Day One Purchases - I'm feeling Less Inclined

[vivigamer]

Hi,

I've been doing a lot of thinking about my gaming purchases recently and one thing which is becoming repeatedly clear is the lack of value to buying a game upon its release. Often these days, games upon release are less polished than 5-6 months down the line with updates - You can take an extreme example like the recent Cyberpunk 2077 but I think it really does apply more subtly to most games overall.

One of the big incentives I find gets me is to buy into the many Editions released. I never go out of my way to buy these £300+ Editions we see all too often these days - A lot of the time its tat. However, I will often be tempted buy the more mid-tier bundles that offer a Steelbook or Artbook for an extra £10. Added DLC does nothing for me either and one of the first things I look out for when a new game is announced is to see if they have a Season Pass or plan. If so, I will avoid it entirely. I've bought a few games this gen at launch and later regretted it due to future DLC making my bare bones edition worthless - Fighting Games are the worst for this IMO.

Holding back on some releases recently has shown me that I have the restraint to do so. One game I did so was with Contrtol, as soon as I saw it had a Season Pass, the Day One Edition/Standard Edition seemed pretty much redundant. A year or so down the line and it's now free on PS+, The Physical Collector in me may eventually buy the PS5 copy on disc but certainly not at launch or over £15. Another example is Yakuza 7: Like A Dragon. PlayStation Owners have gotten shafted pretty bad with this release and the PS5 version is finally coming out next month. I had the intention of buying it Day One so I could take advantage the game on my PS5. However, last month the PS4 Steelbook Edition dropped to half price. The game also offers a free Upgrade when the PS5 version is released in March so this seems quite a deal - The PS5 version also seems to have no fancy Steelbook Edition either. Once again, the collector in me will want a Physical Copy but for now I have access to play the game with the enhancements of the PS5 through this cheap PS4 version. The game was release in November, not even 3 months down the line and its dropped to half price and through waiting I will get access to a superior version of the game also.

I have upcoming games that I am interested in, the NieR Remaster on PS4 incoming in April for one, but I still feel I have so much to play that I can wait on this. A game I have been anticipating is Resident Evil 8. I've yet to buy a true PS5 exclusive and was thinking this would be it - though now they have announced a P4 version with an upgrade system the same as Yakuza 7 mentioned before. But still I have yet to get a proper next gen title (DMC5SE & MK11U Are PS4 enhanced titles), so part of me is tempted to really relish in the power of this new system but considering how quick Yakuza 7 dropped I'm genuinely considering holding out 3 months and seeing if it does drop. RE8 doesn't seem to have any excessive DLC either (As of yet), so the temptation is even greater but I'm going to give it a go.

I'm just curious to see if anyone else has changed their opinion on buying new titles? If so what has caused the change for you?

[weirdfeline]

Yep, I'm over buying games at release. Pretty much no reason for the average person to buy a game at release.

Physical pre-order bonuses are pretty uncommon now and whatever pre-order DLC exists is usually not only for those that pre-order whether it's a code in the case or a $2-$5 DLC.

More importantly the first month or so will have patch after patch and often after a month you'll already see a sale on the game. Wait a couple of months and you'll likely have even more patches and an even deeper sale. Within six months the game went from $60 to $20 and now most bugs are patched. Why would you not just wait?

Yes, Nintendo is still somewhat of an exception to this rule. Not that they never go on sale they just take a lot longer and usually only go down to around $40.

[vivigamer]

The Nintendo Exception is worth mentioning, years down the line and the games barely drop RRP - I bought the console about 6 months after launch and looking on deal sites today I still got a better offer! I've never understood how that is the case to be honest and to be fair it has put me off the system. I'd rarely buy any games for it and with so few games it meant I barely played it. I eventually sold it due to neglect and how busy I have been been with my PS4.

[emporerdragon]

My basic rule of thumb is that I'm not going to buy a game day 1 unless I'm going to play it day 1. Otherwise, I've got hundreds of other games in the backlog, so there's little reason to get it at full price. Collector's editions I rarely buy anyways as the extra stuff very rarely appeals to me, especially with the jump in price.

On the flipside, the games I do buy at full retail price, I don't regret seeing them at $20 down the line. I see it as I still got my money's worth out of it. If it was a 50 hour game, I only paid a little more than a dollar per hour of entertainment, which is still a very good buy.

