The Hot Topic Returns

[bellow]

Yeah, I think it's coming back to me now. Some weird Greek thing with an awful script.

[DisturbedSwan]

I've always wanted to play that, looked right up my alley that did, I think I may of even bought it at one point but never played it, free with Sony Pass this month too. 

[bellow]

I'd probably like it more now after playing the 3 AssCreed RPGs back to back last year and loving them. I'm more in tune with the ubi ethos nowadays.

[Nag]

 

Quote

Readers discuss how often they buy a video game as soon as it comes out and whether they’re swayed by pre-order deals.

 

This week’s Hot Topic was suggested by reader Cabal, who asked whether you get a game immediately or whether you wait until it’s cheaper and the bugs have been worked out. If you take it on a case-by-case basis, what is it that influences your decision the most?

 

The upcoming release of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom influenced a lot of the answers, with most people saying they only buy day one on a few special occasions, with pre-orders being even less common.

 

[OCH]

If I'm interested enough in a game, I'll pre-order it. Which typically falls under two categories.

1. If it is something new, so I don't forget about it.

2. Series I'm already a fan of, get pre-ordered by default. 

 

That said, I will nine times out of ten only pre-order the game. Not one of those three figure, Ultra-Mega-Supreme-Deluxe Editions. Which is never a cost effective option, in my view.

[mfnick]

Very rare I buy games day 1. They’re too expensive and usually you get the very worst experience at that point. Wait a month or 2 and most the bugs get ironed out as well as it costing a fraction of the original price. 
 

As for pre-orders, I don’t understand why anyone pre-orders these days. I just don’t know what the point is, it’s not like it’s going to sell out like they used to. & with how many games arrive a bit of a mess or just perform below expectations I just don’t understand why you’d do it. Especially when most bonuses are just a skin or some shit. 

[bellow]

Zelda is the only game I will preload this year. 

 

I actually shocked myself when I went out and bought Hogwarts soon after it came out, but the reviews got to me. No regrets there, though.

 

But most games, if they don't go on gamepass and I can play them for 8 quid, have to wait - sometimes years.

[DANGERMAN]

I buy games day 1 all the time, but increasingly there's games that I wait until release day to see how they actually run. How good they are I'm less concerned about for whatever reason, but I don't want to be sat with a game I've bought that is unplayable or so fucked I resent playing it, realistically I'm not going to go back to something weeks and weeks after launch on the off chance its in a playable state

[radiofloyd]

The only game I’ve pre-ordered this year is Tears of the Kingdom (just the game).

 

There are games I would buy day one if I had enough interest. I’ll buy Silksong the second it comes out. I’ll pre-order FVII Rebirth for sure. If there was ever an Outer Wilds 2 or Sekiro 2 I would buy them in an instant as well. I bought Elden Ring day one last year, needless to say.

[one-armed dwarf]

I pre-ordered Forspoken lmao

[shinymcshine]

Last one I pre-ordered was "Arkham Horror - Mother's Embrace" (NS - March 21) as it was 25% off the download if you pre-ordered it (was only £20 RRP anyway).

 

Last AAA title I pre-ordered (for certain) was GTA V (360) however long ago that was, but I definitely got Dark Souls 3 (PS4) pretty soon after (or maybe on) release day too.

[Nag]

I buy pretty much every game I play day one nowadays... I also generally pre-order too as that way I'll usually pay them off beforehand. If you know you're going to buy the game in any case there's absolutely no reason not to pre-order it imo.🤷‍♂️

[spatular]

I pre order stuff quite often, its a bit of a gamble but you can sometimes get good deals on pre orders, recently mostly on switch as xbox/ps prices are too high so waiting for ones i want to drop in price. Would have liked to get re4 and the respawn star wars game on launch. I will pay more sometimes mind, got gt7 on launch, and would pay more for zelda but got a good pre order deal on that so it only worked out a little more than normal.

[Sly Reflex]

Barely ever. I don't care about FOMO and I no longer play games that require you to be day 1 or the rest of the world will fuck on you for not being there when the MP servers opened.

 

In this day and age I don't think it's worth it outside of super exceptional titles. We don't really get those very often now in my eyes. The arse has sort of fallen out of the the huge budget games and indie stuff can be hit or miss. Depends on the pedigree really, but that's not really saying much now either. 

[Maryokutai]

I pre-ordered Advance Wars Re-Boot Camp. It was a collaboration between Nintendo and Wayforward, who both have high quality standards, and it's a remake of two games I knew I'd enjoy because I played them already, so there wasn't really any reason to be risk-averse in this case.

 

I think the last game I pre-ordered before that was Metroid Dread because I wanted to have the Limited Edition. 

 

But I do quite often pick up games around their release day or soon after, particularly if it's a smaller game that I notice is getting little to no exposure (like Chorus for example). I know that's contrary to what most people do, because those often quickly drop in price, but I like supporting these B-League games when I can.

[shinymcshine]

More than a pre-order, and just out of curiosity - has anyone supported a videogame Kickstarter (or equivalent)?

[OCH]

10 minutes ago, shinymcshine said:

More than a pre-order, and just out of curiosity - has anyone supported a videogame Kickstarter (or equivalent)?

Only one. It was the crowdfunding for Eternal Darkness 2 a few years ago (I forget what the actual name was). I was so excited by the prospect. That when it didn't happen, I was so disillusioned I doubt I'll ever support another title.

[one-armed dwarf]

Shenmue 3. Wasn't very good though imo

 

I wish Pathologic 2 had a late backers option, the backer rewards for that are cool. I wanted to back it way back when they announced it but was broke (back in 2014, I think)

[DANGERMAN]

36 minutes ago, shinymcshine said:

More than a pre-order, and just out of curiosity - has anyone supported a videogame Kickstarter (or equivalent)?

Yeah a couple. I've still not actually played Shenmue 3, which I think shows how badly they fucked up that kickstarter. I'm glad it exists and I was happy to help that happen, but they really killed my motivation to play it. 

 

I also backed Chime# because I really liked the original. I didn't keep playing it for some reason, they didn't get the artists they'd touted, which might have been part of it. There's a game called Prey For The Gods that I don't remember backing, but I did do a bit of coverage for back in the day, so I'm wondering if I was just added to that to get the early access preview code 

 

I also backed a Dreamcast port of Shadow Gangs to get a physical version. And while not kickstarter, I did pre-order a DS Shin Megami Tensei game on the basis that they needed to hit a certain number to produce a PAL version 

[Maryokutai]

I'm actually in the same boat with Shenmue III, I backed it but never played it. So in a sense you could say that we funded other people's disappointment.

 

I backed Broken Age, when it was still called Double Fine Adventure. What a ride that was. While I did eventually like the game, I think the unsung hero of that project was the documentary that came out of it. So much insight into the process of making a videogame and how big of a juggling act finances vs. creativity can be even as a completely independent studio without publisher interference. Not to mention seeing all the tricks they pull out of their bag to present games years before release when the actual playable build still look like Pong – and how much pressure that puts on the team to actually get a working software out the door that looks like that early showing. Puts the whole "downgrade" discussion that happened with the likes of Witcher 3 and Watch Dogs a bit into perspective.

 

Anyway, other than that, I also backed Shantae: 1/2 Genie Hero. Was a nice project, they regularly put up polls to ask for enemy design feedback and such. The game itself was one of the weaker Shantae titles but it allowed them to build a foundation with good assets to eventually make arguably the best in the series with Seven Sirens.