Why Would Anyone Preorder A Console?

[shrekfan246]

Some people want to support it and/or play the games as soon as they come out.

My dad pre-ordered the PS1 and PS2 when they came out (I was too young to have a job) and never had any issues and had fun with the games that were available. My family also used the media services a lot, even if it was just playing CDs and DVDs. As for the price, why do people pre-order games when it's going to drop in price? People want to own and play them and think it's worth full price.

Difference with the PS1 and PS2 was that there was no online functionality, therefore much less things to go wrong with it.

These days how many games launch with netcode problems, even low impact.

That really only matters for people who care about, say, multi-player. Which I realize is an ever-growing number, but there's still a fair few of us who buy games, especially on consoles, for single-player. The implementation of online doesn't matter for anything else in the box itself; The hardware is going to determine how reliable it is.

[what do you get with a console?

Some people need to spend money in order to feel happy, it is a condition. Not to mention some people actually fall for advertising. Hell some people actually use Fox as their only source of news...

Because it's new, therefor consumer logic dictates you needs to have it, and if you have it before everyone else... oh man let me tell you there will be song and legend written in your name.

It's just the way people were trained to think in this society.

While you all bring up valid points that have their place, it's worth noting (for what, the third time in the past week?) that the "wait and see" method for buying a console isn't going to work if enforced en masse. You could wait a week or two, maybe a month, just to ensure you see all of the information you can possibly get, but much longer than that and I hope you weren't expecting to get much use out of said console in the first place, because-

I just don't really see the point to preordering a console and was wandering if anyone could shine light on why someone would, or why they wouldn't.

If people don't adopt consoles early, said console won't get support from developers. The console will struggle and flop around for a year or two, before dying out and fading away. Now, I don't know if you're asking specifically about pre-ordering and aren't including buying within the first month or two of launch (since the systems are liable to be the same within that period of time), but it all comes to the same end: If you want to see more games on a system, there has to actually be people buying things on that system.

The people who wait for 5+ or 10+ games they'll love on a console before they buy are perfectly entitled to do as such, but they're not the ones keeping the console industry alive. If they made up the entire consumer base, every console made would be a massive failure. Whether that's a good or bad thing is fully down to personal opinion, but the fact remains that the console side of gaming props up a large amount of the software that gets released.

 

[Yopaz]

When you can get a gaming PC capable of 1440 p for as little as $700 I don't understand why anyone would even buy a console to begin with.

One reason I can see is the price but with everything so much more expensive on console, and with the way you have to replace consoles more often than you have to upgrade PCs, and with all the great PC exclusives that are coming out and the way so many console games just get ported anyway, the only reason I can see to buy a console is brand loyalty or to get a particular exclusive you just have to play.

You know, I am a PC gamer and this attitude is still annoying me. There are several reasons people buy consoles and I happen to have 4 consoles in the room right now if we don't count the 3DS as one.

People want the games that comes for the consoles. I love my PC, but it doesn't play all the games I want.

People want something they can't use without needing to know how their hardware measures up.

People like the fact that they can hook it up to the TV without any fuzz while while a PC is generally hooked up to and adjusted to work on a different monitor. I can easily hook my PC up to my TV, but in order to do it well I would need to get a wireless keyboard, a wireless mouse and a wireless controller.

I could go on, but I have a feeling I've gone far enough off topic as it is.

OT: As others have mentioned a new console is new and shiny. It's expensive, it will have bugs and you'll be rewarded by ending up with a total library of 2 good games. Now I am of course being a massive hypocrite here because I love new tech. I won't always pre-order or even buy it, but I will be looking out for it regardless of my plans to buy it or not.

I still look up information about the Xbox One despite having no plans to buy it. I am curious, I want to know. I understand why people would pre-order it simply to satisfy their thirst for new tech getting into their houses.

Also as always there's the question, why would you pre-order this when you could buy it later? Well we want it to be available to us when we want it or have a need for it. The Wii was quite hard to get unless you pre-ordered it. My friend pre-ordered it and he still had to wait a few months to actually get it. People fear this will happen to them, that what they want will be out of their reach because they're too late. They buy it before they see a need or a desire for it because they might not be able to get it when this desire awakens. Now what we have here is what we call a vicious cycle.

In short, there's quite a few reason people pre-order consoles.

 

[Barbas]

Impatience, over-excitement and a lack of willpower.

