How often do you preorder games?

[Xilkozuf]

...and what do you think about preordering in general?
Do you avoid preorder, or do you preorder what might seems interesting - or maybe just for the bonus games?
I preordered a few games in my Steam career: AAA titles like No Man's Sky and Hitman Absolution, and I regretted a bit both of them, and some indie titles like The Binding of Isaac Rebirth, and The End is Nigh (yes, both by Edmund McMillen, and I didn't regret preording them).

So, what about you? Do you preorder? Have you ever preordered? Did you regret it, or were satisfied of your choice?

 

[TsuyoyRival]

I usually never pre order because I had a bad experience once when I was pre-ordering GTA 5, I received a message that the game was already been delivered and then I didn't my money neither the game.
Not sure if there is much to benefit from pre-ordering, besides some exclusive content, that in the future might be available anyways.

 

[RosieDaven]

I've never preordered, since I bought games I didn't even like before. Back then I was thinking about pre-ordering Watch dog, because I waited for the game like a little kid, but in the end when I bought it from second hand, it wasn't that much of a bumm. Though I do hate the fact that I couldn't pre-order BioShock Infinite, as I didn't have the money for it. The series is one of my fave. Maybe it's time to play it through again.

 

[Gladdy]

...and what do you think about preordering in general?
Do you avoid preorder, or do you preorder what might seems interesting - or maybe just for the bonus games?
I preordered a few games in my Steam career: AAA titles like No Man's Sky and Hitman Absolution, and I regretted a bit both of them, and some indie titles like The Binding of Isaac Rebirth, and The End is Nigh (yes, both by Edmund McMillen, and I didn't regret preording them).

So, what about you? Do you preorder? Have you ever preordered? Did you regret it, or were satisfied of your choice?

Didn't you like Hitman Absolution? I quite enjoyed playing that one. But I do agree about No Man's Sky, haha... too many false promises.

Anyway, I don't really preorder anymore. I had my fair share of bad experiences. The worst one was when I preordered the Black Ops for my computer and Activision didn't bother to release a working game. People were lagging like crazy, nobody could get over like 30 fps... even with the latest PCs and more. The game was a big mess for months until they finally got to work and patched it. It was a huge waste of money and I've learned my lesson.

 

[valy]

I never preorder games, is just like this....when I have money I buy a game and if there is a special offer I take my chance but I never pre order a game. Some of my friends did this and they were not satisfied by it!

 

[Pink_Turtle]

No I don't do it because I generally try not to spend money on buying games. I try to borrow them or just buy then as second hand games when they are cheaper...

 

[reginafalange]

I never pre-order games, I usually buy games on sales. For me, it's not worth it to buy a game before I know anything about it before I can read any reviews. It might turn out to be bad and I'd just lose the money. I don't have to have any game right away, right after the release.

 

[Westerlies]

I only pre-order games that I absolutely know that I want to play. I have watched their gaming trailers, and any gameplay videos that have come out for them and know that it looks like what I want. Most of the time if I get a game pre-ordered, I have played a previous installment of the game. If there is a long anticipated wait for a sequel game and it looks like there is enough hype surrounding it that it may sell out, I will pre-order my copy. I don't think it's necessary to get every game this way. It's only a preference if you want to be the first to be "in the know" about the game. To have a slight advantage in games can be fun but it's not always worth the money.

 

[konomi]

Even if I know for certain that I'm going to buy a game (like Pokemon games), I've never pre-ordered before. I just buy it as soon as it's available. Maybe if there was a bonus or benefit to pre-ordering I might do it, but I guess I worry that I'll change my mind? Also, it's pretty rare that I want to own a game before other people anyway lol. I like to be relatively early (among my friends, at least) with Pokemon, but for other games I like to wait to see how other people think about the game before I spend my money on it.

 

[ZXD22]

Very rarely unless I know the developers and would like to help them get the game going. That's why I pre-ordered Yooka-Layle as they were the guys who made Banjo Kazooie and Tooie and they had done such a good job with those games growing up during my child hood that I wanted to see how Yooka Laylee turned out and supported them by pre ordering.

