Amazon makes pre-ordering a lot more tempting

Avatar image for vortextk
vortextk

973

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

There are few games in a year I'd pay $60 for, more because I have other stuff to get to than my feelings on their worth. While 20% off isn't massive, it makes me think "when is it going to drop under that price naturally? How long will I wait when I could just get it at release?"

Bonuses and incentives were novel for a short time for me, but after not wanting to use overpowered gear, or care about dumb skins or get a dumb dlc mission that isn't good the price cut is the true "pre-order incentive" and awfully tempting.

This change anyone else's mind? Make it easier to pick a store to pre-order from or make it that you want to versus not?

Avatar image for glots
glots

5169

Forum Posts

74

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

I don't know about pre-order discounts, because I don't buy games from Amazon, but this year I could've saved on Dishonored 2, Titanfall 2 and Watch Dogs 2 if I had just waited for 3-4 weeks after their release. Even PSN Store had those going for +20€ cheaper than what I had paid. Hell, the Last Guardian was down to 38€ or so at one point during the 12 Days of Christmas sale.

Obviously end of the year somewhat equals holiday seasons and appropiate prices for that, but still. I kinda feel like I should try and change that habit for this year, especially with AAA releases.

As for pre-ordering, I never had a problem with that. Mostly because the stores I used to do that at didn't charge me anything, so there was no cost at all and I could still decide to not buy the game when it released, since someone else who hadn't pre-ordered would likely want a copy of a popular game as well.

Avatar image for zevvion
Zevvion

5965

Forum Posts

1240

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 6

User Lists: 2

Similar to @glots pre-ordering has no down sides where I live. It costs nothing and you aren't obligated to purchase your pre-order when the day comes. It just means they will reserve a copy for you, so it's there if you want it and they'll save it for you for at least 7 days.

I don't care about Amazon games though. Although... I say that, but do they sell Steam keys?

Avatar image for sinusoidal
Sinusoidal

3608

Forum Posts

20

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

#4  Edited By Sinusoidal

I'm against pre-ordering. I think it promotes sloppy game design and results in big studios not properly finishing or quality testing their games. I mean, if a few thousand people have already more-or-less signed up to test your game for you, why bother doing it yourself?

Money has a time value. Sure, the interest on $60 over a few months is paltry, but multiply that number by the number of pre-orders and it's no longer insignificant. People who pre-order are really paying more.

A discount for pre-ordering sounds like a decent idea to me. It's either acknowledging that you're paying less for a potentially untested product or adjusting the amount you pay allowing for the time value. It would be far more likely to get me to pre-order than some lame, cosmetic pre-order incentive. More likely, but still probably not enough. Especially when I can wait a few months after release and get fully functioning, debugged games with all the DLC for 50-80% off the original price.

Avatar image for veektarius
veektarius

6420

Forum Posts

45

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 11

User Lists: 1

#5  Edited By veektarius

20% off is a pretty damned good deal for a brand new game. There are plenty of games that don't hit in quite the way the developer wants, and that's when overstock forces early discounts, but you can't count on that happening every time. I'm against preordering generally but when you start adding a monetary element to the "For" side of the equation, that outweighs some of the uncertainty on the "against" side.

Avatar image for nnickers
nnickers

514

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Unless they've changed it, Amazon's 20% discount also lasts for one or two weeks AFTER launch. So no, preordering is still capitalism at it's scummiest and you can still get the same price after waiting to see reviews/impressions.

Avatar image for adequatelyprepared
AdequatelyPrepared

2522

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

I wonder if Amazon is going to undercut all the retailers here once they launch officially in Australia this year. I'm going to realistic and say it's not happening, but it would be nice if we get some of deals you guys sometimes get.

Avatar image for colourful_hippie
colourful_hippie

6335

Forum Posts

8

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

@nnickers said:

Unless they've changed it, Amazon's 20% discount also lasts for one or two weeks AFTER launch. So no, preordering is still capitalism at it's scummiest and you can still get the same price after waiting to see reviews/impressions.

They were doing this as recent as Final Fantasy 15 launch. I remember still seeing the discount a couple weeks after release. There's no rush when it comes to their discount, I only preorder when I want something delivered day of release like Breath of the Wild.

Avatar image for cikame
cikame

4463

Forum Posts

10

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

It's worth noting you need a prime subscription to get this discount, and it also only applies to physical copies so if you prefer digital you won't get this discount.
Also this is USA only, as someone who lives in the UK i do not have access to this discount, but i prefer digital so i wouldn't have access to it anyway.

With the pound currently dropping in value, if you think about it too much it's scary how much we pay for games now.

Avatar image for blu3v3nom07
Blu3V3nom07

4518

Forum Posts

130

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 7

#10  Edited By Blu3V3nom07

Nah, I just pre-order whatever from Xbox Live, whenever, it's cool.

Avatar image for ozzdog12
ozzdog12

1164

Forum Posts

57

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

People, especially on here, seem to make a big fuss about pre-ordering games. If I'm going to buy a game regardless, I don't see why pre-ordering the game is big deal(it's not). Having been an Amazon Prime member since 2011, I have slowly moved away from brick and mortar pre-ordering and just pre-ordered on Amazon. It often shows up on Weds, rather than Tues(the release date), so thats the only down fall.

Avatar image for nardak
Nardak

947

Forum Posts

29

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 4

One can always get a refund of the pre-order if you order it from steam or origin. So it is not like always pre-ordering a game means that you have potentially wasted that money if the game is bad.

Avatar image for csl316
csl316

17001

Forum Posts

765

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 10

The discount is active for a week or two after a release, so if you want to wait for reviews then you still can.