 

[Bluestorm83]

You'd preorder a console because your kid wants it and you're not going to stand in line from 11 PM to 8 AM only to find out that the goddamn store lied about the number they were getting and oh, SORRY, but you're 7th in line and we only have 6, you can go fuck yourselves.

That's a true story.

Even if you DO want it for yourself, so what? If you want a thing, and you want it NOW, why not buy it NOW? You're an adult, and you can do that without being shamed by an internet society. I got a 360 at launch. Red Rings every year or two, mandating repairs. I did NOT get a PS3 at launch. When I eventually got one, it lacked a suitable hard drive space because it had been diminished due to marketing, AND backwards compatibility was removed.

There are positives and negatives to every console out there, and I don't just mean every version or brand. I mean that on a pallet of 500 PS4s, I'm sure that no two are exactly the same and are all hiding exciting individual ways to fuck up and ruin one of your days. That said, you want to get that new inFAMOUS game? Buy that PS4 and stop winging about it.

 

[Kittyhawk]

A better question might be why pre-order at all?

Its very nice to be first out of the blocks for a new gen, but there will always be more once the rush dies down. Also why stand in the cold outside for one, when you can buy online and have it delivered to your door?

I never pre-order any games, because its kind of a long con. Retailer takes your pre-order money and sits on it, while it earns them interest. The extras offered may seem good, but ultimately undermine any title into factions of ''we have it all and you don't'' gamers.

 

[Catfood220]

When you can get a gaming PC capable of 1440 p for as little as $700 I don't understand why anyone would even buy a console to begin with.

One reason I can see is the price but with everything so much more expensive on console, and with the way you have to replace consoles more often than you have to upgrade PCs, and with all the great PC exclusives that are coming out and the way so many console games just get ported anyway, the only reason I can see to buy a console is brand loyalty or to get a particular exclusive you just have to play.

Well for a start, graphics are not the be all and end of why I play games. And secondly, I am a very lazy person, I want to put a disk into a device and know that the game is going to play without any problems. I can't be arsed faffing around with settings or the possibility that my sound card is out of date and won't run with this game or some other bollocks reason.

I have only pre ordered a console once, that was the Gamecube and while I loved my Gamecube, I learned my lesson. There was only a couple of decent games to play for the first year or so of the Gamecubes life, it was frustrating if nothing else. Mind you, the Gamecube launch line up was awesome compared to anything released for this latest generation of consoles

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I expect a lot of pre-ordering comes in the shape of seasonal and birthday gifting. And of course people who figure they'll risk the bugs/lack of interesting launches.

 

[BoredRolePlayer]

When you can get a gaming PC capable of 1440 p for as little as $700 I don't understand why anyone would even buy a console to begin with.

One reason I can see is the price but with everything so much more expensive on console, and with the way you have to replace consoles more often than you have to upgrade PCs, and with all the great PC exclusives that are coming out and the way so many console games just get ported anyway, the only reason I can see to buy a console is brand loyalty or to get a particular exclusive you just have to play.

I was talking with a fellow programmer at work and we both agree the reason we like Console gaming over PC games a good chunk of the time is that after a long day you want to sit down and play something that works and not spend all effing day trying to fix it, also sometimes I want to buy a game and it works. I already spend a day making software for people to use and fixing problems, I don't want to spend my off time doing it for myself. Also not every game I play comes out on PC, so why would I PC only.

 

[BaronVH]

I put off getting a console for the longest time as an esclusive PC gamer. Blizzard, Valve, and Bioware kept me glued to the PC. Then more and more games did not come to PC, and several required manipulation to run right. I eventually made the console plunge and came to love it. My couch is confortable as hell. My home theater is great, and I know the games will work. The reason people pre-order these things is that they want to play the games. At least for me. I hope everybody that did gets a system that works fine. Some xbox fanatics are gloating about the PS4 issues (but a surprising number are being classy), and it is likely they will experience problems too. I hope they don't, and I hope the number of issues are more of a vocal minority than not.

 

[pilouuuu]

When you can get a gaming PC capable of 1440 p for as little as $700 I don't understand why anyone would even buy a console to begin with.

One reason I can see is the price but with everything so much more expensive on console, and with the way you have to replace consoles more often than you have to upgrade PCs, and with all the great PC exclusives that are coming out and the way so many console games just get ported anyway, the only reason I can see to buy a console is brand loyalty or to get a particular exclusive you just have to play.

