Honestly, if the idea of no trials don’t bother you, there are plenty more reminders why YOU shouldn’t preorder.

  • CascadianBeam@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    115
    ·
    1 year ago

    I think it’s an age thing a lot of times. It’s like telling my kids to brush their teeth because of my experiences with dental, or you can plug any example like that.

    I can tell kids not to preorder all I want. They just haven’t had the opportunity to be burned as many times as we have yet.

    • Skray@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      55
      ·
      1 year ago

      I think a lot of gamers just don’t care enough too. I know so many people that buy a game on release, play it for a few hours, and then drop it. Even AAA titles that are actually good.

      Steam achievements kinda confirm that as well, there is a fair bit of drop-off on even the most popular games.

    • BrightCandle@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      17
      ·
      1 year ago

      It made some sense when they came in physical format and there was a real risk of a highly sought game selling out. Nowadays they have put worthless digital incentives on preorders and they can’t possibly run out.

      • Botree@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        11
        ·
        1 year ago

        It didn’t make sense to me that people are pre-ordering digital copies at first too, then I remember mtx and streamers which didn’t exist back then.

        It’s the boiling frog syndrome. Gradual implementation of predatory monetization practices like mtx and gachas have made us grown numb to being treated like cash cows for unfinished products.

        The latest generation of gamers probably see this as a norm. It’s up to us oldies to remind them about the good ol’ days when you only pay once for finished products.

      • Cryst@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        I mean, I usually buy physical and sometimes they do run out. Metroid prime remastered for instance was a pain to get. Granted it’s probably not the norm but it happens.

    • Syndic@feddit.de
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      13
      ·
      1 year ago

      I think it’s an age thing a lot of times.

      I don’t have numbers but I bet that a lot of people who preorder aren’t kids but adults with a proper income. Kids as a group don’t have the income to uphold the current presale figures, that’s done by working adults who can afford to preorder a game and take the not so small risk that it’s utterly shit.

      If I want I could preoder a lot of games that come out this year without having to worry about the waste of money to much. I doubt that any regular kid can do that.

    • Poob@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      12
      ·
      1 year ago

      This isn’t a kids thing, we’ve been pre-ordering games since before today’s kids were born

    • Creamatine@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      It’s funny when you get older how much you realize experience is what drives behavior. You can tell a child 100 times about something, but until they experience it themselves, your warnings more often than not will fall on deaf ears.

    • Andonyx@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      8 months ago

      Hey it’s Lemmy, so I will happily use this opportunity to blame rich people as well. I know people doing very well for themselves, who constantly, say, “yeah it sucks, but I’ve got the money and it doesn’t hurt me so who cares?”

      Because they’re so completely unable to to think of ANYONE else in a different situation, or even remember their younger selves, that they will continue to incentivize predatory behavior because “fuck you, I got mine”, and they’re such huge pieces of self involved shit that they won’t delay their gratification for a split second to help out an entire industry’s consumers.

      If that sound harsh, it’s been a shit day full of people just like that; decide on your own if it applies here.

  • Vipsu@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    63
    ·
    1 year ago

    I don’t pre-order games nor do I really buy any games new.

    I mean why should I when I can buy complete version of the game for like 10-20 bucks 1-3 years later. Honestly I’ve simply discarded the idea of being consumer and shifted to thinking myself as customer instead. Its not my job to support the developers and keep their studios afloat its their job by making good games that are actually worth their price tag.

    I already have backlog of games that would take years clear thanks to steam sales, playstation plus and all sorts of bundle offers. I am in no hurry to buy new games and I can easily wait for the developers to actually finish the game and buy the GOTY/Ultimate/Definite edition that includes most if not all the expansions and dlc for a discounted price.

    As for free 2 play and live service games I simply don’t have the time and interest to play those. If I ever make an exception to this then I’ll be using only default skins/cosmetics, no gatcha and ignoring the battle pass completely.

    • li10@feddit.uk
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      12
      ·
      1 year ago

      Its not my job to support the developers and keep their studios afloat its their job by making good games that are actually worth their price tag.

