied most of the day)

It's not really often that a AAA game lets me down this badly, so I feel a lot more rewarded for my investment when I pre-order them.

Oh, I dunno. Sucker for punishment, probably.

[Ike_009]

I'm pretty much only into pre-orders now for the CE so my next pre-order will be the AC5 CE. Otherwise I wait for reviews now and BT games still has 10% off for new releases.

[to0kenZA]

TLDR: Pre-ordering is bad. Stop doing it. Do you agree/disagree?

It all depends. I guess it has become one big trial run these days to educate yourself as to which publishers are the ones you can trust.

For instance, I bought Kerbal Space Program in Alpha stage, for $20+. The game was not even fully developed yet, but it was an awesome game back when it came out, and it's even better now. And it's still in development, but it's not broken, and it rocks. A lot.

I haven't bought any other games from Activision since I pledged not to after COD FlOps. I will also not buy another Rockstar game ever in my life because they decided that PC gamers are worthless peasants non-deserving of a PC version of GTA 5.

Ubisoft utterly disappointing me with Watch Dogs this time around where I generally liked their previous games A LOT. I will not support them again until they get their shit together.

So there are a lot of factors to consider when asking yourself this question.

[StaggerLee]

No more pre-ordering for me. Although, I have kickstarted a few things in the last few months. So I guess that technically counts, but at least it has a community-spirit appeal to it. What finally turned me off of pre-ordering was Diablo 3. I haven't pre-ordered a full game since*. I haven't looked back either. Here is a list of games that I have considered pre-ordering and been glad that I didn't:

- Battlefield 4
- Watch Dogs
- Thief

Here is a list of games that I didn't pre-order and was sorry that I didn't:

...

Yes, well I think that settles it for me.

*Disclaimer: this does not include pre-orders for expansions or GOTY versions, but considering that games that fall into those categories have already been tested in some form or another, I don't think they count.

[Ser_Bunnylot]

My last preorder burn was MoH Doorfighter. Learned my lesson after that.

With the drove of bad AAA releases I don't feel an ounce of guilt over getting the bootleg version of games, and if it's good then voting with my wallet.

Although, there is a situation when I feel like I'm between a rock and a hard place. I preordered BF4, even though I didn't really want to, because my buddies organised a LAN weekend around BF4. Peer pressure? I think the same thing is gonna happen for Evolve.

Having said all that, I do have to admit that I have Sims4 on preorder :P The wife won't hear any arguments, she wants it and she wants it yesterday

[Ichigo]

I preorder Pokemon and Nintendo games cause they always have nice bonuses and get sold out quickly on launch if I don't and the price usually goes up or stays the same plus the R50+ saving is worth it.

Also the bonus items sell for lots as collectors may want them a year or more down the line.

[Wyzak]

I only pre-order when I get an amazing deal.
EG:
Bought Watch Dogs for R225 (R360 originally, then refunded it and got it for even less)
Bought Tropico 5 4-pack for R290, got more than $80 in value with all the extras.

Oh and I pre-order Nintendo games because their quality is just off the charts.

It's not really often that a AAA game lets me down this badly, so I feel a lot more rewarded for my investment when I pre-order them.

Really? Diablo III, Simcity, BF4?!