This. And that makes the point of pre-ordering a console even more nonsensical, especially when the point is to get something "new". Well, with these "next-gen" consoles you hardly get anything new.

- Just a few new games which in fact are the same games we've been getting for many years with a new coat of paint.
- The graphics may be slightly better, but even as they get called "next-gen" they're already behind PCs. Nothing new again.
- The only new thing is the price and the crazy new DRM which Microsoft wants to put into its box.

I agree that playing a game on PC may be a little more complicated, but when you think that you may get Steam and games dirty cheap on it which autoupdate themselves and you can use Steam Workshop to mod games to be even much better than "next-gen" consoles, PC games stops becoming a concern and should become a priority to anyone that wants to have a real gaming machine. Well, the last point is the only thing that makes me think why anyone would want to pre-order or buy a console. Because they want a TOY. And that, I must say, Nintendo achieves amazingly. It's the other consoles which are something between a toy, a dated PC and a DRM Big Brother machine which are uncomfortably nonsensical for gaming as you should.

 

[Saltyk]

Well, let's see. I could pay $400 at once. Or, I could be really smart and pay $100 to preorder and then pay $20 a week for a few months. Next thing I know, the whole system is payed off and I barely felt the pain of buying it.

That's literally half the reason I prordered the PS4. I knew I was going to get it. I knew I wanted to play Infamous: Second Son and Destiny. So, I opted to pay it off over time. Bonus: I got two pretty damn good indie titles for free!

 

[BaronVH]

When you can get a gaming PC capable of 1440 p for as little as $700 I don't understand why anyone would even buy a console to begin with.

One reason I can see is the price but with everything so much more expensive on console, and with the way you have to replace consoles more often than you have to upgrade PCs, and with all the great PC exclusives that are coming out and the way so many console games just get ported anyway, the only reason I can see to buy a console is brand loyalty or to get a particular exclusive you just have to play.

This. And that makes the point of pre-ordering a console even more nonsensical, especially when the point is to get something "new". Well, with these "next-gen" consoles you hardly get anything new.

- Just a few new games which in fact are the same games we've been getting for many years with a new coat of paint.
- The graphics may be slightly better, but even as they get called "next-gen" they're already behind PCs. Nothing new again.
- The only new thing is the price and the crazy new DRM which Microsoft wants to put into its box.

I agree that playing a game on PC may be a little more complicated, but when you think that you may get Steam and games dirty cheap on it which autoupdate themselves and you can use Steam Workshop to mod games to be even much better than "next-gen" consoles, PC games stops becoming a concern and should become a priority to anyone that wants to have a real gaming machine. Well, the last point is the only thing that makes me think why anyone would want to pre-order or buy a console. Because they want a TOY. And that, I must say, Nintendo achieves amazingly. It's the other consoles which are something between a toy, a dated PC and a DRM Big Brother machine which are uncomfortably nonsensical for gaming as you should.

I agree with everything you said, but the only big issue is that many great games only come out on consoles. I assume pirates, ease of optimising, and revenue are the reasons. I felt like I was forced to get a console, and I am glad I did it, although the maturity level of people on multiplayer is so bad I just don't do it on consoles. My other huge complaint with consoles is that many games are dumbed down. Imagine a military strategy game where the sides actually spoke their native language? Highly unlikely on consoles. I will say I am one of the lucky people that has never had a single thing go wrong with any console of mine. PC is a different story, but it gets much more use.

 

[Something Amyss]

What benefit or reason is there to it? Odds are you'll be getting the buggiest version of the console

People want the newest, shiniest thing. They are often either willing to gamble on hardware problems or lack the pattern recognition to figure it out. And honestly, I have no sympathy for either group when their toys break.

 

[infinity_turtles]

Well, it nobody buys it at launch then the thing to pretty much bound to fail, and that would mean the end of whatever first part series you like.

 

[SaetonChapelle]

I never pre-order game systems. There are rarely any games out I even want to play, and I realize with my luck I will get the buggiest of all systems. I like the wait until everything gets calmed down and until there are at least 5 games released for it

 

[RicoADF]

When you can get a gaming PC capable of 1440 p for as little as $700 I don't understand why anyone would even buy a console to begin with.

One reason I can see is the price but with everything so much more expensive on console, and with the way you have to replace consoles more often than you have to upgrade PCs, and with all the great PC exclusives that are coming out and the way so many console games just get ported anyway, the only reason I can see to buy a console is brand loyalty or to get a particular exclusive you just have to play.