 

[AndrewG]

I try not to pre-order games anymore, as I don't want to support the shady practices that come with it. To me, when you pre-order you are basically telling the developer that they don't have to release a good game, and that they can include day 1 DLC with no repercussions. Personally I wait for reviews to come out, and then make my mind. That way I am voting for good, well made games with my wallet, instead of whatever the dev wants to release as they already have my money.

 

[Xilkozuf]

Didn't you like Hitman Absolution? I quite enjoyed playing that one. But I do agree about No Man's Sky, haha... too many false promises.

I don't hate it, I just liked it less than I expected... It just didn't feel like Hitman game: too many mission where the goal was to go from A to B undetected (it's more something than belong to Splinter Cell), and very few mission where you have to murder someone. And the freedom of the good old Blood Money is just a memory, there is very few variety... It's a good game, I had fun, but it's a bad Hitman game.

 

[luispas]

I have to admit that I've never pre-ordered a game. I'm not obsessed with the new games, I rather to wait until they are realized, then people analyze them and make their own critics, also I like to watch game plays, after all these things and of course a deep searching, I can buy the game. I give myself so much time before doing it.

 

[OursIsTheFury]

I pre-ordered a game ONCE. Civilization 6. Long story short, the refund button works.

I played Civ 3 and 5 for hundreds of hours without getting bored, and then 6 came and after an hour of playing, I already got bored. It wasn't worth nearly the amount they charged, and I even got the Deluxe Edition because I was so hyped about the game. Too bad they changed a lot of things that worked in the previous games and added mechanics and animation that looked more for mobile games rather than a serious video game.

 

[Jonathan Solomon]

Well, I preordered GTA V and it worked out for me. Besides that, I don't really have any preorder experience with games. I also tend to avoid these because like people on here, a lot of my friends have had bad experiences pre-ordering games. So it didn't exactly motivate me to order games before the actual release.

In my opinion, it's too many variables that aren't worth the money risk. Even if a refund option is available. For example, just because you like that series, doesn't mean the next release will live up to expectations. I'd much rather wait for the game to be released, or at least hear reviews from my friends who successfully got the pre-release before I make any decisions.

 

[Soulwatcher]

I tend to only pre order Bethesda games, because you can guarantee that they are going to be good games. Other then that I like to wait for reviews and see how other people like the game. And if Iam still not sure I will rent the game before I buy it. Because this day and age $60 is just too much money to throw out the window.

 

[ballyhara]

I usually never pre order because I had a bad experience once when I was pre-ordering GTA 5, I received a message that the game was already been delivered and then I didn't my money neither the game.
Not sure if there is much to benefit from pre-ordering, besides some exclusive content, that in the future might be available anyways.

Same here, we (cousins and I) pre ordered FIFA and we got cheated, we even got the online receipt and everything, and either way we lost our money, so we never pre order anymore. We also rather wait for the game to come out, check out the general rating and opinions, then we go get it.

 

[kenoobie]

Seems like most people here have a bad experience when it comes to pre-ordering games. Mine's not too bad though pre-ordered diablo 3. When the order finally came I have to go to the store and wait for 2 hours due to the long queue of people who bought the game. From then on I never buy pre-orders through a store.

 

[randolm]

I hate to start that way but No Mans Sky isn't AAA- it was just hyped like one. But I typically tend to not have that much interest in gaming to justify preordering unless I can get a sale. The only exceptions are for franchises I trust or games I already know I am interested in (such as undertale- its been released but the PS4 version is still in preorder- its just a matter of which version there- PC of PS4)
Plus to many games rely on increasing the cost via season pass to justify paying full price for a lackluster product to begin with.

 

[TheArticulate]

The last game I preordered was Skyrim back in 2011. I was still in high school and at the peak of my gaming phase then, and I'd been a huge fan of Oblivion, so I figured I get Skyrim regardless and bit the bullet on it. I wouldn't go back and change that, necessarily, but I don't think I needed to preorder it. My gaming went on a decline after that when I moved out and everything, and I haven't felt the desire to preorder a game since then.

The last time I even remotely considered preordering a game was No Man's Sky, but I talked myself out of it and I'm so glad that I did.