3 ms·

And issues like these are why you should never preorder PC games. They have an unlimited amount of copies, so it's not like you will be waiting weeks for someth

• eru 11y ago
  If it's a small company, you might want to give them money up front to help them keep afloat. Steam has early-acces games for that reason. (It's better than pre-order, since you get to play the unfinished game earlier, if you want to. If you choose early-access but wait for the official release before you run it, it's exactly the same as pre-order.)
  • adamrezich 11y ago
    Right, but you should only give them money if the product that they have on Early Access is already fun, right? Take Rust (the game, not the language) for instance. They cobbled together what is now known as "Rust Legacy" as a sort of demo of what they wanted the game to be. Thousands of people bought it. Now Facepunch is using the funds from all those sales to completely rework the game from the ground-up. Now it's better than Rust Legacy, and only going to get better and more interesting. But if Rust Legacy wasn't fun, nobody would've bought it. TL;DR: don't preorder (including early access!) games purely on promise alone.
    • lmm 11y ago
      What if what they have so far isn't fun, but you think it might become very fun if they were given enough money to finish it? Isn't that (sometimes) worth taking the risk on?
      • ascagnel_ 11y ago
        To steal an idea from Bungie, when it comes to games you want "thirty seconds of fun" -- a base gameplay loop (in the case of Halo, where it originally applied, it's the loop of taking out baddies from a distance, then the stronger baddies from mid-range, then mopping up the scattered weak baddies). An early demo (like the aforementioned Rust Legacy) is a proof-of-concept of that base gameplay loop, and if players like it, they can fund it. Once it's funded, they can build out from that base loop, and eventually you'll get a finished product.
        • eru 11y ago
          Interesting concept! I wonder how it would apply to other genres, eg old school point-n-click adventures?
• josu 11y ago
  They usually give away free DLCs when you preorder.
  • zamalek 11y ago
    If the game is terrible you won't play those DLCs anyway. If the game is good you will have reason to purchase the DLCs when they are released. Pre-ordering is designed to specifically work around bad reviews a.k.a. releasing poor quality games and getting away with it. The publisher is screwing you and you are paying them to. Big publishers have no other reason to implement pre-orders. It is a shit-game risk mitigation strategy.
    • JoachimSchipper 11y ago
      Pre-orders also reduce the amount of working capital required to make a game. This is, obviously, doubly important if you're a small company with very little working capital...
      • ascagnel_ 11y ago
        Do pre-orders (non-Steam) go to the developer? My understanding is that they stay with the retailer, who will use that to order stock. For Steam, they have to keep some cash on-hand somehow to handle refunds.
• efraim 11y ago
  Then why not preorder to get the bonus and refund if it's broken? Looks to me like Steam solved the preorder problem when they introduced refunds.
• flashman 11y ago
  The only time I'll pre-order a game is when the game won't get made otherwise (like Kickstarter or Early Access), and I have loads of faith in the developer. Luckily I haven't been burned yet (though I consider Star Citizen a near-run thing until it delivers). Bonus if the game is already in a playable and enjoyable state. Pre-ordering a AAA game? No thanks. Most pre-order bonuses aren't worthwhile because they can't offer people too much or retail purchasers will get pissed off.
• serge2k 11y ago
  40% off at GMG is one reason. Limited editions are another. AKA, I WANT MY PIP BOY.