      That’s fine and all, but it goes both ways. If you’re gonna wait years to maybe buy their game, then they’re not going to cater to what you want.

      There’s a middle ground imo. If I love a certain type of game, I’m gonna buy it relatively new to show my support. If you don’t do that, then you’re essentially a bottom of the barrel afterthought that the market simply won’t cater to.

      • Vipsu@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        1 year ago

        I don’t view myself as some sort of unique snowflake that has somehow developer some sort of unique and refined taste in video games. I also belong to the most catered majority in video game industry which is white heterosexual men in their 30’s. Honestly it would probably be better if the industry would cater less to my interests as I feel beyond spoiled with choice already.

        If you want to support some independent gaming studio with handful of passionate developers making niche games of great quality without relying on dark patterns then please do so. But don’t lie to yourself about these bigger corporations as all they really care about generating profits for their shareholders.

        • SCB@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          1 year ago

          All that literally every business that has ever existed cares about is profits. Businesses aren’t charities. People don’t work for free.

          • Vipsu@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            1 year ago

            All that literally every business that has ever existed cares about is profits. Businesses aren’t charities. People don’t work for free.

            Well one thing related to profits that businesses care about above all else is cost effiency. In market economy if a produt or service can be made more cheaply and more efficiently without employing any people then there’s no incentive to keep people employed.

            There’s also quite a difference in some small business with handful of employees that is content with just making some money to keep roof over their heads, food on the table and cover the cost of other necessities compared to some huge multinational corporation where most money goes pretty much everywhere but the developers like to fund the already lavish lifestyles of the filthy rich, tax havens and developing the next get set of dark patterns to leech even more money from customers.

            • SCB@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              3
              ·
              1 year ago

              There is no small business on this planet that would not accept higher profits with no costs to them or disruption in their customer base.

              • Vipsu@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                1 year ago

                Sure and almost all large corporations where small businesses at first until the grew to their current size. The problems usually arise when they hit a wall with their growth and have to start looking for more ways to grow. Often this happens by buying off the competition and eventually enshittification or something like it.

                This is not always the chase and there are quite a few independent developers that just spend those profits to make new better games or just keep improving their one successful title.

    • tusliw@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      11
      ·
      1 year ago

      I second this. I did stop buying games as soon as possible when I had a child.It was like a 2 years gap in my life. I realised it was like living in a shifted timelapse :)

      Now I only play 2 yo games, same for movies and series… It means I only keeps top quality stuff !

    • netvor@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      1 year ago

      when I can buy complete version of the game for like 10-20 bucks 1-3 years later

      …or, for like 1-3 bucks 10-20 years later.

      Life is short, but not that short.

  • exohuman@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    44
    ·
    1 year ago

    FF16 wasn’t preordered as much as they wanted. Then when the game turned out to be okay, people bought it (and it had a demo). It was a hit.

    • Omega@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      10
      ·
      1 year ago

      Yeah, I love Final Fantasy. But I wasn’t very hyped for it. I bought it after I played the demo.

    • Bluefold@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      I bought it after the demo, and while it definitely hit those highs again, the demo didn’t show just how low some of those lows would be. I made it about 60% though the game before abandoning it out boredom. While a demo is great, it is important to remember you’re likely getting a vertical slice of some of the best bits.

    • Creamatine@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      The demo really made me want to get it and actually caused me to preorder. I wasn’t even that excited about it until the demo. Once I turned it on and heard the music that instantly transported me to final fantasy, I was sold. Wound up shelving Diablo until I finish the story for final fantasy. It’s long and I’ve loved every moment. The side quests, while being typically fetch quests, have great stories in them that really build on the world.

      Sorry, this was supposed to be about preordering and turned into me gushing about final fantasy.

    • XbSuper@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      I was super happy for that demo. For me it let me know I wouldn’t enjoy it, so I saved some money.

  • Maple@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    43
    ·
    1 year ago

    I miss the age of videogame demos, it feels like nothing but a distant memory now. And the only reason companies let people play their broken betas now is to gauge excitement for their games and fix any serious game breaking bugs.

