Poll: Preorders... Why?

[Thaluikhain]

I've been wondering the same. Surely it's best to wait and see if the thing is any good, the patches come out to fix the known bugs the first users report, you don't need the latest computer to run it and the price starts to drop?

Wow, you're asking a lot of questions today. But in answer:
Sometimes you already have a hunch whether you'll want to play a game or not. Take Portal 2 for instance, which I pre-ordered, and was absolutely worth my money. Trilogies are another example. If you've already played Mass Effect 1 & 2 and liked them, then there's no way you're going to miss out on part 3 and you may want to play it immidiately when it comes out, regardless of public opinion.
In the end your own perception of a game can be far more valuable than anyone else's opinion and sometimes it's also nice to take a chance knowing nothing about the game beforehand, just so that you can explore everything there is to it by yourself.

Admittedly true...everyone saw the 3rd Star Wars prequel, and people still watch Doctor Who. Also, yeah, other people's opinions may or may not be useful.

Still, pre-order seems to be a big thing, more than I'd expect, excepting the hype, of course.

 

[Stalydan]

I preorder off of Amazon. They only charge you when it's dispatched and I almost always get it a day or two early. In that case, there's not much reason not to.

However, I only preorder a game I'm excited for that I'm definitely going to buy anyway. So Saints Row the Third and Diablo III are a yes, Rage is a no.

That's me all over. If the game is going to be bought buy me anyway, pre-order on Amazon unless the game has a pre-order bonus at another retailer that I can guarantee I'll buy. Hell, I was going to cancel my Amazon order for Batman: Arkham City because GAME was giving out the Robin packs, but then I realised that when I went to cancel it they had changed my order to a Catwoman steel book edition with the Batman Earth One costume instead for the same price! Proving thus once again, Amazon are awesome. GAME and Robin can suck it!

Also, I could change my order to the collector's edition for £55 but I'd feel like it would go to waste on me because I'm living away from home so I wouldn't really have the statues.

 

[Whispering Cynic]

I do preorder my games, but just to reserve a copy for myself at the store. That way when I go there to pick it up I can be sure I won't leave empty-handed. But I don't need to pay anything in advance. If they wanted me to pay for my stuff in advance I'd just take my money elsewhere.

 

[Tourmeta]

I get to visit the store twice, woohoo!

Well, I preorder if I think it's a very wanted game, like Skyrim.
At least where I live Gamestop hides away a copy and labels it with your name.

 

[Delock]

Funnily enough, my preorder once did guarentee me what I was promised when someone tried to sell my copy from under me. The fun part? Not only was it my promised copy that was given to me, but also the promise preorder goody that went faster than the game itself. It all comes down to being willing to actually stick to your guns and keep the receipt.

That being said, I mostly preorder these days to finalize what I'm spending my money on that month (I usually only buy one new release per month), which makes me less inclined to destroy my wallet on games.

 

[Rblade]

I did once, under the assumption that it would otherwise take a couple of weeks for the store to restock enough. I didn't live to close to a store then. This was under the assumption that this would guarentee me a product withen days of release. At that store, a pretty proffesional and reliable one, this worked.

I'll take your word for it that it doesn't ensure your copy is reserved but at the moment I rarely buy any games at all because I don't have any money to spend on it, but if I do get around to earning money again I guess it kind of depends on the store and how badly you want that baby. Like jimquisition said, it's a bit of commitment and trust towards the creater aswell. It would be nice for them to reward that but meh

 

[imnot]

Only if I know I want it, I dont get to the shop often and its nice to have it delivered to my house in the post release day.
I have only pre ordred Halo Reach and portal 2 though, but I plan on Skyrim.

 

[Something Amyss]

I kept my snarky comment to myself, but why the hell would I want to do that? Why pay any amount of money on something that I don't get to have?

You do get to have it. You just don't get to walk out of the store with it at that moment. If you're only into instant gratification, I can't think of a reason, but otherwise, planning ahead is sometimes a good thing.

I have a much higher likelihood of getting a popular game on release day by NOT preordering, so I can go track it down at another retailer, rather than wait for another shipment to my local store (by which time the price will probably have dropped from what I originally paid)

Assuming the absolute worst scenario in one case and the most favourable in another. That's pretty slanted.