I've been playing games long enough to know what I'll enjoy, so unless it's a technical mess then I have no problem preordering games.

Avatar image for counterclockwork87
Counterclockwork87

1162

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

I'm normally against pre-ordering, but it's totally acceptable in many circumstances, especially with Amazon.

For example: I have a Nintendo Switch pre-ordered as it's the perfect system for my lifestyle. I also pre-ordered Breath of the Wild. I don't see how anyone could be criticized for pre-ordering a launch day Zelda game. I need a game to play with the system, I love the Zelda series, and this game will not see a price drop for probably YEARS. Buying it on launch I probably get it for the cheapest I will get it until MAYBE the holiday, and with Nintendo that's a big maybe.

Avatar image for oursin_360
OurSin_360

6675

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Seems inconsistent, i was going to preorder 2k17 but could never get the discount. But its the closest to pc discounts for consoles you can get.

Avatar image for spoonman671
Spoonman671

5874

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Does it still only apply to physical copies? I assume it does. I'm strictly digital now, so I can't take advantage. Otherwise I probably would with certain titles.

Avatar image for sterling
Sterling

4134

Forum Posts

2

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 4

This is why I have backlog again.

Avatar image for slag
Slag

8308

Forum Posts

15965

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 8

User Lists: 45

Isn't this the main appeal of Games Club Unlocked from BestBuy?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/my-best-buy/gamers-club/pcmcat338600050004.c?id=pcmcat338600050004It's pretty much just 20% off whatever you want to buy I thought.

But yeah personally my beef with pre-ordering was always about cost. If I'm going to blindly risk my money on a game that doesn't have reviews and let you have it for awhile when the money could be working for me, than I should have be compensated for my risk. A 20% pre-order discount is fair to both parties I think.

Avatar image for deactivated-629ec706f0783
deactivated-629ec706f0783

1682

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

@oursin_360: It does seem weirdly inconsistent. I can't get the pre-order 20% off to show up for Horizon which bums me out, I'd really like to get that game. I can't tell why some games qualify and some don't.

Avatar image for wolverine
Wolverine

4642

Forum Posts

3776

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 3

#20  Edited By Wolverine

I'm pretty sure you still get the discount after release

Edit: Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure I bought BioShock Collection a couple days after release and then still gave me the reduced price.

Avatar image for vortextk
vortextk

973

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

#21  Edited By vortextk

You do get the price for 2 weeks after release, I guess I should have amended my own point(but others are fair to make it) that I'm not talking about games I'm worried about being broken or being "blah" and waiting for reviews. You certainly can wait the 1-2 weeks for impressions and reviews and still get the discount. In my case, it's games like Nioh or Horizon or Persona which I am absolutely all buying and the only real thing that determines when is want and price. How much do I want this thing, and how much is it? My PC is all digital all the way, obviously, but I still prefer physical console games even though not quite all of them I get are now.

I just brought up Horizon in my cart. On the final page before checking out it's down to 47.99 + tax. Shouldn't be any weird issues, just add it to cart within 2 weeks after release or anytime before and it should show a discount. Does student prime or anything affect it?

As far as bestbuy is concerned, I've read up on their stuff. It seems possibly better if you take advantange of all offers, but the closest best buy to me is 30-40 minutes on a highway away and at that point the cost will be much higher in time and money.

Avatar image for sergio
Sergio

3663

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 13

I'm not sure if this is about Amazon outside of the US, but this 20% off on pre-orders and two-week window has been available to Prime members since last year. Did they roll it out to people that aren't Prime members?

FYI, this deal also applies to some accessories, like amiibos.

Avatar image for doctordonkey
doctordonkey

2139

Forum Posts

5

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 11

You don't need to pre-order to get the discount you are talking about, it applies up to two weeks after release.

Avatar image for lego_my_eggo
lego_my_eggo

1532

Forum Posts

259

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 7

@zevvion said:

I don't care about Amazon games though. Although... I say that, but do they sell Steam keys?

They do, but i assume the Prime pre-order discount wont work with the digital versions since those are excluded, but boxed copies are still a go. I have used it every so often in the past when they where competing with Steam and other stores in the big holiday sales, so its not a bad idea to check there deals during the big sales.

@oursin_360: It does seem weirdly inconsistent. I can't get the pre-order 20% off to show up for Horizon which bums me out, I'd really like to get that game. I can't tell why some games qualify and some don't.

I think they add games to the pre-order discount in batches, so if you order real soon after the reveal it tends to not show the discount. Just wait a few weeks and you should be able to get the discount when it is finally added to the list. Horizon shows up with the discount for me, but its next to a blue banner that says "prime savings" as price at checkout, rather then just showing the $60 price as $48, which i can see being confusing.

-

the pre-order price is nice because there are a select few games that i know i want day one or two weeks after, and its nice that i can get a discount on something i would have probably spent $60 on anyway. But it has never made me pre-order anything because its the better deal for the next few months, because i have a huge backlog and will just play those and wait till it goes on sale for $20 or lower.

Avatar image for retromancy
Retromancy

395

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

It's not a pre-order thing. It's an Amazon Prime thing. They do it for people who have the membership just like other items. In fact, lots of older games they sell are restricted to prime only and won't even show up unless you have prime.

Avatar image for bollard
Bollard

8298

Forum Posts

118

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 3

User Lists: 12

I like how in America Prime gets you $12 off a game, and here in the UK Prime gets you a whopping £2 off.

Avatar image for sysyphus
Sysyphus

183

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

USA gets 20% off?! ...In the UK we only get a 5% discount