Why Pre-Ordering Games is a Good Idea

An argument in favor of pre-ordering video games in response to an earlier article on the same site which suggested paying for games in advance is a waste of time.

Excerpt:

"Recently, my cohort Jeremy wrote an article about how pre-ordering games is "a waste of time." We here at The Exploding Barrel encourage healthy debate, and as someone who frequently pre-orders his video games, I thought it would be an oportune time to chime in and present my take on the matter. Jeremy has voiced the opinion of the casual gamer… now let's hear the other, hardcore side of the coin."

[machete squad steve]

A gaming ritual which says "I am a rabid fan of this title", and I will show support just short of those tards camping out for two weeks.

Plus the extra swag they give to pre-orders is nice.

[Gazman]

Too true, plus you will have a far better chance of getting your game. I saw some guy cry because he missed out on halo 3 legendary, so freaking funny

[RecSpec]

Swag is the number one reason, unless it is a niche title.

[devilhunterx]

which says why pre-ordering Games "maybe" a good idea... sheesh

[solar]

hehe. no doubt. and then "maybe" playing it once you buy it.

[M_Prime]

at the end he mentions downloading games.. funny thing.. if u are a PC user u should know STEAM, and there you can PRE DOWNLOAD the game so when its actually 'released' all u have to do is "launch game"

so pre ordering will always exist.. and even when downloading u get PERKS.. when HL2:EP2 came out with TF2 if you PRE-BOUGHT the game you had TF2 like 2 weeks early! i mean that sold it to me. (ORANGE BOX)

[INehalemEXI]

Good point. I just wish when you pre order console games from any store that they actually shipped them before the release date so they arrived on the release date. I think thats only fair you know.

[jaja1434]

Well there is bit of difference between having a large file pre-downloaded which could save you hours as opposed to pre-ordering a game which saving you minutes at best.

[donalbane]

Yeah, I totally am familiar with STEAM... it's my preffered way to buy games, actually. I merely suggested that STEAM is going to be the model for how everyone buys ALL games in the future. Hell, all media will be online, and stores will be relics for your grandparents.

[Mikey_Gee]

give folks like EB of GS our money far in advance so they can use these profits toward investment gains and make large chunks of $$$ with our Pre-Order money.

And as a reward they rape us trade in value

[longduckdong]

but the average game doesn't get stocked like the mega-hit so if you really want a copy you should pre-order

[IzKyD1331]

pre-ordering can be risky unless your 100% sure the game is gonna own, the only game i have ever pre-ordered were MGS4 (and i only did that because i know this game is gonna be one of the best of the year).....i made the mistake of pre-ordering assassin's creed because of all the hype only to return the game a week after and losing 20 bucks because gamestop makes you sell games for like half price.....almost everyone i knew told me the games gonna get sold out day one, but the day after the release date i saw like 9 copies in the store.....

[BSigel81]

The same happened to me with Assassins Creed, and now I take hype as a grain of salt

[DongHungLong]

Gamestop allows you to cancel pre-orders even after they already have the game in stock. And again games don't really sell out. Check Target or something and they most likely have the game. Or even shop online at familyvideo and get games for cheaper without the tax(in some states).

[DarkRayneRules]

That's lame. I preorder everything from GameTraders, and if I don't like the game, they give me all my money back. :) It is so sweet, I would have died if I had to re-sell Blacksite.... crappiest game ever. Most of the time I like the games I preorder though, but Blacksite was hideous, the monsters sucked, the game was short, and the NPCs were morons. What is up with throwing a grenade at a corpse? Stupid AI. I was hoping for something more like Area 41, silly me. And shooting the crap out of the alien/mutant things was no fun at all. They don't even scream or bleed or anything. It's like shooting cardboard cut outs. I feel dirty just having that game on my played games list. Hey, if anyone actually likes that game, pipe up and tell me why. LOL.

[DongHungLong]

My buddy went to game stop without pre-ordering and they were out of said game this might have held some ground. No sh*t gamestop will tell you they are out of said game when you didn't pre-order... They want to make you feel the need to place money down. Guarantee Wal-mart and target has plenty of copies. People should stop shopping at gamestop unless they are trying to find a hard to get used game. Otherwise its a waste of everyones time. You can sell games for way more money on ebay.

[Palodios]

If they give you extra stuff, that's an entirely different situations, and pre-ordering a console is an absolute must these days, but otherwise there is absolutely no reason to.
I remember the last time I pre-ordered a game, and quite frankly, it was a miserable experience. They didn't call my house, and when I went that day they didn't even have a copy for me, although they had it the following day, and they had it next door at walmart. All it does is stick you to a particular retailer because that's where your money is. The thing is, if its going to be out of stock, you might NOT even get it if you do pre-order, and in that case, just go somewhere else, easy enough.

[KidMakeshift]

Pre-order or I shall smash your skull like a clam on my tummy!

[mccomber]

because of the price guarantee when you preorder products. I've had several games that, for whatever reason, end up with a price drop ahead of time of a few dollars. It's not much, but along with not paying sales tax and the fact that I don't mind waiting a couple days for free shipping through Prime makes it worth it to me. I preorder games at brick&mortar when there is swag involved (hello MGS) but otherwise I don't even buy games locally.

[Alcohog]

I haven't pre-ordered a game since Aladdin on Genesis...

[tplarkin7]

It was not worth it. There was no advantage to pre-ordering. On the night of the launch, it was first-come-first-serve. It didn't matter if you paid in full, or not. They gave you a ticket with a number, and you had to wait in line.

[grilledgorlupa8]

Persona 3 is the reason I preorder games sometime

[proArchy]

preordering shows specific consumer interest in games according to platform, location, age, and income brackets. Preordering helps your local game store order, and serve you, their patron, more accurately and efficiently. Also game companies are helped by knowing which franchises have hardcore fans, and which new ip's generate consumer interest.