I have 2 pc's that can do that, and have each of the consoles. It's a mixture of wanting to play any game I feel like and not having to worry about platform and because consoles, frankly, can be less hassle alot of the time. After working in IT all day the last thing I feel like doing is coming home and doing IT support on my own PC, 99% of the time this isn't an issue but when it does happen I often just turn the console on and play something, dealing with the PC when I can be bothered.

 

[BoredRolePlayer]

I just don't really see the point to preordering a console and was wandering if anyone could shine light on why someone would, or why they wouldn't.

If people don't adopt consoles early, said console won't get support from developers. The console will struggle and flop around for a year or two, before dying out and fading away. Now, I don't know if you're asking specifically about pre-ordering and aren't including buying within the first month or two of launch (since the systems are liable to be the same within that period of time), but it all comes to the same end: If you want to see more games on a system, there has to actually be people buying things on that system.

The people who wait for 5+ or 10+ games they'll love on a console before they buy are perfectly entitled to do as such, but they're not the ones keeping the console industry alive. If they made up the entire consumer base, every console made would be a massive failure. Whether that's a good or bad thing is fully down to personal opinion, but the fact remains that the console side of gaming props up a large amount of the software that gets released.

Holy cripes, GOLD STAR. Seriously, I don't wan to sound hyperbolic but I think you may be the very first person on this forum that actually seems to know how the world and business works. Hell it is the same with games. That is why I feel like crying on the inside when I see people here encourage people to not buy games at all outside of steam sale. If everyone did that, the gaming would likely die out.

Problem is that it's a chicken and egg thing, if there are no good games or incentive to buy a console at launch no one wants it. And if there no one is buying it no one makes games for it making it less of a reason. Look at the WiiU, there was no real incentive to buy a system where the big hitters were ports from other systems, so no one bought it. And now devs are saying no one bought it so why make games for it, while lying about saying no one wants to use the game pad while big name games are using iPads and Android Tablets to do stuff for the game outside of the game.

 

[BoredRolePlayer]

What benefit or reason is there to it? Odds are you'll be getting the buggiest version of the console

People want the newest, shiniest thing. They are often either willing to gamble on hardware problems or lack the pattern recognition to figure it out. And honestly, I have no sympathy for either group when their toys break.

Problem is when you sell a device to someone it should work, doesn't matter if it's new or not. Also the ones who get it early also report the problems it has early enough to be fixed, so while you might not have sympathy for them they are the ones who get and yell about it's problems the most.

 

[BaronVH]

This is a question that has been bugging me for a while now, and one that I can never seem to find an answer for.

Why would anyone preorder a console?

What benefit or reason is there to it? Odds are you'll be getting the buggiest version of the console, at the highest price (assuming it will drop in price), with about 10-20 games at launch that'll more than likely be on par with that you are playing on a current system.

I just don't really see the point to preordering a console and was wandering if anyone could shine light on why someone would, or why they wouldn't.

there was an experiment conducted in either america or the uk where the participants could choose after answering some silly questions if they wanted to have the money directly on their hands or by transaction, which would take 2 days to be completed but they would recieve 50 % more money as compensation.

somewhere around 80% took the cash right know instead of going for the more logical decision to just wait some days and recieve more.

in short, people are stupid.

Some people want to support it and/or play the games as soon as they come out.

kind of doesnt work anymore with the ps3 and 4

There is another reason: the value of the product now is worth more to them than getting it later with more cash. I would take the more money evey day, but if somebody sold me tickets to the Super Bowl for $250 and good seats, I would not sell them for $1000 and buy bad seats. The value of the good seat to the Super bowl to me is worth more than the money. On a strictly investment side if we are only dealing with money is the time value of money. I would wait in order to get more cash unless i could make more by taking it all up front and investing the difference. For gamers and pre-ordering the consoles, I think it is most likely that the present value of their 'toy' outweighs the risk of failure. Conservesly, you are correct in that many people do not rationally think things through and can only conceive of present time. I pre-ordered since the risk of it not being available prior to the holiday is greater to me than its risk of failure. My family wants it prior to the new year; therefore, it is not likely that the price will drop or an improved system will be released in that time. Also, I do not live from one paycheck to the next, so the risk is more of frustration than monetary loss.

 

[Something Amyss]

Problem is

The problem is, when you live in a culture that vilifies consumer rights and insists upon the mentality of "free market, bitches," rewarding bad products only results in more bad products.