I'd point out the majority of people will never have a problem with pre-orders, and most people who have it "sold out from underneath them" have it done so by not showing up in a timely fashion. Yes, I've worked retail, too. Yes, I really have seen people complain that their PRE-ORDER wasn't available a week and a half afterward, despite the large letters on their reserve slip.

Probably shouldn't have pre-ordered if they didn't want it day one, but that's not the point. People often play the saints in their own stories, and villify the people they have been mildly inconvenienced by.

And then again, it's not going to break my heart if I can't play a game in its first few days of release. It's not a major problem psychologically and I certainly wouldn't risk my hard earned cash on it.

Congrats. You have a modicum of self control, as rare in gaming as honesty in politics. I'm not being sarcastic, either. People line up for midnight releases. People will buy a game with almost no information.

There is no way in hell Target can possibly be honoring every preorder sticker that comes attached to a case of a common soft drink, as well as every other person who wants a copy and didn't preorder.

Assuming every single one is redeemed, which, having worked retail, you should know better. A lot of people don't even bother with coupons for things they want, and you're assuming every Dr Pepper purchaser is going to be a BF3 customer. Who pre-orders there.

Besides, they don't have to honour every pre-order plus every non pre-order. I'm sure you understand this, too.

Even preorder bonuses are fairly easily to obtain even if you don't preorder, either by picking it up in the first week or by ebaying a code or two.

Quite frequently at exorbitant prices. I don't get why you'd want to pay an arm and a leg when you can simply order early and get it free, really. And if no code moves you to pre-order, I don't know why you'd be moved to pay ten or more bucks for it. Sounds like you're trying to set an impossible standard.

 

[mikey7339]

Pre-orders are a great business practice. Millions of people willfully give you money, far in advance, for something. The businesses then get to collect millions of dollars that sit in their accounts and gather interest. Pre-orders are basically free money to video game dealers.

 

[Kizi]

I'm never gonna pre-order again. I pre-ordered Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, along with two of my friends but there was some BS in the customs so me and one of friends got the game really, really, really late, while my third friend didn't get it at all.

I'd been bragging about getting the game early and instead I got it way too late.

 

[hermes]

I preorder off of Amazon. They only charge you when it's dispatched and I almost always get it a day or two early. In that case, there's not much reason not to.

However, I only preorder a game I'm excited for that I'm definitely going to buy anyway. So Saints Row the Third and Diablo III are a yes, Rage is a no.

Pretty much this... It gives a lot of advantages, but only for games I know I want to play.

 

[Sigmar ov The Hammer]

I pre-ordered a copy of Skyrim, that would be delivered to me on the day of release, just so I wouldn't have to go into town on release day and so I would know I have a copy waiting for me.

Simple as that.
They wont sell it to anyone else because.... Well, that's not how it works.

 

[soul_rune1984]

I do pre orders just in case I don't have the whole 60+ dollars on release day. Plus you sometimes get extra goodies for free.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

Snip

Forum search before creating a thread. There are at least 5 threads that are similar to this thread, one from January, one from March, one from May, one from August 29th, and the most recent one that I posted on September 17th.

I'll just post my explanation of why I preorder from that last thread. Basically if done right, pre-ordering is much more rewarding even compared to buying when the price goes down a little, plus possible disappointment in a game doesn't come into it for me.

With all the awesome pre-order incentives/bonuses out there and you don't seem to like any of them, I'm willing to bet that you aren't very materialistic in your gaming hobby. I really haven't seen many pre-order bonuses that weren't worth the money. Heck there are games that I most likely wouldn't like but if I had the money to burn, I'd probably pre-order them to get the awesome items that come with them.

I pre-ordered Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2, and it turned out to be a turd, but I wouldn't go back in time and stop myself from getting it, because I love the awesome metal case it came in and the little mini Starkiller 2GB usb drive that came with it as well. But, here is the full response from last thread.

