The other day I was thinking about pre-ordering Mass Effect Andromeda because I’m so hyped up for it. But I didn’t because my boyfriend and I have decided to stop giving in to this culture of preordering games.
Why?
Because preordering a game without knowing what it’s like is a detriment to the industry.
What it essentially teaches game companies is this: It doesn’t matter what the actual content of the game is; what matters is the marketing strategy you use to entice gamers into making a hasty decision to preorder a game they may or may not even like. (No Man’s Sky was a perfect example of this.)
Video game reviews and word of mouth used to be a bigger contributing factor as to why people bought certain games. If a professional critic you agreed with told you it was actually worth your time or money to buy a game, you’d be more likely to purchase it. But reviews are also the sort of the thing that can make or break a game before it even comes out, and publishers know this. If IGN gave a game a 5.5/10, it would be bad for business. Thus, retailers and game companies bypass the hump by providing preordering.
By getting you committed into purchasing a game in advance, you've basically just told them that you, as a consumer, are totally cool spending $60 on a game simply based on it’s marketing strategy.
And guess what? It’s. Fucking. Working.
I mean, have you even seen anyone play that game you’re looking to get? Have you even seen the gameplay yet? Sure, the poster looks cool and the screenshots they released are dope, but...
Okay. Let’s use E3 as an example: Every year game developers come to show off their newest projects and latest games. All because they want to try to entice gamers into preordering a game that may or may not even launch in time or even be completed, ever.
E3 is basically a marketing scheme, designed to get you to pull out your wallet and throw a huge sum of money into a unfinished product as early as possible. At E3 you have no way of 100% knowing if the game will ever be out or if it’s even good. You’re only looking at a partial product. There’s no guarantee that Uncharted 5 or Final Fantasy XVI is going to be a great game, which is why pre-ordering games is such a absurd idea.
By preordering a game solely because it’s part of the Assassin’s Creed or Final Fantasy series, you’re telling these game companies that they don’t even need to create good content. You’re basically telling them that as long as their marketing posters are plastered everywhere and their ads are in your face, you will feel excited enough to preorder a game you know nothing about.
Publishers want your money now. They want you to pull out your cash and commit yourself to a game based on their marketing materials. That’s why they push the idea that these games will have that special deal or limited promotion that they’ve convinced you is “just too good to pass up!”
Why are we falling for it?
What are the upsides of preordering? You get a special limited edition figurine with the game? Do you really need that figure? No, really. Do you really need it? Where are you even going to put it? What purpose will it serve? Does it really enhance your lifestyle? It’ll just sit on a shelf and collect dust until you eventually forget about it, accidentally break it, or throw it away.
All preordering conveys to game companies is that they can count on your money. There’s no reason to put money down on games have only just been announced. For all you know, next year it could be in development hell.
These game companies don't need to convince you that their games are good, because by giving in to preordering a game you’re telling them that you will buy whatever they dish out, garbage or otherwise.
Why would game companies want to come out with demos if they know you’re going to spend money on their game anyway? Why even bother? Why not just cut a $60 game into 5 segments and force consumers like yourselves to pay 5 x $60 for the entire game piece by piece?
Why not milk it? You’ve never given them any reason not to. And while we’re at it, why not release special in-game items for more money so certain players can gain competitive advantages? That way, you feel inclined to buy these special weapons too in order to win a round and so the cycle goes on and on until there’s a perfect cycle going around to rake in more and more dough, so that they can create more games that aren’t always necessarily good quality but just a fast way to earn more cash.
The video games you are looking forward to aren’t going to just magically become unavailable forever overnight. It won’t kill you to wait a bit before committing to buy a game. Gather more knowledge for the game and its performance while you wait. Not only is it a safer to buy a game after careful research, it also helps prevent buyer’s remorse. Besides, it’s a good habit to make sure an online game is fully functional before putting your money down. No one wants to buy a game with all its servers offline the day it’s released.
In my case, if the reviews are out and I still want to buy Mass Effect: Andromeda, I can just go to Game Stop and buy it the day it comes out. Even if it’s sold out, it’s not that big a deal not to get it the day of. The game isn’t going to magically walk off and leave the store. There will be plenty of copies.
TLDR; So I guess what I’m trying to say is: Buy games safely and wisely. Don’t give in to the preorder culture. At least for big games (I’m sure there are those exceptional ‘limited edition’ games that you’ll want because they hold a special place in your heart, but just choose wisely).
I mean, if $60 isn’t that big a deal to you, then I guess go ahead and buy whatever. I’m just trying to save some of you from having a awful case of buyer’s regret.
But this is all just my opinion. What do I know anyway? I’m not a video game aficionado. I don’t work in the industry. This is just my two cents.
I’m probably going to get a lot of flack for this too. But I just wanted to toss this isn’t the tumblr black hole before I forget I ever thought to write this.
