Preorders: Have you been screwed?

[soren7550]

Nah, never been burned by a pre-order. Then again, only pre-ordered three or so games because I can't afford to get games regularly.

Wait, that's not entirely true. For Fable 3, for whatever reason I didn't get that pre-order thing where you could make a character online and they'd hand you a quest. Other than that, my pre-order experiences have been good.

 

[JagermanXcell]

The last and only game I ever pre-ordered was the cult classic monstrosity that is Metroid: Other M
This game, made me so mad, I sold my entire Wii to my dad to make 80$ and my copy of SSBB (sad face), coming to about 90$, and even after I made the money back...
I STILL FEEL RIPPED OFF TO THIS VERY DAY.

Never again.

 

[The_Echo]

I don't pre-order. The incentives are never that great, (barring special editions that are available as preorder only, e.g. Skyrim) and I always keep tabs on a game up until its release before I decide to buy it. Generally, I'll buy a game on day one, provided I have the cash for it.

The only game I've bought that sucked was Paper Mario: Sticker Star. (And, to an extent, El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron, but I haven't gotten very far into it yet.) And even then, I seem to be the minority in that opinion.

 

[Happiness Assassin]

I have only pre-ordered 2 games in my life: Battlefield 3 and Mass Effect 3. I played demos of both, knew I would play both with my friends, and pre-ordered on the last day just to get the bonuses. I have spent a combined 400 hours in those games and continue to play them to this day. Because I am on an extremely limited budget I almost never get games unless I do serious research into them. Preordering games without looking into what they are and how they play is basically just a gamble.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

Like I said in the comments of the video, I pre-order because I'm part of the Hardworking Middle-class Console Race that holds the whole gaming empire together while those of the oh so glorious, ridiculously expensive, PC "master" race sit around enjoying tax loopholes and exploiting the REAL patriots of our people for their own overpriced, unintuitive gains.

...Wait what was this about?

Oh right.

Anyway, I pre-order for 2 reasons:

1) I can put 5 bucks down on a game. That's a small enough risk for me.

2) Midnight releases. Halo 3, ME3, Borderlands 2. These are some of the best experiences I have ever had and I wouldn't miss them for anything.

 

[Nazulu]

I used to pre-order (as in shops), then Tiberium Wars happened. Every single pre-order before turned out absolutely great, but I just don't trust these company's at all any more. So I research every thing before I even consider it now.

 

[Gunner 51]

Hmm, OP - you made me think a bit.
So long as the pre-order is handled more like a refundable security deposit, I see no problem in it. But more often than not, the retailers are sly sons of guns and make it non-refundable. (Surely illegal?)

But what makes it morally low is the publisher issued press embargo on the games - with people not knowing what it is they're buying until they buy it, they're slapping down their five quid down on what is essentially a gamble.

Both the publishers and retailers are playing tit for tat and all gamers will always end up getting screwed over by both in some capacity. One's best bet to avoid being screwed over is to wait a few months after release date - but publisher advertising with peer pressure tests the most iron cast of wills.

Perhaps the upcoming gaming crash might shake things up a bit and make publishers and retailers realise that gamers aren't made of money.

 

[Candidus]

I don't think I've been screwed too many times. Or at all. I didn't pre-order A:CM because the last licensed Aliens game was super-average Steam Sale fodder. That iceburg was eaaasy to dodge. Everyone should have been able to save £30 there, sorry.

But I do preorder games occasionally. The Witcher 2 CE. Sword of the Stars II. Baldur's Gate EE. Heart of the Swarm.

Of those, I was initially burned by Kerberos's effort with Sword of the Stars II. This game retailed for £30 while neglecting to mention that it was in a poor alpha state with basics like the options menu yet to be implemented. However, I can't say that I regret the purchase in retrospect because A) they offered me a refund (even through Steam), which I turned down because I was pretty sure why the debacle had gone down and B) The game is now the best science fiction TBS I own.

In general, I don't regret preordering games as often as I'd regret not having goodies like Geralt's sexy little bust.

 

[SweetShark]

Nope, I was always spot on when I preorder a game.
Some examples are Starcraft 2, Diablo 3 and X-com.
But most of the times I wait first to read a review and search on interner before make a decision.