      • boletus@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        1 year ago

        Pirating big games is probably morally fine. Pirating indie games is shitty, like stealing from a local business.

        • lefixxx@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          1 year ago

          He is not talking about actual piracy though. Piracy for try-before-you-buy’s sake is even more morally fine.

    • phario@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      12
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      Eh.

      On the flip side, back in the day, a lot of people bought a lot of crappy games based on nothing more than what the cover art on the box showed. The only source of info was video game magazines, and that applied only to new releases and only certain games.

      Now upon release you can look up dozens of detailed reviews, even video reviews. You can watch full play through a on YouTube. You can ask for opinions in social media.

      The amount of information you have to figure out if this game is for you is insane compared to before.

      • Funwayguy@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        1 year ago

        Depends really. Nowadays publishers push out fake CGI marketing trailers and paid reviews to premptively muddy those information sources long before release. Same goes for social media (not that they were ever reliably accurate or objective anyway). There are even promises of DLC roadmaps that never materialise such as the OW2 story mode.

        By the time actual independent reviewers have their embargoes lifted, the preorder sales window has closed and it wouldn’t make much difference to those who already sunk money into the game. Those waiting in vain for DLC and patches are merely sacrificing their refund window.

        • phario@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          That’s true. I understand.

          I’m also not a fan of the DLC and change to video game design based on such payouts.

          But even then, even with fake reviews, young gamers are completely spoiled with information compared to the black hole that existed in the 80s and 90s. I’m not sure how people argue otherwise.

          The fact that I can go on my phone, jump on YouTube, and watch a play through is incredible. When I was young, I had to make decisions based on what the box art looked like ffs.

    • Syndic@feddit.de
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      I miss the age of videogame demos, it feels like nothing but a distant memory now.

      No it isn’t! With Steam you can try most (if not every) game for 2h and return it if you didn’t like it.

      • Maple@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        1 year ago

        That’s not a demo, that’s a return policy. Plus, in most cases you don’t get a good feel of a game in the first 2 hours of the game. A demo is a snippet of the game made specifically to let people get accustomed to most of the mechanics in a game, something that isn’t usually present in the first two hours.

        You could’ve easily said Steam Next Fest and I would’ve agreed with you. Indie devs are the only ones who seem to care about their players these days.

    • Nerdybynature@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      We may just have very different tastes in gaming, but there’s really no shortage of solid game demos out there, they’re just usually for the indie stuff.

      • Maple@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        Yeah, I mentioned that to another person, Steam Next Fest was great this year, I got to try out a bunch of awesome games. But like if we’re talking triple A, or even just games on consoles demos are just a resource sink for a lot of these companies and don’t exist. When there’s a demo there’s usually a lot of marketing push behind it.

        • Nerdybynature@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          1 year ago

          Honestly it’s been more incentive for me to move away from the AAA stuff and lean way more indie. They have demos, deep sales, and they make an effort to engage with the community. It is a bummer the lack of demos available on consoles though.

    • purplemonkeymad@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      16
      ·
      1 year ago

      Steam’s Next fest has brought back some demos on PC. You might not get a demo for a big IP, but you can try lots of smaller dev games without having to buy first.

      • Koordinator O@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        I saw the rise of more demos in the store but didn’t know it’s a thing steam promoted or started. Nice.

  • BuddyDoQ@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    26
    ·
    1 year ago

    Developer here - currently indie but was in the machine at one point. Cold hard fact is that demos hurt sales for AAA games, and pre-orders get cash in the door today to keep the lights on. With millions and years invested, they must hedge and limit risk as hard and as quickly as possible.

    • damipereira@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      18
      ·
      1 year ago

      If demos hurt sales, that means that game devs depend on gamers buying games they don’t actually end up liking right? I understand making games has become pricier and pricier, but if the whole business model is dependent on “We want to trick people into getting stuff they don’t want”, then we have a problem.

