Never in my life. I want to read the reviews, at a minimum. Too many games with some booshit on launch day, if not at least several months after. I am incredibly psyched for the new Control game but it’ll be at least a few months before I pick it up.
I only preorder a game if I know I want to play it right when it comes out and want to be able to preload the game, and if it comes from a developer I know will not disappoint me (FromSoftware, Kojima Productions, anything from Yoko Taro, etc.).
In the past I used to preorder to reserve a physical copy as soon as it was released, but there is generally no need for that anymore. This makes me both happy and sad, because for all the hassle it was, I kinda miss some aspects of the simpler times. In some ways, I do wish the world could rewind to the 2000s.
Early Access is different from preordering because you gain access to the product instantly, and generally can influence the direction of the game in a hopefully positive way. Providing feedback on what works and what doesn’t is an important part of playing and early access game. A lot of people seem to ignore this.
Situationally. I carefully consider the developer in question to try and judge the risk of failure, while also considering the chances that my contribution will actually make any meaningful difference to the likely outcome.
Basically, if it’s a passionate and seemingly competent indie dev working on something that I personally want to see become a reality in the world, I might throw some early money their way despite the obvious risk. If it’s a tentative and inexperienced indie dev with goals too big I’ll probably wait and see. If it’s some AAA publisher who don’t actually NEED the money and have a high chance of fucking everything up anyway, they can shove their preorder and preorder bonuses right up their own ass where they belong.
If there are reviews out and I’ve looked at some raw gameplay from a streamer getting early access or something then I might pre-order mere hours away from release if there’s some benefit in doing so.
Otherwise absolutely not in the digital only age. Can’t run out of copies.
I don’t consider Early Access a pre-order. If I buy an unfinished game it’s because there’s enough content from my point of view at that asking price that even if the game never gets finished I’ll still be satisfied with my time/money spent.
Why would anyone still be preordering? It’s a complete gamble with no payoff. Preordering made sense when games were on physical media, but there isn’t any stock limit on digital goods.
I very very rarely pre-order but if reviews are out and you’re already planning on buying it, it could be worth it. Some stores provide a discount for pre-ordering games, I got Elden Ring for 15% off before it even released which is nice.
Generally I wait for release, or more likely years after release before picking up a game to wait for thr cost to drop. There isn’t a need to preorder in a digital store, like steam, so there is zero rush.
Early access if someone I know and trust will vouch for it and play too. Valheim is the best example of this for me.
I have purchased the ‘higher tier’ for a few games over the last few decades to get specific bonus stuff if they are continuing a series and I know for a fact I will play it a lot. But I don’t do the ones where that must be done as a pre-order. It is possible I did those as preorders to download prior to the release date, but only if I could jave made the same purchase a week after release.
It is extremely rare - I do it when I have some form of dedication to the developer, or their rare variety of ambitious game. I may not have even done it once this year.
So I think that matches the OP’s feelings of buying early in support. Largely, it doesn’t matter.
It’s a rare breed of game that gets me pre-ordering these days. It has to be something I know I will want, from a dev/publisher with a proven track record of making good shit and not being exploitative to customers, and be more about multiplayer than single.
I haven’t pre-ordered for any other reason since they stopped giving you physical swag for doing so (and it only was $5 down and could be cancelled for a refund while still keeping the swag and digital distribution wasn’t even a thing, so they actually could run out of copies).
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Aktywne