If you pre-order from Amazon, I know it is worth it. If I hadn't done the majority of my pre-ordering from Amazon, I wouldn't have a third of the XBox 360 collection that I have. Most of the time, Amazon will also give 10 to 20 dollars credit towards your next game purchase on top of the normal extras you get for pre-ordering.

Pre-ordering, I've racked up 70 dollars worth of game credit. Those credit dollars helped me lower prices and afford getting, Lost Planet, Dead Rising, Devil May Cry 4(got all those together for 25 bucks after the 10 dollar credit), Castlvaina: Lords of Shadow(limited collector's edition), Fable 3(limited collector's edition), and Dragon Age: Origins: Ultimate Edition(which of course included all the DLC and Awakening).

It just depends on where you pre-order, because when I pre-ordered Pokemon White from GameStop, I just got the pre-order stuff that Nintendo was giving with it. I didn't look at the time, but I'm willing to bet Amazon probably gave a 10 dollar credit with it as well, if so, I regret not pre-ordering from them.

But yeah, pre-ordering can be quite worth it, if one shops around to find the best incentives.

I know people say that they want to wait to see what the news of how good the game is before they buy it, but even that isn't reliable

Total games I have pre-ordered: Halo 3: ODST, Halo Reach, Castlvaina: Lords of Shadow, Fable 3, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2, Pokemon White, and Dragon Age 2.

I was only disappointed with one game out of those: Star Wars: TFU2. The metal case and the 2gb USB drive that came with it were nice, but the game was crap, I beat in two sittings, around 6 hours total, but at least 2 hours of that was horsing around trying to find the collectables.

If I had waited and not pre-ordered Dragon Age 2, I possibly would have missed out playing that fantastic game, because I might have listened to the rabid rants on Metacritic and not bought it.

I feel that even with an informed decision after a game's launch, people have an equal chance of being disappointed with their purchases with doing that as well as with pre-ordering, but think, with Amazon, one can be disappointed, sell the game back somewhere like GameStop, and keep the game credit they get. People that buy games days or longer after launch don't get such a perk. All they can do is sell the game back for less.

 

[Jibblejab]

Ive pre-ordered Skyrim, because instead of having to go to my local retailer to buy it, and potentially find it out of stock.

I know I can just pay for it online now and not have to worry about the finance of it or anything and then a day or two before release a man (well the postman) comes and delivers it to my door.

Whats not to like?

 

[Thaius]

Because some games are just too exciting to wait for. There are points where I would like to get a game as soon as possible for the sake of experiencing it before the spoilers are posted all over the place, as well as being able to discuss it and write about it as soon as possible (I'm a writer with a blog about video games as a narrative art, can't post it here but link's in my profile if you're interested). I just really like being able to do that; some games I'm far too excited for to wait however long until I get to a retailer. Plus I enjoy special editions for some games.

 

[CharrHearted]

I preorder games because I get them early and because THEY COST LESS MONEY! surprisingly.

 

[Thaliur]

There are situations where I decide to preorder games.
These are my rules:
Preorders are done when
(
- awesome extras are included (like getting a 1,20m steel sword for preordering Two Worlds)
OR
- the price is lower than buying it "normally"
OR
- it enables earlier access to the game (like Guild Wars)
OR
- it's the same as buying it on release (Like on Amazon, where you pay for and receive it as soon as it's available)
)
AND
- it's a preorder from the publisher themselves (or officially supported, like preorder boxes bought through Amazon)

Other than that, there's no reason.

 

[Dr_Horrible]

I pre-order off of Amazon occasionaly (in fact, I'll be preordering skyrim in a week or so). I do it because:
1: Getting it on release day
2: pre-order goodies (like the Skyrim cloth map)
3: I get to play it on release, but still get a physical copy.

I know it won't kill me to play a game late (hell, most of the games I get are a year or older), but there are some games I'm sure that I will enjoy, and want to play sooner. I would never put in a pre-order to a game retailer though, as I expect they would just sell my copy. I trust Amazon though.

 

[Theogrim]

I live in the UK and preorder from GAME for home delivery all the time and the only time I've had a bad experience was when it snowed and the whole country ground to a halt which delayed delivery by ~2 weeks.