Pre-order, doing it right?

[yaydod]

I was browsing through steam and i saw the pre-order for Dishonored (which looks like a really good game), intrigued i looked at what the pre-order bonus was.
I was expecting some ingame vanity items or maybe an extra quest or 2, to my great surprise they offered a whole game (Arx Fatalis), an old game yes but still a whole game.

So escapist, is this maybe showing a change of mind about the pre-order stuff, is this going the right way?

 

[GonzoGamer]

That's a much better method than a few downloadable items and much much better than gameplay for the very game you're pre-ordering and may not like. Saints Row 3 gave Saints Row 2 (which was a lot more fun too)...but they also had the online pass BS. I also heard that Bioshock Infinite will come with Bioshock 1...in case you haven't played it yet.

What really tuns me off is when they portion out gameplay content (the quest or two...or five if they're auctioning different parts off to different retailers) for pre-orders. It seems like a sign of desperation so that's when I bump it from a purchase to a rental. Lookin at you LA Noir.

But I hardly ever pre-order.

Also OP:
I'm a little disappointed this thread has nothing to do with The Go Team
It's like taking acid....from the 70s

 

[yeti585]

So escapist, is this maybe showing a change of mind about the pre-order stuff, is this going the right way?

To quote Yahtzee "Short answer, No. Long answer, Nooooooooooo." The last game I pre-ordered was The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The game disappointed me, but not to a point where I didn't like it. It was really good in some areas and bad in others (glitchy as hell.). You know what came with Skyrim for a pre-order bonus? A physical map of Skyrim, printed on a textured page and made to look like it came out of the game. That was a good addition, for a good game.

The game I pre-ordered before skyrim was Call of Duty: Black Ops. This didn't come with anything to my memory, and was a terrible game.

In short, I want physical things with the pre-order. I may not like the series enough to buy a special collectors edition more than double the price of the regular game, but I still want some credit for buying a game before I've even seen the thing. I don't think I am going to pre-order another game that went the Black Ops route and made two collectors editions. The one collectors edition, priced at $70-$80 dollars only included a small medal, and a different case. Now, that different casing should have been the pre-order bonus instead of being money grubbing assholes and making two special editions.

 

[Kordie]

I like the idea of adding games to pre-orders, would have loved it if GW2 gave you the first ones with a pre order. As has been noted above me though, some people prefer the physical goodies instead. I think a better system would be to choose from a few options of goodies. That way you aren't stuck with a game you already have, or a collectible you don't care about.

And at the same time, I still don't like pre-orders... burned by too many. Without a good deal of research into a title, I won't do a day 1 purchase these days let alone preorder.

 

[Pink Gregory]

I preordered a few releases for October at me local GAME store, no deposit needed for standard editions, double reward points; nice and simple, anything further down the line remains to be seen.

 

[Rumpsteak]

The including of older games as a bonus for pre-ordering a new game has been done before (Off the top of my head I cannot supply an example).

So is it going the right way. I suppose yes and no is the answer I would have to give. There are a few notable ups to doing this sort of bonus each of which appealing to different bodies in different ways. One of these being that since the game being offered as a bonus already exists no resources need be diverted from the pool that funds the development and marketing of the new game to create these bonuses. In the same way no areas of the game will need to be sliced out and sold of as a pre-order bonus. Quite appealing to the consumer knowing they are getting a complete game even if they do not pre-order. I return to this thought in a bit.

As far as it being a positive for the publisher to include an older game as the bonus opposed to newly created skins or missions it does a good job off keeping interest in older intellectual properties(IPs) so keeping their value up. This of course could lead to a return to these IPs and the sale of future games or the licences to them.

Returning to the previously mentioned idea that consumers will believe they are getting the complete game regardless of when they make their purchase. A lot of games have not aged all that well. Publishers fear that consumers would look at the bonus game being offered and turn their nose up at the dated visuals or mechanics an so be less inclined to pre-order the game than if they are being given a custom skin or early access to DLC missions or whatnot. Indeed consumers could do this, thus reducing the number of pre-orders taken and hurting the company as people that would have bought it instead wait for reviews and decide not to.

I don't have access to the data I would need to even make a guess on how consumers react to this sort of marketing so all I can finish on is whether this is "going the right way" or not is very dependent on who you ask. In my opinion, yes and I would like to see more of this style of bonuses. Publishers and developers may view this as going the wrong way however.