Image alt text: An image of Steam’s top 10 best-selling games at the time of posting, three of which are marked as “prepurchase”
I checked the Steam stats and noticed that in the top 10 best selling games by revenue, there’s three games that aren’t even out yet. If we ignore the Steam Deck and f2p games, it’s three out of four games. They have also been in the top 100 for 4, 6, and 8 weeks respectively, so people just keep on buying them. I would love to know why people keep doing this, as the idea of pre-ordering is that there is a physical copy of a game available for you on release, but this is not a concern with digital items. So after so many games lately being utterly broken on release, why do people not wait until launch reviews to buy the game? If you touch a hot stove and get burned multiple times, when does one learn?
Nope. I used to pre-order ESO expansions because you got some cool mounts or whatever, but I haven’t played that in years.
Also try not to give into early access either.
For me it really depends on the game, the studio, and the publisher. I preordered Firmament because Cyan has a good history. I might also pre-order a digital game if I think a game is particularly novel, or if I think I’m going to like it pretty much regardless of the reviews (e.g. I like the franchise it’s from/ties into), the last reason is if there’s some kind of in-game incentive to do so (e.g. pre-order and you get some in game minor boost/cosmetic/whatever) but that’s really only a minor consideration.
I only pre-order Guild Wars 2 expansions, as it’s my favourite game and I know that whatever I get, I’ll feel that it was worth the money for the thousands of hours of fun I’ve got out of that game :)
But I wouldn’t preorder anything else - I have a massive Steam backlog, and a few years after release I can get the properly finished, patched version of games with all the expansions for a fraction of the price (+ all the mods and community resources that had time to develop and mature). Last year I got Witcher 3 for like 90% off lol. No need to rush, there are so many older games I haven’t played yet…
Btw I was a r/patientgamers member for years, I see that they also have a community on Lemmy :) https://sh.itjust.works/c/patientgamers
These days? No.
I used to when I had very crappy internet speeds, but these days I have a gigabit connection - and I swear the decryption process takes longer than it is to just download the game right after release in an unencrypted state.
And even back then I was very picky on pre-orders. I honestly couldn’t even tell you what was the last one I pre-ordered.
oh man I forgot about this. preload used to be such a big selling point but now it only takes a few minutes to download most games.
Once, Diablo 3. I figured it could not miss. It missed.
Only twice and felt foolish after release. Stalker 2 was selling below pre order price on a trustworthy key site. And cyberpunk, not sure why I did that one.
If there is a game that i’ll definitely buy on launch and there is some real benefit for pre ordering, i might do it. But even then i’ll wait for the last few hours and “pre-order” then. If there is no benefit for me, why should i tell the company “i dont care about quality of your game, i’ll pay anyway”. Because that is how the ones making decisions will see pre order.
I’ve stopped preordering most games, partially because of a backlog, partially because games like 2077 ruined my trust in even “good” companies (and no, I do not think 2077 deserves the redemption arc the Internet gives it). I did however pre-order Path of Exile 2 by a week because I had A) played a beta experience which was terribly fun B) followed all of the content creators talk about the beta’s they played and how even when they complained it felt like choices I’d like (more action focused combat) and C) the preorder I got came with keys for friends I wanted to distribute ahead of time. So I knew for sure I was going to play it, like it at least enough to justify the price, and that I wanted to preload it for a launch party.
Pretty much the biggest and best reason to preorder is for the preload so you can play at launch. But not every game needs to be played at exactly the launch time (in fact we struggled on launch day of poe2 but did eventually get to play) and all pre-orders should be done as close to the launch date as possible so you can get an easy refund if it sucks.
Isn’t POE2 FPT?
PoE2 will be Free-To-Play upon 1.0 launch. For now it’s in what they’re calling Early Access (a Beta period) and requires a €30 euro key. I believe they said they did this because it wasn’t the complete game, they were still looking for feedback, and it’s a bit janky in terms of balance.
So far it’s been worth every penny, many times over, but I also think the promise they deliver on in the first three acts they fail to deliver on in the end game. I’d recommend people wait if they have other games or ARPG’s to play. I’d also recommend anyone who loves ARPG’s, if they have run out of content elsewhere to give it a try without hesitation. It’s a fantastic game and the best arpg on the market in almost every aspect.
Yeah I have beta access due to spending in POE1, just the way I read the comment I was worried I missed some news, or something, that it won’t be FTP any longer, for some reason.
I don’t think digital pre-orders even include banking functionality. I wouldn’t know because I lack the nerd cred of ever pre-ordering a game
Not really. The one exception I made in recent times was Cities Skylines 2 after I had 400+ hours in the original, and that was only due to a 30% off sale days before release. Though I wouldn’t recommend it for most, I still have 42 good hours in it so it was worth my money.
Otherwise I’m a very patient gamer.
I find it interesting four of the top 10 sellers are Free To Play.
Hissssss 🐍
Don’t preorder, what the hell are you people thinking?!
No. I’m doing the opposite.
I’m currently playing PS4 games I have never played before.
You get them on ebay for like $10.
Can’t wait to play PS5 games in 5 years… 🙃
No, I do not pre-order games. I have joined some early access campaigns for games I was very interested in, like Kerbal Space Program and Satisfactory, but…generally “pre-order” is something the BIG studios that are all owned by Microsoft now do, they don’t need the funding to get the game done. Meanwhile, Subnautica wouldn’t have made it to 1.0 without their early access campaign.
Especially now that games are often distributed via internet download rather than physical disc or cartridge, it’s not a matter of making sure you can get a copy. The last game I pre-ordered was Majora’s Mask.
Never preorder.
