Jimquisition: The Poison of Pre-Order Culture

[Reyold]

I think the last game I preordered was Batman: Arkham City. Haven't preordered a thing since then, just because I haven't felt the need to. Guess that was a smart move on my part. Honestly, publishers seem to love finding new ways to wring money out of people's wallets. Wonder how long they'll be able to keep it up.

 

[Zak757]

I haven't actually managed to pre-order a game yet.

 

[JCAll]

The last time I preordered anything was Wind Waker. Because Nintendo was giving away free games. On disk. It hadn't occurred to me that it was something people might do all the time.

 

[Metalrocks]

the last game i have pre ordered in a store was remember me and i honestly cant say i regretted it. digitally was titanfall, since i did play the beta and really enjoying it, but i do agree that it is a problem to give/sell stuff separately that should be in the actual game and without knowing how the actual game really would be. tomb raider had an additional tomb to explore, which was a nice tomb and sure took more time to solve it than the others but this clearly should have been in the actual game without being an pre order bonus or DLC as such.

but this DLC for isolation, i dont see this a major issue. after all, you play as someone else and thats the main story. the DLC is additional content. the same as with ME series. pretty much most of the DLC i have purchased were really awesome and worth the money and certainly a good addition to the game.

never the less, i still will not pre order alien until its out. after the downfall from the last alien game, i sure wait for videos, comments, etc to make up my mind. if its as we see it now, im in and get the DLC later on if i generally like the game.

 

[EeviStev]

I have to admit, they nearly got me with the Alien pre-order offer. The last game I even thought about pre-ordering was Dead Space 2, and I actually entertained the idea of pre-ordering Alien because of how essential the Ripley campaign seems. Then I reminded myself that that is the very reason why I or anyone shouldn't preorder it. Or anything ever again, for that matter.

And the only reason I have ever pre-ordered is when a) I am absolutely certain I will buy the game and enjoy it thoroughly, and b) it comes with some cool physical merchandise. Thing is, these days point a is never certain and point b has been replaced with the rest of the fucking game.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

This is bollocks Jim. Hate pre-orders all you like (I do) but you cannot argue with the claims that its existence offers more choice. Let's say I'm a mother of a 16 year old boy who I know wants a game which is coming out in 2 months. It's a perfect birthday present, so as a mother I'm delighted getting him the game on pre-order, which I wouldn't have been able to do otherwise. The kid loves the present too, even though he knows he has to wait. What exactly is wrong with that? If only those that don't like to preorder (including myself) and those that do will only go their respective ways, do their thing, and keep to themselves, it would be a perfect world. As it is, pre-order does me no harm - I'll wait until the reviews and if it looks shitty, I won't buy it. But I'm not going to rail against those that might find some-use for pre-ordering shit.

 

[Alfredo Jones]

The only games I preorder nowadays are Nintendo games and ones from small companies like the ones Jim mentioned. Those things rarely come with preorder bonuses and when they do it is usually something small and insignificant like a poster, keychain, or an in-game costume pack that doesn't really affect the actual game. The best you can expect from preordering games like those are free upgrades to the limited edition which, depending on what is included with the limited edition, the best sort of deal.

 

[EeviStev]

*Stuff right above this post*

What is wrong with that is you're part of everything Jim said in his video. You're also wrong about it not hurting you; it's because people pre-order that companies get money for making crap games, then use it to make more crap games. You are enabling the companies to hold great chunks of game hostage in return for a premium price for a product of uncertain quality. This affects you, all gamers, and the AAA game industry.

Here's an alternative for that one specific scenario you suggested: Give the kid a gift voucher for the value of a new game, and educate him on how toxic pre-orders are to the industry. Use this video for reference. Just don't freaking pre-order anything.

 

[vagabondwillsmile]

snip

I loved the mention of NISA and Atlus, funny enough the only pre-orders I have right now are for Fairy Fencer and Ar Nosurge (the special edition from NISA's store).
Funny enough one's 75% and the other is 50% stock remaining, both several months before the game even releases.

I've always been a sucker for the niche Japanese titles, also loved your article on the first Neptunia when it was announced, that special edition is one of the rarest games out there now (stares at the box).

Yah I liked that too. I will definitely continue to pre-order from Atlus. Because Atlus bloody well knows how to do special editions. Catherine is one of the best special editions I've ever seen. They are among the few that are so good about bringing the kind of SE and DE goodness frequently seen in Japan over here to the U.S. Also XSeed. I love me some XSeed.

 

[Nurb]

IGN is in employ of the major publishers.

And why do I keep getting a bunch of captchas that keep asking me if I'm going to move, when I've moved last, have I ever moved for employment, etc?

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

*Stuff right above this post*

What is wrong with that is you're part of everything Jim said in his video. You're also wrong about it not hurting you; it's because people pre-order that companies get money for making crap games, then use it to make more crap games. You are enabling the companies to hold great chunks of game hostage in return for a premium price for a product of uncertain quality. This affects you, all gamers, and the AAA game industry.

Here's an alternative for that one specific scenario you suggested: Give the kid a gift voucher for the value of a new game, and educate him on how toxic pre-orders are to the industry. Use this video for reference. Just don't freaking pre-order anything.

