Have Your Say: To Pre Order or Not Pre Order, That is the Question!

[Nick Hill]

I pre order because I'm afraid Steam will sell out before I get home from work.

No, not really - I'm an emphatic "hell no, never" on pre order. Devs today already want you to buy sans demo, I'm not going to let them trick me into buying without even being able to read/watch reviews, forum posts, etc. Also, a lot of the pre order "bonuses" I see strike me as...well, frankly, childish. Special liveries, avatars, other miscellaneous window dressing - I'll pass.

Occasionally I see DLC bonus incentives for pre orders - these are a lot closer to the mark in terms of enticing me to pull the trigger, but it still doesn't work for me (why am I already thinking about/purchasing DLC content for a game I've never even played?)

Now, you are free to call me a fanboy/hypocrite, but I draw a distinction between the type of pre order that I think the original question implied and the more "crowd funding" based sort of arrangement employed by Reiza for Automobilista. For one thing, I considered GSCE an Automobilista demo of sorts...for another thing, I had a pretty good idea that Automobilista would never see the light of day without community pre support, so I went in at a pretty high dollar level. I also went in on early access for AC for much the same motivations (I don't regret either decision, BTW - I love both AMS and AC and I have a sense of pride that neither would have become the sims they are today if people like me hadn't looked at them and said "hmm, little guys, huh? Well, could be risky, but I think they know what they are doing."

Put another way (and more bluntly) - when Reiza or Kunos have come to me with their hands out, they look WAY different to me when Codies or SMS come at me with their hands out!

 

[AvGas]

I almost grabbed F1 2017 yesterday, but experience has taught me to wait until after release. The McLaren is still available until October or something, I'm not in a rush. The only pre-order I've ever done for any game was for F1 2013, and I was not disappointed, but the only benefit I could really see was to have it preloaded and just wait for the clock and grab the unlock key and jump in the car. Meh.

 

[M-Bimmer]

2016 was a pre-order year. However, in 2017 i jumped off the hype train so nope not anymore...
Will wait for Steam sale...the waiting game i know

 

[Will Mazeo]

I don't recommend pre order if you can't have a taste of what is going to be, like a demo
Of course it could make sense to pre order a DLC pack for example, you already have the game, you have an idea about the quality of what is coming based on the work the dev is doing in that sim. But pre order a full game... no, thanks.

 

[ermo]

Preorder nowadays: pay the same for a game you can buy instantly through steam when it's released. Really makes no sense.

Years ago you had to pre buy because they were physical units and you won't get them on release if didn't hurry up with some games (FIFA etc).

Nowadays is a stupid thing to do unless you get a good discount for it. I pre-ordered pCars1 because I found it 40% discount at GMG (f*cking hype train).

It's like paying full price for an early access game but without the early access. Plain stupid.

There is a massive difference between Early Access and pre-order.

In early access/beta you are directly helping to fund a new game because that is what you want. But to pre-order is just daft and makes no sense. You wouldn't pre-order a new television before you have had a chance to read reviews on it. Obviously if something is offered as a very good and worthwhile bonus that you really want then perhaps pre-order is the way for you but lets face it, the game will be available instantly the day it is released so absolutely no sensible reason to pre-order at all.
With both Pcars 2 and F1 2017, I will be reading some reviews first on here. Then I might purchase.

This about sums it up for me.

If I have an interest in a genre/title/developer, I'll gladly pay to get early access and gain some insight on the process, the people and possibly offering my perspective on game features.

But pre-order? Not a chance.

 

[Jockey]

You mean dis ?
http://store.steampowered.com/itemstore/365960/detail/1001/
That's just there way of marketing, different company same [Beep] way of marketing their product as the old company, none existent marketing or promotional skills what so ever.

TIL you can link the items to others. Thanks!

 

[Deleted member 99238]

Pre-order does not actually give any bonuses.
Those who buy later have then much more and cheaper.

 

[Enpassant]

Please, you greedy distributors, don't preorder us! Dond DLC us! Don't Deluxe Version Us!

 

[Boby Kim]

As long as i am able to refund within 2 hours i buy.

 

[Cote Dazur]

Never, better wait for the discount that follows release,
and even then, I am only interested if a few people I know are saying it is as good (or better, but that as not happened yet) as my favorite game.

If I was developing a game, I would offer a pre release, if some people do not know what to do with their money and would like to pay in advance for something I may or may not release and they may or may not like, why not take the money? If I had to say it is going to be the best thing ever to get them to do so, I probably would to.
The issue is not with the people asking for money, the issue is with the fouls ready to pay in advance.

