faetal on 3/11/2016 at 18:12
What Vivian said. The only game I pre-ordered in the last 5 years is XCOM2 and that was only because I was weak and couldn't help myself.
TannisRoot on 3/11/2016 at 18:51
These days you can't accurately gauge how good a game is until the hype dies down anyway. Usually takes a month or so before the community can come to a consensus.
The media can easily be whipped up into a frenzy that doesn't bear scrutiny later. Bioshock Infinite was hailed as the gift of god on release, but now is considered just "OK" by most folks these days.
The only ones hurt by this review embargo are hack journalism outlets and those impatient among us.
Renault on 3/11/2016 at 19:00
IMO, Bethesda's argument doesn't make any sense. In the article I linked to above, they use the new Doom as an example. They say that they didn't give out any pre release copies, and the game did really well, so it backs up their argument. But the point they're missing is the game is good (sounds like it was, at least, haven't played it), and positive reviews could have boosted sales even further through hype and what not for release day.
As it turns out, I think a lot of people heard it was good much later, and now are probably just waiting until the price drops as time goes by or it hits bargain bins. It's almost the reverse effect to what they'd want.
TannisRoot on 3/11/2016 at 19:22
I was skeptical about Doom before release. Now that it seems good though, I'm definitely waiting for the bargain bin :laff:
Renzatic on 3/11/2016 at 19:26
Quote Posted by faetal
What Vivian said. The only game I pre-ordered in the last 5 years is XCOM2 and that was only because I was weak and couldn't help myself.
It's those damn preorder discounts that end up getting me hooked. :mad:
Starker on 3/11/2016 at 20:05
I basically had Doom written off, especially after the decision not to give out pre-release copies. If someone hadn't gifted it to me, I would probably have waited until it was dirt cheap.
Renzatic on 3/11/2016 at 20:15
Speaking of Doom, I'm playing through Brutal Doom64 right now.
...apparently I'm now a contributor to holocaust denial.
Nameless Voice on 3/11/2016 at 21:00
Actually, I now remember why I'd never pre-ordered Dishonoured 2. If you try, it gives you a big warning that you are "wasting" the pre-order bonus of the Definitive Edition of the first game.
Not really sure why the pre-order bonus is completely useless for the actual fans of the series who played the first game (e.g. the people likely to pre-order it) and useful for people new to the series (who are unlikely to pre-order it.)
It's almost like they don't want people to pre-order?
Sulphur on 3/11/2016 at 21:27
Pre-ordering as a mechanism doesn't even make sense with digital goods for consumers. With physical copies, there was the possibility of not getting the game when you wanted it because stock was limited, so you could lock in your purchase to avoid a fear of missing out or whatever. Now that everything's on the internet, your copy of the game tears itself off the infinite datacloud in the sky and sloshes its way down those sticky network tubes to plop directly onto your HDD platter in a matter of hours.
What's important here is I don't think there's any need to encourage publishers or developers to take their customer base for granted, which is what Beth has done in deciding to not provide pre-release review code to outlets: why let anyone publish reviews for a game on release, when the public can instead purchase it sight unseen and make up their own minds whether they liked it? Supporting developers you admire is fine, but you can still do that after release day with zero difference; a pre-order is not a commission, and they're not making a game to your personal spec because you decided to riffle some bills at them a year before the game is due.
Vivian on 4/11/2016 at 02:52
Maybe a simpler version is that pre-orders are a money-making exercise, and accountants literally do not give a fuck. So go ahead and play into their greasy hands, buy the shiny stuff a day or two early, because you actually might be a fucking twat. Seriously, there are economic models based on you being exactly that sort of twat, there has been stats done, and the various cooperatively-fenced-off findings are the reason we haven't had a thief 3 worth calling that or a ss3 that actually exists. You are one of the idiots if you preorder stuff. One of the idiots. It sounds dramatical, but honestly, argue me down. Preorders are terrible.