      • BuddyDoQ@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        1 year ago

        The reality is probably closer to the flightily nature of us as gamers - We mostly just want to try the game because some part of it seems fun, if that can be tried for free with a demo, why buy it now that we got our fix? Why would a big AAA take that risk?

        • damipereira@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          1 year ago

          If people get enough from a free demo maybe it’s time to make shorter cheaper games, and start churning out 2 hour playtrough 15usd games, but with high quality graphics/acting/voices/etc. Or just abolish capitalism and make fun games no matter if they sell or not 😂

        • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          1 year ago

          If a demo is enough of a fix for a customer, then that’s got to mean that something wrong with the product overall.

          Good games keep you engaged, bad games you leave alone.

          • BuddyDoQ@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            1 year ago

            I personally agree with that sentiment. Rather than demos, I lean into cheap early access indie games that seem cool on steam, and use subscriptions to check out bigger games (humble choice and xbox gamepass). Tons of games to try, while still less than one “full” game in cost each month.

    • axus@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      14
      ·
      1 year ago

      Companies 100% have a right to skip demos and sell pre-orders. And people have a right to boycott those.

      • BuddyDoQ@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        1 year ago

        Absolutely! The numbers show they gain roughly double the sales with trailers/footage and no demo, they won’t budge until boycotts reverses that. Same with microtransactions we all hate; they basically just print money.

    • teamchuckles@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      I don’t really understand how this is measured? I attempted to look up some research on it, but it seems most articles that say this are referencing one conference by Jesse Schnell who basically just correlated games with demos, sales, and expected sales. What measure is used to figure out if a demo causes someone to not buy the game? I suppose if they measured presales that were cancelled after a demo, but most anticipated games don’t have demos anyway so the data is already skewed in the favor of “no demos.” Does it take into account outliers like FFXVI? Highly anticipated game with a demo that sold very well…

      I would venture to guess that the data is skewed because lots of AAA games don’t have demos and lots of indie games that might not have been purchased anyways trying to get a little markershare, but there seems to be such little research on it.

      If you have an actual study on the topic, I would be very interested in seeing their method of results.

  • UKFilmNerd@feddit.uk
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    22
    ·
    1 year ago

    I’ve never understood the concept of pre ordering digital content, it’s not going to run out of stock. And why pay extra for a few graphical items that don’t change the way the game plays?

    Also, surely digital games would be cheaper because there’s no physical product to send to the customer? But there you go. Base copy of Diablo 4 is £70!! Wow!

    • Venomnik0@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      1 year ago

      Initially pre orders made sense back when physical media was the only way to get games. Nowadays though, you are absolutely right. Digital games have no right to cost around the price as a physical product (especially when even that physical product doesn’t even have a cool manual and its just an empty plastic box with a disc in it).

      • UKFilmNerd@feddit.uk
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        I know right. What’s the point of these new games coming with beautiful steel books but no discs.

        I can see why because the games are so big, there’s no point sticking a bit of it on a disc. That’s why physical media is becoming redundant. All these games require patches to run and they won’t be around for ever. Not even Switch games are complete on cartridge these days.

      • cyberpunk007@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        Having something tangible can have perks. Steam bans you. Thousands lost. Online service shuts down. Games lost. I can still fire up this here super Nintendo… And nobody can tell me when it’s going to shut down and stop working.

        One of the reasons I prefer to buy on gog. I can just save all my purchases to an external hard drive

    • Smoogs@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      I agree about the content never running out. I disagree that the content isn’t worth more though. The quality is definitely getting up there and the design teams are grilled while getting ripped off. The corruption of Capitalism has rotted your brain. it is your choice to take the DLC. It shouldn’t be your choice to piss on slave driven developers. not ok.

      • UKFilmNerd@feddit.uk
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        I’m not pissing on DLC, that content can be fantastic additions to already great games. What I find pointless are the pre order bonuses when it’s just a fancy red coat when the base game comes with a blue one.

        • Smoogs@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          You literally bagged on a game for being $70 for full cost. But now you’re saying it’s how it’s marketed? Pick an argument. Stick to it.