People have been buying crap games since the dawn of gaming. You really think things will change if the chance to pre-order disappears? If people don't learn from pre-ordering a game that turns out to be crap and do it again and again, they won't learn to stop buying shitty games "of uncertain quality" full stop. The marketers will always target the ignorant who don't know better. That is a huge segment of the gaming market, always will be.

 

[ender1986]

Yes, yes, funny impersonation and lots of fucks and maybe a twat or two thrown in, don't remember. Let's not forget that Mr. Sterling was on the tip of the spear when it came to MS attempting to go all digital. A number of us desperately want to go all digital, stick these pre-order bullshit offers right up Best Buy and Gamestop's ass, but the collective entitled (yes, entitled, I know how Sterling-ites feel about that word) gaming public rabbled and roused. "Meeeehhh I want to be able to sell back my game that I paid 60 dollars for back to Gamestop for 5 dollars. Meeeehhh I don't want to be online all the time, regardless of the fact I'm constantly fucking connected 99% of the time anyway."

My point being, there's a lot of talk going on here, but very little action.

Call the waaaambulance.

 

[joshuaayt]

I seriously don't understand what the intention is here.

Option 1: Buy the game now, play the content immediately on release, risk paying for a shitty product without knowing.

Option 2: Buy the game after it's out, get to watch some reviews first, wait for some really cool content other people are playing immediately.

Option 3: Get the game for free, get to check some reviews for the game you're not even going to pay for, play the content immediately on release.

Surely publishers want to limit the reasons to go with option 3, so suckers like me who actually buy the game have the best product?

 

[TKretts3]

I was hyped for Alien: Isolation. Now I just feel the sad. I thought the developers cared more about the franchise and its fans than they did, but no, they just dressed up their greed in a little cosplay show. Come suck my xenomorph lollipop, it's right here in my pants. Mmm, suck it good. You want it, don't you? Yeees.

Huh?
What exactly are you basing this off of? How does the fact that it's up for pre-order with a pre-order bonus in any way indicate quality? Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, Bioshock Infinite,a nd Civilization 5 (And it's expansions) were all up for pre-order and they were all great. The quality of the game determines the quality of the game, a pre-order is just an option risk that somebody can make when deciding to buy the game. If you don't want to pre-order, then don't - wait until the game comes out and see for yourself what it's like.

Hating a game because it's up for pre-order - or because an internet commentator yelled at you to - is just silly.

 

[Gunner 51]

Swing and a miss, Jim. You let your emotion override your common sense here.

Alien: Isolation was always about the daughter of Ellen Ripley. The original Nostromo crew from the first film are an extra, we all know that most of them are dead - so including them in the game is something of a foregone conclusion. Upon that note, almost everyone knows what happened to them (gamers or otherwise.) So, it's really not the greatest injustice in the world to exclude them from this new game as you make it out to be.

You reedeemed your arguement to a degree when you railed against pre-orders and pre-order bonuses. I'll agree with you there. Though I don't really blame a games developer for having them in the game, especially when they are put in there at the behest of greedy publishers. I'll agree that they serve absolutely no point for the common gamer.

But that ending... You had a serious point and when you started to act like a spoilt toddler who didn't get his way - you undermined your own argument. What serious minded games developer or publisher is going to want to listen to that? Do you think that would actually change their minds or perspectives when dealing with the issue of pre-orders?

Ultimately, you were right to tell people not to buy pre-orders. But then again, it is common knowledge that pre-orders only serve to hinder gamers from getting a full game. So I suppose there's that.

 

[SweetWarmIce]

I used to pre-order quite regularly because you did get some nice things like art-books and the making of DVD. Now it's mostly pointless stuff that they offer. Though I never did understand pre-ordering when the game is first announced, I thought that was silly.

In the last two years I've pre-ordered StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm, Witcher 3, Sacred 3, Risen 3 and Destiny. StarCraft 2: HOS for the art book, Witcher 3 for the discount, Risen and Sacred are niche titles and I want to support them and Destiny for beta access.

 

[Kahohess]

Maybe, if they want us to pre-order we should start to pre-review (and not preview ) their games, maybe having their big AAA game lowered to a 2/10 on gaming sites 5 months before it's release will make them think twice.

 

[DementedSheep]

I don't preorder and I don't buy day 1. I'm never hyped enough about a game that I feel the need to play it the week it comes out or without looking at gameplay that isn't provided by the developers/publishers and reviews. There aren't any developers at the moment who I trust and have a desire to support either.

The times I'm actually tempted to preorder is when I want to go whole hog and get a collectors edition (which actually are in limited amounts because they have physical items) for the concept art book (I love these and a digital art book isn't quite the same), figurines, soundtracks and the making of. If it's preorder bonus that is in game and more than a few skins all it dose is turn me off. It feels like I'm being strong armed into pre-ordering to get a complete game. It is more likely to make me go "actually I'll just wait for the complete edition" and push me into buying it later than I might have otherwise to get the "full" experience. If they don't release a complete edition it just makes me less likely to bother buying it at all because any hype I had for the game will have died down by that point. DLC I don't have an issue with unless it's stuff that really should have been in the game and/or is overpriced but it dose the same thing.