 

[Jonatan Åcerclinth]

The only way to know for sure what you get if you pre-order is if you watch someone who has been given the allowance to play it and show their viewers on a streaming site, what they are getting.

Only then will I pre-order, learnt that lesson with rFactor2 which took, more or less, 3 years to get to a state where it was enjoyable to drive... (this is only a racing simulation, I've had similar situations with two other games).

 

[MikieC]

PC1 was rare. i bought in early at $20+ and have been paid back 7-9 times over. Not sure it was technically a "pre-order" tho
However 1 year after release and trying to make game playable, I gave up.

I only pre-order if I'm sure I will by a game, and I get something out of it (Pre-order) discount or "stuff"

 

[Chobonator]

Pre ordering is a gimmick and a con, along with the 2hr refund by Steam..I brought a game through Steam, can't remember what it was but it was shite..but here is the kicker, the server for the game went down after install, and was down all night so wasn't able to test, Steams opinion is it's not their problem tuff shite your over 2hr's.
Lets look at two new titles coming, F12017 & PC2, both up for pre order, both offer a discount, both offer something extra for ordering early, both titles can be pre-purchased else where cheaper than their own discount 7 extra's..walks away dropping the mouse..

- It's 2 hours of play time, so you could have tested it the next day.
- If you pre-order elsewhere, you don't get the 2-hour "trial".

Come back and pick up your mouse.

 

[traind]

Where I live a pre-order for consoles through Amazon will save you $10 off the price of the game vs. Price it will be sold for on day one. On top of that you'll get a few little goodies along with the pre-order. Now if it is a completely new game and there are no credible reviews out there then that still might be a risk some people would want to avoid. But if you like forza 6 and you see the additional content in Forza 7 and that appeals to you then you can save $10 and there really isn't any risk at all. I would guess it's the same for GT Sport.

Project cars 2 might be different because a number of people didn't care for the first title so buying the new one is more of a risk if you didn't like the first one. I actually think a pretty good picture of the game has emerged from these recent press versions that were released into the wild. If you average the opinion of multiple people on Project Cars 2 and expect that average when you buy it you probably won't be dramatically disappointed. If you listen to an outlier and hope to get that experience then disappointment may follow.

Steam has a $10 discount on Project Cars 2 if you pre-order and, as others have mentioned, the two-hour refund as well. My question is will the price of project cars 2 in the first few weeks of being on Steam be at the same discounted price as the pre-order? I know eventually there will be a steam sale and you'll be able to pick it up cheaper but if you plan to buy it in the first month or so.... if reviews are good.. you may lose that $10 discount, I am guessing.

 

[Dady Cairo]

2 hours is Not enough to Set a Game right to run a Test on your System.Testing all the content.i mean Rf2 ,Project Cars2 and other hyped "Sims". There are a lot....
Defentily no... fooled one time is enough.
DC

 

[ouvert]

on steam, if preorder is cheaper or has good additional content there is nothing to loose ... you are basicaly preordering 2 hours long demo .... just watch that you dont preorder earlier than 14 days ahead of release ..
Other than that .. never ... these days not even good predecessor in game series is guarantee of good sequel ..

 

[FeltHat]

Steam has a $10 discount on Project Cars 2 if you pre-order and, as others have mentioned, the two-hour refund as well. My question is will the price of project cars 2 in the first few weeks of being on Steam be at the same discounted price as the pre-order? I know eventually there will be a steam sale and you'll be able to pick it up cheaper but if you plan to buy it in the first month or so.... if reviews are good.. you may lose that $10 discount, I am guessing.

Pre-Purchase Project CARS 2 Pre-Purchase
SPECIAL PROMOTION! Offer ends 22 September

 

[aka2k]

After Dirt 4, no preorder.

 

[Celtic Pharaoh]

Pre ordered batman arkham knight so as you can imagine, I don't pre order **** now. People need to learn be WISE with their money and not throw it at anything they get excited about. If something is genuinely well developed and plays great, buy it but stop giving into the "HYYPEEE!!!" and buy something because some "reviewer", who more than likely got a free copy of the game from the publisher in return to give the game a false positive review or got paid to, and says its ****ing amazing and the best thing ever.

 

[Vitor M Sousa]

I pre order when I know I'll get the game.

Like football manager. I know I'll get that. And they do discounts for people for owning previous games. So it's cheaper.

Talking about that. Time to pre order that