Considering today’s pressure to pre-order games, applied by both retailers and publishers alike, I thought it might be worth writing down some thoughts on why it does very little to serve the consumer, and why it might be best to save your money until after the release date. It seems to me that most of the reason that people choose to pre-order their games is because they are under some impression that there’s a chance that stores will run out of copies, and they’ll miss out being one of the first to play the next whatever. But with the present surge of digital releases, not to mention the fact that I’ve never run into a situation whereby all stores were sold out of a game I wanted to play, this just doesn’t seem to be a legitimate danger. This incessant need, for us to be guaranteed to something the day it releases, can be seen in any new product that has some hype behind it, and is present in all mediums, examples being the demand for album leaks or extravagant movie premieres. I think it speaks to the age we’re living in, we want what we want when we want it, and if it means shelling out full price for a product, despite knowing nothing of its quality, then so be it.
Almost all game retailers are offering little incentives for pre-ordering certain games in the form of ‘pre-order bonuses’, which often lie in the realm of cosmetics, some skin of an item to make it look marginally different, an exclusive weapon or item, a cheap toy, or in game currency perhaps, all of which offer almost nothing in terms of in-game advantage. So if none of this stuff is of any benefit to gameplay, and the danger of not getting a copy is close to zero, then why are we still pre-ordering?
Some of this can be attributed to a fresh batch of youngsters every year that are desperate for the next big thing, and parents who are desperate to get it for them, but they aren’t the only ones falling into the pre-order trap. Developers put an an extreme amount of effort into marketing their products leading up to release (see COD energy drink), namely because it guarantees the success of their game before anyone has a chance to give it bad press – and despite what some will have you believe, word of mouth kind of matters. As Jeff Gerstmann recently pointed out on the final Giant Bomb live show of 2014, last year’s Call of Duty Ghosts was by far the worst release in the series’ history, and received mixed reviews from fans and critics alike, yet despite Advanced Warfare being a far superior game (and an overdue step forward for the exhausted franchise), it isn’t selling nearly as well as Ghosts did. The point is, publishers don’t want negative press, and if they can afford to secure a number of pre-orders, it alleviates a lot of the stress and pressure of actually having to make a high quality game – as you’ve probably guessed, this isn’t good for consumers.
One cannot underestimate how valuable this pre-order model is to publishers and retailers. In recent times the process has been taken to extreme lengths, a prime example being Uncharted 4, a game that has no announced release date and has only been seen played once publically – there’s no guarantee that it will even release in 2015. Why is this available to pre-order already? Well, aside from giving the publishers a safety net, there are secondary incentives to consider, such as encouraging retailers to display more confidence in the game, which means better displays and placing in-store, and in turn more promotion to drive sales further. Does this serve the consumer? Absolutely not, and I can only see this as a deterrent for developers to put their utmost into the game. So whats the solution? Well its simple, just don’t pre-order. Waiting for the final product, paying attention to word of mouth and checking the review scores all ensure that your money is well spent, and also ensure that publishers will release a game that they’re confident in. By making these developers work for your money, you’re exercising your greatest power as a consumer, and in turn, supporting a market that relies more heavily on quality and innovation, than deceptive marketing techniques.
Source:: canada.com