    • Freeman@lemmy.pub
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      1 year ago

      Im not one to be too hung up on the cost of games. They have stayed relatively stagnant for years and have undoubtedly grown in complexity and with that, staffing requirements. I mean Halo: Combat Evolved was $50 dollars from release well into 2003 and this was before internet based multiplayer games on console were really all that common.

      So given how much costs have increased for other items…A 70-80 dollar game isnt necessarily outrageous. Especially given the amount of time some will play said games. 200 is a different story.

      Im also not against paid methods to skip a grind. Some people have time to do repetitive tasks in games and may even get joy out of it. Others dont have that kind of time, so a paid option isnt necessarily out of bounds for me. Personally I get an hour or so a night to play, whereas most kids can get 6-8 hours a DAY… But my time is worth money, much more so than a kid, so if it costs me another 20 bucks to skip 8-10 hours of grind and be on an equal playing field, im all for that.

      • UKFilmNerd@feddit.uk
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        1 year ago

        You’ve reminded me of when Battlefield: Bad Company was first released on Xbox360 (and maybe PS3, I don’t remember) EA released a more expensive gold steelbook edition where everything was unlocked from from the start with an included code.

        • Freeman@lemmy.pub
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          I vaguely recall it being a bit dramatic too. But that’s a great example.

          In BF games weapons and attachments are behind some weird lock system. So in bf3 or bf4 here’s me getting my 1 hour a night unlocking a basic scope or playing with iron sights going against kids/young adults that have gotten my weekly leveling dont in a single session and just blasting me with IR scopes telling me to “git gud”. And I don’t even have the “non reflective” uniform yet thst counters it so I’m basically very easy to see.

          That’s…not fun. Thus I won’t buy the game, especially with the recent chnages we’re team mechanics don’t matter. And like it or not, a large swath of people that play games are normal working class adults with absolutely normal lives.

  • nekomusumeninaritai
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    21
    ·
    1 year ago

    Financially, preorders without a “preorder bonus” are a zero interest loan to the developer. Preorders with the “preorder bonus” are a loan with the bonus as interest. Even if the game were guaranteed to be good, you could most likely be doing something better with the money until it comes out. Since the game is not guaranteed to be good, it is a risky loan as well. Without any of the protections you get when you make an actual loan.

    • gk99@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      Without any of the protections you get when you make an actual loan.

      I’d say a 100% refund when requested with less than two hours of use within the first two weeks is a pretty good protection, and it’s pretty much the standard policy on PC.

      • nekomusumeninaritai
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        That’s certainly true. I’d still say that for the online stores, for which that policy applies, there isn’t a lot of upside to preordering. Because the purchase is digital, you will always be able to get a copy on release day (unless the publisher artificially limits how many games it will sell, but I’ve never heard of a publisher doing this).

    • Tempotown@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      I would also guess the people doing preorders comparatively aren’t the ones who are the harshest critics of the game and are more likely to enjoy the experience.

      The caveat being that this would not be true if the game is a buggy mess that isn’t uncommon on launch these days.

  • majere@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    20
    ·
    1 year ago

    I’ve been hearing this since 2010. Nothing is going to change.

    EA Sports 2024 is going to come out, it’s going to have 40,000 mixed reviews.

    • oryx@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      10
      ·
      1 year ago

      Yeah, the whole no pre-ordering thing is simply just a personal moral thing. Any amount of people who pledge not to are massively outnumbered by the vast majority of gamers who simply do not care. This simply doesn’t matter anymore.

      • dangblingus@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        It’s not a moral thing at all. Do you know why publishers want people to pre-order games? It’s not like people didn’t buy games before pre-ordering, but now it’s just to create a marketing funnel and to sell your personal data. Worried that you won’t be able to pick up a copy of Starfield? Don’t be. There will be millions of copies.

        • aidan@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          No, its because of economics. Cash now is always worth more than cash later. It is better to be able to take any money and invest it now so you can get a return. Its the same reason companies want you to put money on your account or buy giftcards.