 

[Epicspoon]

I don't think I've ever felt screwed over on a pre-order in my entire life. Consequently I have never felt screwed over from a games special edition before either.

 

[Project_Xii]

Well, given that I work at a games store, I can pretty much return something I don't like within a week quite easily, so the number of games I get that screw me over are minimal. There are some things you can't return, however. Namely PC games with one use codes and collectors edition. My biggest "screwed over" games in memory:

* Hellgate: London - The biggest clusterfuck in gaming history? I'd consider it mine.
* Dante's Inferno: Death Edition - Used the code for the Dead Space skin, never used the skin, finished the game, didn't like it, trade value was 1/10 the price. Goddam it.
* Diablo 3 - Had I been able to return this collectors edition, I would have, since it was all garbage. Sadly, thanks to battle.net, that is not possible. Instead I just have to make do using the box as a prop to keep my blu ray player off the floor, and the game disc as a coaster. Bummer.
* Dishonoured - Ok, so it's not a bad game persay. I just had interest in it in the negative digits. However, I really really wanted the collectors edition Tarot cards. Sigh.

and, the most recent edition:
* Aliens: Colonial Marines Collectors - The worst looking, worst playing, most poorly written shooter, only slightly above Duke Nukem. And it had a kick ass statue of an Alien fighting a Power Loader. Why?! Why gods why!! I couldn't bring myself to part with it. Kept the collectors stuff, traded the game in the next day for pittens. Amusingly, because of the street date break her in Australia, I'd literally bought, played, and traded the game back 3 whole days before the rest of the world had even seen it on the shelves. I tried to warn people... they wouldn't listen! They just wouldn't listen!!!

 

[Zanderinfal]

I've preordered only once, but I was pretty happy about it. It was Crysis 2 on PS3, and surprisingly it was what I was expecting. So as of now no, not yet.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

If next gen consoles introduce a system that blocks used game sales, I think people will not pre-order as much as they used to. I rarely pre-order games because I'm a PC gamer and I can't sell them. And I know a lot of PC gamers who do the same.

The only game I pre-ordered this year is Bioshock: Infinite. And the only other one I'm interested in pre-ordering is The Witcher 3. Basically sequels to series I always enjoyed from a company that always delivered an excellent product.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

I've never preordered a game because I never buy on launch, and never buy from retailers (Australia, fuck yeah?), but I know what it's like to be certain of buying a game regardless of what reviews say (the Armored Core series gets pretty much consistently bad reviews), so I can understand preordering especially if there's an incentive involved (why would you forgo something for nothing?). But in cases where you haven't seen gameplay, it's probably not worth it for a weapon or skin. And of course I despise shop-specific bonuses and the whole practice of extra content for any reason being available at launch.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

I still plan to pre-order Project X Zone. Mostly because A) I can just put down a deposit on it, B) Japanese copies have been reviewed in a few English-speaking places and they're generally pretty happy, C) I doubt that a lot of copies will be released in English, so I'd probably better make sure I can get one at all.

 

[userwhoquitthesite]

Yes. Oh hells yes. I preordered Soul Calibur 5, Saints Row 3, Assassin's Creed 3, plenty of others
then I get home and find that I hate my new game. SC5 has grown on me, somewhat, since even though its story is terrible the lack of even basic character profiles makes the cast unrelatable, and there aren't as many characters who are just fun to PLAY, the character creation mode is pretty nice, and the actual fighting mechanics are miles above SC4. But it isn't worth the 60 I paid for it, not to me.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

-Skyrim; Arguably screwed. Spent a lot of time with it, but didn't enjoy it all that much

I'm sorry, but WTF? Arguably screwed? What does that even mean? There were hours upon hours of gameplay footage available of the game way before it was released. There were zero pre-order bonuses, didn't matter which retailer you bought it from. There was no Day 1 DLC witheld from the game. It was universally acclaimed and won several GotY awards. It's patched regularly and still supported 15 months on with fixes, content and DLC.

Unless you played it for less than 2 hours, or bought it randomly without any idea of what you were buying and are now filled with the worst case of regret and "buyer's remorse" ever, you were not even remotely "screwed". Listing that you were "screwed" by acclaimed, AAA titles from established developers that offered plenty of insight into their games is not it. You may not have liked a game, but chances are you would have bought them after release if you hadn't pre-ordered.