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Game developers are getting increasingly better at creating hype about a game at launch. And that’s where pre-orders come in. On paper, they seem like a good deal. You often get early access to the game, some quality in-game items, and perhaps even a discount.
However, what you see isn’t always what you get. Here are the reasons why I don’t pre-order games anymore.
1Avoiding Release Day Bugs
With the rushed schedules that games are developed with these days, release-day bugs are almost guaranteed in just about every game you get with a pre-purchase. This is more true with certain franchises than others, so your mileage may vary. Perhaps the best example of this is the disaster that was Cyberpunk 2077’s launch.
Games not launching, multiplayer servers crashing or not working, graphical bugs or glitches, and games just straight-up not working aren’t unheard of. If it’s an FPS or other competitive game, the weaponry or abilities also tend to be unbalanced as the developers need some time and player feedback before they can start balancing the meta.
Although most game developers respond quickly and quash the bugs before they get out of hand, this is a product you’ve paid full price for. For all the promises game studios make, and given the atrocious pricing for pre-order bundles, you really should be getting a playable game from day one.
2Publishers Are Forced To Release Better Games
When pre-ordering games, you’re essentially believing in a game’s marketing and showing that customers are willing to pay full price (or sometimes even more) for a game that hasn’t been released yet. This puts less pressure on the developers to make a good game that it sells well post-release.
Back when pre-ordering didn’t exist, game developers would be under pressure to make a complete game that sold well from day one. This meant that if you were to pick up a game on release day, you’d get the full package. Pre-ordering, on the other hand, gives game studios money for something they haven’t delivered yet, taking that pressure off.
3Misleading Marketing
Remember when game developers used to release E3 trailers for games months before release and everyone would lose their minds, only to be disappointed later when the game was released? Video game marketing can be misleading, to say the least.
A lot of the time, mechanics or scenes shown in trailers don’t make it into the actual game. The same goes for graphics as it’s not unheard of for a game to be vastly different from its trailer versus when you’re running it on your PC or console.
You might see the odd “in development” disclaimer tucked away in the corner, but video game trailers are generally pretty good at creating an impression about the game which might not be true.
One of the most recent examples of this, in my opinion, is Assassin’s Creed Mirage. Ubisoft got people, myself included, excited at the prospect of the franchise returning to its roots after a series of RPG-focused games. However, the final product ended up being a half-hearted attempt at best.
4Lack of Content at Launch
Another issue with pre-ordering games is the lack of content at launch. If I’m dropping $70 for a game a couple of months in advance, I’d like it to have content that lasts longer than a couple of hours.
A stark example of this is The Day Before. Other than the game being accused of plagiarizing other games, the game had absurdly little to do at launch, way too many bugs, and wasn’t playable beyond the first couple of hours. Another example would be No Man’s Sky which, despite making a good recovery later, did not launch with enough content to justify the pre-order’s price tag.
5Sales Happen Quite Often
Games that don’t sell well often go on sale—that’s just a basic fact of how products work in a market. Besides, if you’re using something like Steam or Epic to maintain your game library, chances are you’re going to be able to get the game a little later, when the bugs have been ironed out and there’s enough content, at a much better price.
Take EA’s FC (formerly FIFA) games for example. I’ve purchased every FC version since 2021, but never at full price. A couple of months after the game releases, there’s usually a Steam sale that helps me save anywhere from 30 to 50 percent on the game’s base price.
Considering the buggy mess that the EA FC franchise has been since at least 2022, that’s a great deal for a game that I like to play but would hesitate to pay full price for. The market is also better developed then, and the game also gets several updates that fix the initial bugs.
Consideringyou can even get Xbox Game Pass for free, this just makes pre-ordering a game senseless. And if you feel like there are too many gaming subscriptions to choose from, I wouldn’t blame you, but we can help youchoose the best gaming subscription for you.
6The Game Won’t Go Out of Stock
You should keep in mind that in this digital era, the game is always going to be available. Gone are the days when you had to rush to the store to pick up your physical copies before they sold out.
So, even if you wait until launch day and buy the game from whichever digital store, you’ll still be making a far more informed decision than paying a hefty sum based on a trailer and promises that might not be fulfilled.
Waiting a little longer will not only get you a better deal on the game, but it’s also likely to make your experience much better as developers push updates to fix bugs and add additional content to make the game worth the money.
