Buying games in 2015.Would you take a 'no pre-order pledge'?

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extintor

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#1  Edited By extintor

As consumers of video games, have we reached a point where we can definitively conclude that pre-ordering games is 'a bad thing' that damages our interests?

Much has been said for several years now about the ills of pre-ordering. Are there any over-riding reasons why we should ever pre-order a game...? reasons that outweigh taking a stance against pre-ordering and not doing so ever again?

I'd like to publicly pledge that I will not pre-order a single game in 2015, and if you agree with my position, I'd like to ask you all as game consumers to make a 'no pre-order pledge' for 2015 in this thread also. Come the end of next year I'll let you know if I feel as if I've actually missed out on anything significant by not pre-ordering. I strongly suspect that I won't have.

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Zevvion

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As I understand it, pre-ordering in the US (which is the majority of users on this site I'm assuming?) works pretty different from how it works here.

When I go and pre-order a game, I walk into the store and tell the guy working there I want to pre-order, say, GTAV for PS4. He'll add my order in his PC and I walk out the door. No payments or anything. Then, whenever they are allowed to sell the game, he sends out a text to my phone saying my order is in stock and ready for pick up. I have 7 days to come pick it up. I usually go immediately as the store is within walking distance, pay for the game (which is the exact same price everyone else pays) and go home.

I rarely have to pre-order a game though. The only case where it was needed was GTAV on 360 when it first released. I could pick up a copy of GTAV on PS4 without pre-ordering. I usually only pre-order stuff when I want to play it really, really badly and don't want to take any chances, or if it's concerning a Limited Edition of some kind.

All in all, there is no reason not to pre-order. It doesn't cost anything. That said, you mostly don't need to either. Pre-order bonusses are often just given to me on vouchers when I buy the game even if I didn't pre-order it.

I do have to point out the store I go to is extremely awesome though. They appreciate my business and like to show it. They often offer me free posters or whatever, or sell new games € 5 cheaper than elsewhere. Or they go the extra mile in having a certain older game I want sent over from one of their other stores, free of charge.

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Corvak

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#3  Edited By Corvak

No. I will not.

Retail stores (at least where I live) regularly don't have enough supply to meet demand. This fall, I have been left wanting three times because I didn't pre-order: Shadows of Mordor (PS4), Sunset Overdrive (XBO), Smash 3DS. Also, many niche titles don't appear in stores at launch unless you pre-order, NISA titles being especially guilty of this.

Websites do not do release day shipping in Canada except on rare occasions. Amazon.ca only does it for certain games, and only if you pre-order very early. It's not noted on the site, but your delivery date will be earlier, the earlier you pre-order.

That being said, if you don't care about the excitement of 'playing on launch day' or whatever, and can accept 1-2 weeks of waiting? Pre-ordering isn't really necessary. My friends and I like talking about games as they release, so we usually buy what we want when it comes out, and wait a bit if we aren't sure.

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BabyChooChoo

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Seeing as how I have yet to get burned on any of the games I've ever preordered (that I can remember anyway), I think I'll abstain from taking this pledge. I don't even have a good reason for preordering seeing as how most preorder bonuses don't interest me, but still...

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deactivated-5fc86d541ecee

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I haven't pre-ordered a game since, I think, 2011 and I fully plan on continuing that.

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deactivated-5a72087901fb1

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The problem is pre ordering isn't defined as Zevvion points out. I would say pre-ordering on Steam is a very bad idea, you just don't know how things will turn out and importantly Steam is one of the worst companies for post sales service. They will literally break laws by selling you defective products and refuse refunds. If you make a claim for example via paypal to force the issue they will cripple your account by not allowing you to purchase any more games and giving you a big red warning each time you log in until you give them back all the money. I'm assuming they will probably block your account entirely if you do it for more than one game possibly meaning you lose access to thousands of pounds of games/software. They can hold you at ransom. So for sure I won't be pre ordering games on Steam or any similar service.

On the other hand if a retailer takes responsibility away from Steam and they have good customer service then there aren't the same risks. I occasionally pre order games from amazon for several reasons, incredibly it's often cheaper than pre ordering from steam, and often by a significant amount. I've pre ordered a few games that were in the region of £25 - £28 on amazon for pre order and remained at a steady £39.99 on steam. So the game arrives on launch day and I go online, check reviews and make sure there are no major problems, open the case and type in the steam code from the ticket and never touch the DVD. It saves me money and if there are any reported problems on day one I just don't open the game - return to amazon for a full refund and they even refund postage. If the pre order price moves up/down in between me pre ordering and release I always pay the lowest price. As a nice bonus you often also get a soundtrack CD and maybe some art as was the case with lotf. I've done that with metro, wolfenstein, lords of the fallen, wasteland 2 etc., and I ordered GTA V for PC that way yesterday (it was £35 - and If that game is a penny less than £39.99 on steam at any point before summer 2015 I'll be amazed). I don't even know for sure if it'll be a good port, if it will include a steam key etc., but there's no risk for me, I can cancel the order any time even days after it arrives (as I'm entitled to by law as long as I don't open it).

FYI I bought the stick of truth for PC a couple of months ago. It was £39.99 on steam and I don't think it had been cheaper than about £35 at any point since launch. I bought it on amazon (steam key included in box with DVD) for £13.85.

Always check other retailers.

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AdequatelyPrepared

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I would, but Ground Zeroes and Phantom Pain for PC are things that are coming out. I just mainly take a pledge specifically against Ubisoft pre-orders.

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probablytuna

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Apart from Ground Zeroes and Dark Souls 2, I can't remember any other games I've pre-ordered this year, mostly because I've bought most of my games digitally on Hong Kong's PlayStation Store which weirdly enough, doesn't let me preload games the main reason I would want to pre-order games.

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UltorOscariot

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#9  Edited By UltorOscariot

This is an awfully broad brush to paint a practice with. Does Amazon count? If so, than goodness no. Taking advantage of price fluctuations and locking it in at the lowest point has saved me a couple of bucks in the past, and they don't charge you until the item ships anyway. And if the tea leaves point to quality problems with a title, which there definitely was in the case of AC:Unity(besides it being the stale fruit from a stale tree), then the pre-order gets cancelled with the click of a button.

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Rafaelfc

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#10  Edited By Rafaelfc

Unless it's a game I know I'll play even if the reviews are terrible (like The Evil Within, Resident Evil 6, Arkham Knight for example), I never pre-order any games. Specially ubisoft developed games.

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teaoverlord

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#11  Edited By teaoverlord

I haven't pre-ordered a game since Civ V, and I don't feel like I missed out on anything.

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spraynardtatum

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Sure. Pre-ordering blows.

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zombie2011

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The last game I pre-ordered was Halo 2. Never understood the point in it, if the game sells out, which is unlikely, I can wait a couple weeks to play it.

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damswedon

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#14  Edited By damswedon

I haven't pre-ordered a game in about three years now. The only game I couldn't buy on the day of release was Lightning Returns Final Fantasy XIII, and even then I was able to grab a copy three days later on Monday.

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Sinusoidal

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Never have, never will. I actually buy most games months after release for a small percentage of the full price at release. I'm backlogged for years right now anyway.

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Mcfart

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#16  Edited By Mcfart

Why do people preorder? Because games could go OOS on day 1? Rare nowadays. There's Gamestops everywhere, and Gamestop and Walmart orders tons of AAA boxes of games (more then they will need) Retail copies ran out? Then get digitally. Both consoles have day 1 digital.

Nobody preorders because they're worried that they won't be able to get a game otherwise;they preorder because of appetizing """"""""""'free"""""""" preorder bonuses. The Bombcast crew failed to understand that people preorder because they just want free shit. Those people just don't get that nothing is free. In some cases, they are getting that free shit for the price of being a beta tester.

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KaneRobot

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I have next to no confidence something like this on a large scale would ever take off since gamers are pretty weak-willed if they see a pre-order bonus they want (not necessarily people on this site specifically, but people who buy games in general). Would be nice, but I have a feeling it is going to take a few more years of Master Chief Collections and Driveclubs and Unitys before people actually get fed up enough to take any sort of stand.

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chaser324

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#18 chaser324  Moderator

I'm already pre-ordering far fewer games than I was a just a year or two ago, but that is largely just due to my game purchases becoming predominately digital - Amazon is fast but downloading is still faster.

That being said, I don't have any intention of ever cutting off my pre-ordering / pre-loading completely. I'm going to keep on buying into games that I think are worth buying into, where my interest and base-level confidence in the developer/publisher outweighs any feeling that I need to wait for reviews and early impressions.

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mike

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#19  Edited By mike

I haven't preordered a game in at least three years. I may have missed out on some horse armor or something here and there but I haven't gotten stuck with any flops, either. It's been great.

No blind purchases for me. If publishers want me to preorder then they need to start relaxing embargoes and make sure outlets get final code well ahead of the public, then I'll start considering it.

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Paliv

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#20  Edited By Paliv

I don't preorder, the few times I have I wished I didn't. I'm one of the fools that waits to hear what reviews and friends have to say first.

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Harknett

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I haven't pre-ordered anything in quite awhile because I rarely feel the need to play something on release day. If it is something that I want to play online with friends, like a Diablo or NBA 2K, I usually purchase it digitally.

The last game I pre-ordered was Half-Life 2 and while I love Steam now, I was really turned off by the experience of picking the game up at midnight and not being able to play it until about 5PM that day.

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afabs515

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The last game I preordered was RE6, and luckily was able to cancel when reviews for that game started to hit. That's the last time I ever preordered or ever will preorder. That stuff is a potential nightmare.

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Giant_Gamer

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I've pre-ordered the evil within from green man gaming on pc because they had a 25% discount on pre-orders. But when i gave the game a try i couldn't go on because of the frame drops and the screen stutters (my pc have AMD cpu). I requested a refund and they did make a refund with gmg credits (thankfully) in two weeks.

But i told myself never pre-order digital contents ever again.

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jaycrockett

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I don't pre-order and I don't buy games day one.

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recroulette

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I like getting games shipped to my house day 1 because I usually have class or work when games get released, so I'll keep preordering stuff.

And since you're able to buy and pre-load a lot of games now on consoles, I only see the number of games I'm pre-ordering go up.

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Brendan

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#26  Edited By Brendan

I only download digitally now so this ain't a problem for me! I just don't buy on release day and wait about a week/for reviews to hit to see whether the game works as intended.

Life/work is full of stress and I don't want to be stressed trying to wrestle with busted entertainment. I'm not such an addict that I NEED to play new games right on release day.

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Naoiko

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I don't pre-order any more.

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brandondryrock

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The only games I pre-order are ones that I want to pre-load on my PC before they are released. And that is usually one or two games a year. Other than that I wait for reviews or a Quick Look.

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Hunkulese

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I don't really see any reason not to pre-order a game you want to play. Don't you often even get a small discount?

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Bobby_The_Great

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The only two games I've pre-ordered in the last 10 years were Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2. That's it.

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Mustainium

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#31  Edited By Mustainium

I've got Saints Row, Dying Light, The Witcher, and Bloodborne all paid off in full.

So...no.

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notnert427

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@mcfart said:
Nobody preorders because they're worried that they won't be able to get a game otherwise;they preorder because of appetizing """"""""""'free"""""""" preorder bonuses. The Bombcast crew failed to understand that people preorder because they just want free shit. Those people just don't get that nothing is free. In some cases, they are getting that free shit for the price of being a beta tester.

Son, we live in a world that has pre-orders, and those pre-ordered games have to be tested at launch in a live environment by gamers. Who's gonna do it? You? You, OP? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for those who play buggy launch games, and you curse the publishers. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That dealing with launch bugs, while tragic, probably improves games. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, improves games. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me pre-ordering, you need me pre-ordering. We use words like patches, crashes, and glitches. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent testing something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very beta-testing that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a controller and deal with shitty launch bugs. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to.

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ottoman673

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I only preorder a day or two early, when I've seen leaked footage or someone got the game early and is streaming, etc.

Otherwise i have no problem waiting. Hell, the only reason i preorder so late is to get the bonus shit.

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mr__kamikaze

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#34  Edited By mr__kamikaze

I used to pre-order certain games because they weren't very popular so the store would only get a very few number of copies. Such as the Dynasty Warriors games. That wasn't really a concern for the more popular, bigger titles.

Now I just "pre-order" on Amazon...does that even count as a pre-order, though? Unlock a brick and mortar store, I am not required to put any money down and can cancel with a simple click of a button whenever I feel like it (assuming it hasn't shipped yet). To me its just saying "hey I want this, so im gonna order it now so I dont forget later"

In any case, these days, I only ever pre-order games I KNOW i'll want, regardless of how good or well received it is or isn't.

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EXTomar

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I preorder things like WoW expansions but that is more of a case that I've already made up my mind thoroughly looking at the beta in a hands on way. Other games I never pre-order where it doesn't make sense to have a game unlock on Tuesday and can even look at it till a week later due to real life and work.

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Y2Ken

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I don't really consider what I do "pre-ordering", even though it technically is. I only buy a game when I am convinced I want it (and have seen enough to know it'll be satisfactory to me, not super broken, and so on). I will often order games a few days prior to their release date, though, as I tend to order from online stores and it all but ensures the game will be delivered on the day it is scheduled to come out. I currently have Smash Bros Wii U and both Pokémon games on pre-order, both done over the last two days for that exact reason.

If I am unsure about a game I wait a week or so (with all the pre-launch caution flying around I didn't buy Destiny until about 5 days after it was out, when I was sure I wanted to play it). As an example, I ordered Bayonetta 2 prior to release as reviews were out (I'm not hugely influenced by reviews generally but I do find them useful for pointing out any major concerns with a game) and there was enough footage (and a demo) for me to know I wanted it. Conversely, I waited on both Unity and Far Cry 4 because both had release-date embargoes and no-one had seen the version I wanted to get (PC) - as a result, I am unlikely to pick up Unity any time soon, but I will probably purchase Far Cry in the next few weeks once I am ready to play it.

My general rule on games is to buy them only once I feel confident that I will be happy with my purchase, and I honestly can't recall having any regrets about anything I've bought game-wise.

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zidd

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Digital preorders make sense with all consoles allowing you to preload games before they come out.

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Spankmealotus

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I haven't pre-ordered a game since GTA: Vice city. I ended up having to wait a week past when it came out for it to show up at my house. Unless you count when I will sometimes "pre order" a game on steam minutes before it unlocks to get the pre order bonus stuff. I guess that probably still counts as far as companies counting the pre orders. I guess I haven't done that in a long time either.

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UlquioKani

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Sure, I don't pre order games usually. I preordered Dragon Age but reviews for that came out a week early so I already knew it would be pretty good before buying it.

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hippie_genocide

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If we're talking about brick and mortar retailers to lock in pre-order exclusives, then yes I'll take the pledge. But not for Amazon. Got to get that release day shipping, son.

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LeStephan

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Yeah, I just pre-order cuz I get an email as soon as a game is in stock which is few days early most of time. But I live in europe and also go to a cool small local gamestore so its the same for me as Zevvion.

I've chosen not to pick up pre-orders plenty of times too when I didn't feel like getting the game afterall and thats never been a problem. So in my position I actually don't know why I shouldn't just pre-order everything I'm interested in.

Going along with a pre-paid and/or binding pre-order seems pretty fucking stupid to me though, is that really a normal thing to do in the US of A? Im pretty sure no one here in the Netherlands would be pre ordering games if they'd have to give money in advance..

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Ben_H

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I haven't preordered a game in about 10 years so sure. I mean the pledge would be meaningless because I never do it anyway but sure why not.

The only time I ever reserved a game in recent memory was when I wanted Persona 4. It was incredibly hard to find here at the time here so I put my name down on a list of people that wanted it and the local mom and pop game store called me when they received a few copies. This was after release though.

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SomeJerk

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Any game from the big three publishers and so should you.

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fattony12000

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#44  Edited By fattony12000

I "pre-order" games when it's something that I know I will want and that it'll only get more expensive/rarer in the future anyway. Amazon/whoever doesn't take any money from me until the item ships, meaning I pay the lowest possible price by "locking in" earlier. I do not pre-order very many games per year.

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Marcsman

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No way. In the Philly suburbs games sell out all the time.

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Levius

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I don't preorder anyway as I don't feel the obligation to buy games on launch day, sure I will if I want the game and it's convenient, but the world won't end if I have to buy it later, and probably cheaper. Most preorder items are usually cosmetics, or worse things that break the games difficulty curve. I have found that, at least in the UK, a good amount of the time you get most of the preorder stuff just by buying the game at your leisure. For example, I was able to buy the day one edition of Sunset Overdrive last Saturday, and get some other bonus stuff.

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GiantLizardKing

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I only pre-order games when I want them preloaded and I can't even remember the last time I did that.

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GunstarRed

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Hell no.

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gerrid

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As a @zevvion and @fattony12000 and some others have mentioned pre-ordering means different things in different places.

For me I wouldn't ever do it at a store, but for online retailers it's different, and comes with some benefits:

1. Cheaper. Amazon charge whatever the lowest price was since you pre-ordered. You can shop around pre-release to find whoever is cheaper and lock in that deal. Can be as much as 10-15% savings.

2. Get it delivered on release day guaranteed. It doesn't seem like this is such a big thing in the US, but for me in the UK Amazon Prime guarantees a signed-for delivery on release day, for no cost. Since games come out on a friday, and I get it delivered to my work, anything else would mean not playing a game over the weekend without going to buy it in a shop which is -almost always- more expensive. So this is the lowest possible effort option for me. Dragon Age will come tomorrow and all I did to get it was type Drago... into the amazon search box and click buy, about two months ago

3. Easy returns, easy to cancel, don't pay until it's dispatched. Since most games release a couple of days after the US release reviews and user impressions are out there before I actually pay for the game and it's easy to cancel. So it's pretty low risk.

If I was living in the US and the only option was to put down money in advance at a store, you can bet I'd rarely ever bother with that unless I was 100% convinced of the game's quality. With download stuff I'd be just as wary, although pre-loading would definitely be a big benefit.

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kenniWORLDPEACE

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#50  Edited By kenniWORLDPEACE

i am an advocate for not pre-ordering games, but i understand my position is different from others.

im just against the idea of giving people money before something is delivered. doesnt matter to me if the game will sell out, or if i think its going to be good. the fact is you dont know. you never actually know until the game is out and in your hands. when you couple that with the fact that you cant get a full return on your product, its just a shit deal for consumers in my opinion. i think pre-ordering just encourages a culture where people are rewarded prematurely based on promises made on products that have far too many times not even come close to being delivered upon. then again, people in other places are given the choice of pre-ordering or having to wait what they would deem as an unreasonable amount of time, or possibly not have it at all. its fucked on all sides honestly, and im at a loss for what solution there could be (if you even deem this a "problem" to be solved in the first place). paying for something that far ahead of actually getting to have what you pay for isnt the smartest of things to do in my opinion. and then what you get might not even be what you thought you were paying for. idunno, to each his own i guess. ive never taken to pre-ordering, but im curious to hear a well-constructed argument for those in the US who are strongly for the practice of paying for things long before you get them. maybe im just doing it wrong...?