[bikingjahuty]

I have to be really, really hyped about a game to purchase it day 1. Pretty much unless I plan on playing that game within the first week of it coming out I have no issue with waiting until it drops in price and the bugs are worked out. I haven't had a particularly bad experience with bugs (yes, that even includes when I played Cyberpunk), but my main issue us how damn expensive new games or and also not always wanting to play a game as soon as I buy it. Might as well wait when it's cheaper and I'm ready to play it.

[kamikazekeeg]

Nope, no real issues buying games Day 1.  A couple flops last year do show that I should be more willing to hold off on some games abit longer to make sure they don't have issues, I can be very impatient, but it's not often I feel bad for buying a game at full price even if it'll be cheaper or have DLC 3 to 6 months later.  I do hold off on buying some games if I'm not super excited for them, so I wait for a sale, like Control I wasn't super hype on initially, picked it up on Epic last year on a deep sale with the DLC, and kick myself for not buying it sooner as it would've been worth the full price for the enjoyment I got out of it.

The only thing for me when it comes to pricing on games, is content and replay value.  Am I gonna get 20 to 40 hours out of a game at least? That's usually worth 60 bucks no matter what.

[telekill]

Depends on the game for me. Generally narrative driven games are safe as they have to finish the story (Sony 1st party, Tomb Raider, etc), tell end users that they are doing some kind of episodic release (Shenmue, Telltale games, FF7 Remake) or there will be massive backlash.

Fighting games... no way in hell I buy them on day one anymore. I haven't since the PS3 days when I witnessed $5 DLC characters added on a whim across almost every fighting game only to later see the release of complete editions later. I'm still waiting for a complete roster from Mortal Kombat 11 before I bite. Ultimate doesn't seem like it's the complete version just yet.

Anymore, most games can wait. They drop in price so quick and frankly, I don't have the time anymore to try and keep up.

[droaa]

If it's something I'm really excited for and I want to play when it's out then I am inclined to buy it Day 1. Last year for me it was RE3, Ghost of Tsushima, FF7R, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 as few examples. I will admit that all of these I didn't play or beat within days of getting them but I know I will get my worth from them. Otherwise, buying games Day 1 is more of the what am I really excited for mindset. Right now the only one that fits into this category is Resident Evil Village. I am excited for that one being that I am a huge RE fan and I did get the last 3 on launch in RE7, RE2 and RE3.

[NickAwesome]

I have slowed down on the number of games I have purchased day one for sure- but there are still certain titles that I am excited for that are worth picking up at release.

Like the newest Ys game- It's one of my favorite series- I got it on release and it's all I played for the last 2 weeks- I got 75+ hours out of it and enjoyed it quite a bit! Don't regret my purchase for a second.

But sometimes you get burned. So instead of buying 10-15 new releases a year- I'm down to around 5.

[jce3000gt]

For the last decade my original plan was to limit day one or preorders to Bethesda games or games I know I’ll pay without disruption for a long time.  Now today it is almost non existent minus limited releases like from limited run or super rare games.  I still do Bethesda but unless the game is 100% a must have I don’t.  Ghost of Tsushima was one rare example and man was I glad as it was the best game of 2020. 

[seether]

There’s one or two releases a year, if that, that excite me enough to buy day 1 so it’s pretty affordable for me. I’m super picky.

[kashell]

The game has to have me super hyped to consider going the day one purchase route. Otherwise, I'll just wait until I get the urge to play it and/or try to find a good deal.

[thewelshman]

Like a lot of the folks here, unless the game is something I plan to play Day 1 I'll avoid it. Apart from the Legend of Heroes series I can't recall the last game I either pre-ordered or bought day one other than maybe Dragon Quest XI. I spent entirely too much money on pre-ordering games just because they were LEs or had a little something cool added to them. Getting married and having kids solved that problem real quick.

I feel like Pre-Orders stopped being as rare and exciting as they used to be since more times than not they are a cheap DLC down the road or they are collectables that I don't really care about collecting.

[Cartagia]

My basic rule of thumb is that I'm not going to buy a game day 1 unless I'm going to play it day 1. Otherwise, I've got hundreds of other games in the backlog, so there's little reason to get it at full price. Collector's editions I rarely buy anyways as the extra stuff very rarely appeals to me, especially with the jump in price.

All of this.  I've got enough games to play that I can wait months before picking up that new one.

[Warmsignal]

There's never been a game that I really need to have on day one, but now you kinda have to if you want get a Switch game from a brick & mortar store like GS. Otherwise, they won't get any copies. You could just order it online, but if you want to go pick it up psychically, pre-order is pretty much necessity.