          • dangblingus@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            0
            ·
            1 year ago

            Usually games don’t go up in price between when preorders open and the final sale price. So taking inflation into account, games are technically cheaper at point of sale than when you preordered. Games aren’t an investment vehicle, nor do they guarantee any monetary value for the consumer. They aren’t investments.

            • aidan@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              0
              ·
              1 year ago

              You misunderstood my point completely. Someone selling anything has an incentive to be paid as soon as possible, not only because of inflation but because they can reinvest it. Someone buying a product likewise has the inverse where they have an incentive to pay as late as possible. But the volumes are obviously different, a game developer may gain millions in early liquidity because of preorders but the individual customer only loses $60-$70. This is why the developers push for pre-orders. Money now is worth more than money later.

    • Scanzy@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      I also stopped trying. It’s impossible to have a conversation with absolutely everyone that plays games to get them to stop pre-ordering.

      Gamers are also some of the worst type of people (sorry, just being honest here). They generally have very little self control and it’s almost impossible to get them to change their minds or change their habits.

      I can only change my own behaviors and stop getting fucked by these AAA publishers. Once you realize that it’s ok to wait a week or so to see if the game is good, life gets much better.

  • Fubar91@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    20
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    My money, my choice. Everyone saying otherwise can eat a bag of dicks. I’ll preorder for bonuses if a game looks good, and I’ll refund that purchase if it releases in a garbage state.

    I must remeber the history of gaming completely differently. Noone was demanding trials. Majority of people went to a store, looked at box art, made a purchase based on the art and description on the back. Plenty of stinkers in the mix.

    Trails would be nice sure, not going to deny that. But I fail to see how pre-ordering is linked to no trials lol.

    The concept of needing to pre-order a digital asset is already dumb as fuck. It won’t run out of stock or anything. That should be the reason to stop pre-orders, not due to a lack of arbitrary trails. Only reason I do it os the bonues or early access/head starts.

    • Burstar@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      1 year ago

      Nobody, not once, has said ‘it is not your choice’. This always gets brought up like that’s what the argument is. Make the stupid choice all you want. Be our guest. What we’re saying is “if you pre-order this game, you have zero right to: complain about its content for ANY reason, bitch about release delays, or complain about the constant degradation in release quality of ALL games (because like it or not you’re the reason why this happens)”. Thing is you won’t though will you? You’ll be first to give a bad review saying ‘I got early access and the quality is garbage!’.

      Let me guess though, you’ll be like “muh, my money, my right to complain about what I want” because taking responsibility for the inevitable consequences of ones actions is for people with actual impulse-control.

      • Fubar91@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        You sure make a ton of assumptions buddy.

        I have every right to complain about whatever I want, whenever I want, and yes i can spend my money on whatever i want however i want. Don’t like it, take your shit and fuck off little man.

        You miss the entire statement of me refunding it if it’s bad? I specifically pay in a manner that allows me to refund or even charge back at will, which impacts the seller equally. How about the point about pre-orders being dumb overall, thats literallyin agreement? Or the referencing of the specifics around pre-orders = no more trials, as stated in the OP.

        Now I’m just gonna stoop to your shit brain level and assume youre a broke ass child who spends money they can’t afford to lose on non-essetinal items, like video games for example.

        • Burstar@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          1 year ago

          The ways to force a refund on a preorder are much reduced over that of straight purchasing the game after release. Pay by Credit Card too far in advance? Request declined. And, considering you already proved most my assumptions correct (namely ‘lack of impulse control’, and ‘muh, my money my right to be a bitch’) already I’ll add another one. You won’t refund a bad product even with the only assured window you get (the small warrantee period you get from things like Steam ie: 2hours) for 2 reasons: 1) you’re a sucker for the BS appeals to patience and tolerance that marketing always puts out when there are ‘unforseen, lul, issues with development’, and 2) you’re so starved for anything to distract you from your miserable life you’ll accept getting your feces pushed in by game companies for the meagre hits of dopamine you get from your pre-purchase rewards.

