The release date hype for new video games is out of control. “Pre-order!” says the new trailer or magazine ad for a game that doesn’t come out for another six to twelve months. “Pre-order!” says the guy on stage at E3 after having just announced a game thirty seconds ago. Here’s the thing, we as a collective, goopy, fleshy pile of gamers need to stop buying into the hype, stop being led by snake oil salesmen peddling nostalgia and happiness, and stop pre-ordering games before launch. Here’s why.
You’re Wasting Money
It’s exciting to get a game the day it comes out, but that comes with a price. A price that, in most cases, is fleeting. Especially in AAA space, waiting even a week or two can mean the difference between paying $60 up front, or somewhere around $40 or even $30. If the game is good enough, people will still be talking about it. Otherwise, maybe you’re better off not bothering anyway.
You’re Going in Blind
Pre-ordering a game means you’re locked in to dropping a wad of cash on something you really have no idea about. Especially with new IPs. Watch_Dogs was one of the most pre-ordered new IPs ever, and it turned out to be a dud. Video game publishers are not your friend – they’re salespeople. Why do you think reviews are so often held at bay until release day? Buyer’s remorse doesn’t mean a thing if you can’t get a full refund on a bad game you bought new.
Wait for All the Updates
Not only are day one patches more and more frequent, but games just don’t launch without serious problems anymore. Nine times out of ten, your brand-new game will suffer from one or more game-breaking glitches for days, weeks or even months after the release date. Jump off the hype train and wait to see how many people fall off the tracks first.
It Won’t Sell Out, We Promise
Pre-ordering is often sold to people as an assurance you’ll secure your copy. Since when do games sell out? They don’t. Even if they do, they’re be back in stock within days. Unless you’re after some super-obcure Japanese RPG or an extravagant special edition from Nintendo, you’ll be able to walk into a store or find a website with copies available.
DLC Incentives Are Trash
Pre-order DLC, especially retail-exclusive DLC, is not ever worth the trouble. You’ll get some skin for a character, or some bonus piece of equipment, that’s cool or useful for maybe an hour or two. Then it’s inevitably obsolete and you throw it away for better stuff anyway. Even if you get extra levels or missions, like the Harley Quinn levels in Batman: Arkham Knight , they’re never as good as the ones in the actual game. They’re trashy fluff designed to capitalize on hype, not provide satisfying experiences. That’s not an incentive, it’s an insult.
Bonuses Aren’t Cool Anymore
Speaking of DLC, what about pre-order bonuses? Remember how cool it was when pre-ordering a game used to come with a neat collectible or something that interacted with the game in some way? Now you’re lucky to get a little poster or some other disposable piece of marketing fluff, if anything at all. Now unless you shell out for a collector’s edition or order straight from the publisher, all you get is a receipt.
Flash Sales Are the New Hotness
There’s another aspect to games going down in price after a while: flash sales. This generally means you wait a while to pick up a game you’re interested in, but on places like Steam and especially the PlayStation Network, you can get games for $5, $10, or less. Flash sales crop up nearly once a month if not more often, and the deals are often for games that haven’t been out for a full year yet. Older games can sometimes go for almost nothing. Ballin’ on a budget has never been so satisfying.
Stop Adding to Your Backlog
Hey, you. Yes, you, the person reading this list. I’m talking directly to you. No, not that person over there, you. I see you pre-ordering that new, open world, AAA game. I also see that shelf full of crap you haven’t even remotely come close to finishing yet. That’s right, you’re getting backlog-shamed by a listicle. Why spend $60 on something new when you have a mountain of games left to finish and stories left untold? Close Twitter and throw the Game Informer in the trash. Play the games; don’t bother with the marketing.
You Won’t Be Able to Play, Anyway
I hope you didn’t pre-order For Honor thinking you were gonna have a blast the day it came out. Remember Sim City and Diablo 3 ? Those were good times, except for the part where they sucked. Any game with an online component will not work at all. Day one will be nothing but network errors, lag and frustrating disconnections until every sad sucker like you trying to get in all at once on day one finally give up and trade it back in. Sorry!
Stop Enabling Bad Corporate Behavior
By pre-ordering the big releases, buying into the culture and tossing money at games before they even exist, you’re playing right into the hands of the suits. You’re doing exactly what they want you to do, and encouraging all the bad business practices stinking up the video game industry. The more we all blindly pre-order games because a corporation tells us to, the more Aliens: Colonial Marines we’re going to get. We’ll deserve every single one of them.