          Here’s the deal: your life is already so bad I’ll give you permission to make the selfish, impulsive purchase decision only because I’d rather you ruin the game industry than take out your issues on real people in your life (if you have any left).

    • Ashtear@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      I was selling countless pre-orders at retail going back to 2001. I don’t know when this mythical time would have been either.

      Ultimately, the vast majority of people making pre-orders aren’t here, on reddit, or any gaming community. And frankly, with the rate at which physical print runs are shrinking, people are going to find they will need to pre-order if they want a physical copy of anything not AAA.

    • dangblingus@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      1 year ago

      Hey, fair enough. It is your money. If you see value, go for it. I have trouble seeing value because 9 times out of 10, preorder bonuses are like skins for mp or something else I care little about. But I just have a problem with data collection and selling it to 3rd parties.

      • Fubar91@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        1 year ago

        Yep people see value in things differently, which is fine by me. I also disagree with the problem of mass data collection farming then selling to 3rd parties.

  • bouh@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    20
    ·
    1 year ago

    There is no buying games anymore. You rent them now until the servers are down or Microsoft makes a new windows version.

    • forgotaboutlaye@feddit.de
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      12
      ·
      1 year ago

      The exception to this is GOG – They, and publishers/developers that release on their store, should be supported whenever possible.

      Not perfect, but miles above the alternatives.

      • Saneless@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        I stopped buying from there once I got a steam deck. If they had a native client I’d go right back to the majority of my purchases from there

        Yes I’ve done heroic or bottles or whatever. Not worth it

    • XTornado@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      I mean if anything Windows is super backward compatible. I would agree with the consoles…but windows? Yeah maybe Linux with proton works better nowadays for older games… but I would not say a new version of Windows breaks your old games, there might be exceptions but it’s not that common.

      • mgiuca@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        10
        ·
        1 year ago

        There has basically been a single “event” in recent memory that a new version of Windows broke compatibility with thousands of games: Windows 10 came with a security patch that broke SafeDisc DRM. Which a tonne of games from the 2000s decade used on their CDs. Ultimately, I don’t blame Microsoft. These games were purposely (via a third party) exploiting a security bug in the operating system, and it eventually got fixed.

        Apart from that, Microsoft have always (going back to Windows 95) been explicitly supporting backwards compatibility of old software, though obviously there are always exceptions as software uses undocumented features of the OS that break over time.

    • SCB@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      This take is up there with “you don’t buy beer, you just rent it.”

    • Frost Wolf@lemmy.worldOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      That’s a sad state of gaming. And I’m glad we have millions of game for emulation if that’s the case.

    • KSP Atlas@sopuli.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      Factorio is pretty good, allows you to download any version of the game for any OS as many times as you want as long as you own the game (also allows downloading from site even if you bought from steam), doesn’t need internet connection to run, the multiplayer is player hosted (exception is authentication and optional blocklists)

  • rustyfish@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    20
    ·
    1 year ago

    I gave up on that. I just don’t care anymore. No, that’s not true. I actually care somewhat.

    People preorder, game comes out, game is shit at launch, they get into a furious rage online, I chuckle.

  • xytaruka@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    19
    ·
    1 year ago

    I pre-ordered baldurs gate 3 after playing the developers previous game divinity original sin 2 and hearing a rather large amount of praise for the content available in the early access.

    It’s something I wouldn’t regularly do but in their short line of recent games Larian studios have left a very good impression on me and I trust them individually.

    • _spiffy@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      1 year ago

      DOS2 is such an insanely good game. BG3 is shaping up to be just as awesome.

    • JackbyDev@programming.dev
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      Did you pre order or buy early access? Buying a game in early access when you believe what is currently in the game is a good deal for the price is the same thing as buying a released game in my opinion.

    • None_s@lemmy.fmhy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      Had the early access on Stadia before that went under. So I guess I’m un-preordered now.

      • soyagi@yiffit.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        1 year ago

        …b-b-but I don’t want to wait because some people will already have it!

        • CatZoomies@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          1 year ago

          Thank you for illustrating what parasitic marketing has executed so well and trained gamers to automatically feel: Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO).