Day One Purchases - I'm feeling Less Inclined

[pzeke]

I'll just quote myself again...

I've only bought a few games at launch, and I can honestly tell you they were worth the asking price. For instance, I bought Pokémon Diamond and Pearl on their day of release, and while Pearl was relegated to the side, I played the ever-loving snot out of Diamond—I just couldn't bring myself to stop playing. Another good example is Drakengard, which I bought during its week of release for about $50 I believe, and I can tell you once more that it was well worth the price, as I played the hell out of it. One of my all-time favorites, in fact. Final Fantasy XII is another good example, although I spent the majority of my time playing power-leveling and never actually finished the game.

With that said, I'm not one to buy games at launch, to tell the truth, so it has to be something that I'm genuinely interested/invested in, and even then I will stop and think twice. Nowadays I feel most games aren't worth the asking price solely due to how shady the industry has become what with day one patches, locking content behind a paywall, and all that other nonsense. Granted, most games that recur to these type of practices usually don't appeal to me, especially in regards to online multiplayer, but it's still a factor regardless.

As I've stated before, I wait until the hype dwindles, so I just wait for prices to go down and either get them on sale or used. There's a good chance I'm not going to play the game right away, so why waste $60 to begin with.

Almost no game is worth $60... not unless it is some really rare print or an older difficult to acquire import.

I think people are morons if they actually pay $60 for a new game since (just about) every damn game ever made ends up eventually dropping to $20 or so if you simply wait awhile.

At any given time, >>95% of the greatest games ever made were made over a year ago. So what's with the obsession with whatever is brand new??

Have a brain and just wait a bit. Your pocket book will reward you. You'll be able to own 2 to 3 times more games.
And perhaps you might even have some money left over to get out of your parents basement and live on your own.

Tone aside, I agree with you. Most people that tend to buy games as soon as they get released do so for the instant gratification and experience, though, somewhat following what kamikazekeeg said. Usually these kind of people can't be dissuaded to do the opposite, so that's basically the demographic the industry is shooting for. These often are also the type of people that tend to buy into hype, as well as buy consoles and games with a "short-term" mentality, meaning once a new generation console is released they jump into that bandwagon and abandon the last. So, basically as sworddude stated, the industry needs these type of customers to keep afloat.

- I'm a cheapskate, so I won't pay $60+ for a game, unless it happens to be one that I will play on-the-spot (Final Fantasy VII Remake being a recent example, which actually didn't cost me $60)

[wolff242]

These days buying a game day one basically means you are paying to be a beta tester. Often games are released broken or buggy, and need a serious overhaul before being good. Games go on sale pretty regularly, and I usually snag games 2-3 months after release for 50% off. While its very rare for me to preorder games, I did pre-order COD Cold War. Predownloaded it...and I was unable to even play it for several weeks...it just would crash on me while loading up.

[kazumn]

Nah i don't pay full price for new games anymore, unless it's something i'm really exited for (made an exeption for yakuza 7 and ac valhalla) but these days can't say i'm really hyped about anything that's coming out in the near future. Maybe the new story of seasons and harvest moon games in march but i doubt these will retail for 60$.
I see myself buying less and less current gen games each year, now with the brexit in effect it's only going to dwindle down even more as for whatever reason buying games from the uk was cheaper then picking em up from a store near me, go figure.
Now that i think off it all the dedictated gamestores near me got closed.


no man's sky is a perfect example, why people should stop buying games day one, i've yet to play the game, bought it for around 20 euros a year orso ago and i'm  pretty sure it's going to be an amazing experience with all the updates and so much more.

Nintendo published games i'm interested in are another story, since they never drop in price may aswell pick em up when they release. Not that i sell my games but for those that do you usually don't lose much money when you sell off a used copy and bonus for the collector in me overtime nintendo games tend to hold much of their value.

[pzeke]

I was going though some folders, and this image is a perfect representation of how I feel about day one purchases...

[astralsoul]

I used to be big on buying games day 1, up until maybe 5 or 6 years ago. Not only can I not keep up with new releases the amount of "must have as soon as possible" games are fewer and fewer. Especially when it's inevitable that prices will drop a few months to a year later. Nintendo stuff usually doesn't drop and I still buy some big titles like Mario and Zelda on day 1 but almost everything else I buy it when I'm good and ready which sometimes ends up not at all. that's just how it goes.  That's mostly because of my own habits and limited time to even play the games so the sense of urgency has diminished but then on top of that you have games that aren't even finished on release and it's a no brainer to wait on 90% of games.

[covfefe2020]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiMyCzezfTg

Relevant

[burningdoom]

I use pre-order like layaway. Pay on it when I have the extra dough. Then by the time it comes out, its paid for.

[telekill]

I use pre-order like layaway. Pay on it when I have the extra dough. Then by the time it comes out, its paid for.

I used to do this as well but with Gamestop's future not looking too bright the last few years, I stopped that practice and instead would just put $10-$20 into savings each paycheck knowing what I wanted before hand and when it would release. That way, if Gamestop suddenly closed down for good, I'd have only lost the $5 minimum instead of the potential $65 after taxes.

I know other stores like BestBuy, Walmart and Target also get the games, but they get tons of each game. Oddly, more than Gamestop at times.

[thewelshman]

Other than Trails of Cold Steel III, and IV, I can't recall any games that I've bought day 1 in the last few years. I was BIG on grabbing up Limited Edition and Limited Run releases primarily from LRG, and NISA, and sometimes from Play-Asia, but getting married and having kids will put an end to that very quickly. I also realized I threw down top dollar for games that I did not do enough research into and ended up not enjoying them much at all. I generally just wait for sales since a lot of PS4 games will drop in price after 5 or so months, or if I can snag it second hand.

[telekill]

After thinking on this thread a bit, I looked at all the potential releases coming out over the next year.... I'm feeling like very few have my attention as a day one purchase anymore. I see games that I really want and they are usually remasters, remakes or sequels. Anything that's a new IP that looks interesting, I'm willing to wait for a price drop. Right now my day one purchases are Mass Effect Legendary Edition and Ninja Turtles Shredder's Revenge. Anything else, I have a wait and see approach.

Then I look at PS5's $70 price tag on some games like Returnal and I'm even less willing to give a new IP a shot. I'm not saying $70 is too much for a specific game, but with game prices dropping so quickly last gen after initial release coupled with "Game of the Year" editions of so many games often released the following year with all DLC.... I'm just not sure I'm on board with day one for most releases anymore. Day one purchases are now going to be considered rare for me.

[tripredacus]

The last games I day-one purchased was Diablo III. I believe I had waited on anything else, at least a week. For things I am not sure of, I will want to watch others play it before buying it. I'm fairly confident I will day one purchase the Diablo II remaster.

[emporerdragon]

I see games that I really want and they are usually remasters, remakes or sequels. Anything that's a new IP that looks interesting, I'm willing to wait for a price drop. Right now my day one purchases are Mass Effect Legendary Edition and Ninja Turtles Shredder's Revenge. Anything else, I have a wait and see approach.

Pretty similar to me, as the only things so far this year that warrant a day one from me are the Mass Effect trilogy and the Diamond/Pearl remakes.

[turf]

The last game I Day-1 bought was Red Dead Redemption 2.
That was probably the last new release I was super-hyped for.

Well, that is unless you count Limited Run Games. I’ve pre-ordered a shit ton of those.

[necrosexual]

i only pre-order if the game has an art book with it, and i want the game very much and like the art style. but you have to be wary of what is meant by 'art book'. i'm not really interested in just a package of official marketing art on paper with a binding. but if they show the rough concept art below that, and esp reject art as they built up to the final designs, i'm totally down. i'm a sucker for art books, but i use them as inspiration to flip through when i'm in art block, so i think it's worth the extra money. i also buy art compilations that have nothing to do with games too, so for games with nicely bound books of decent page lengths and sketches and such, for like $10 more than the standard, it's totally worth it to me. and substantial books are worth that cost alone when compared to retail compilation books, but usually they also have a soundtrack, which gives me access to wonderfully lossless audio of OSTs i like as a bonus.

but even this depends. some games are so overprinted that they will be found on discount later. skyrim's collector's edition was one, i found it for $80 some time after it released, new and unsealed. tbh, i don't care about skyrim, and by then the standard edition was ~$30, but the art book is exceptional (i've seen similar retailed at $20+!) with reject rough sketches/paintings, a lot of text explaining their process, etcetc. xenoblade chronicles x special edition was the price of the standard original retail cost a year or so after launching on ebay. tokyo mirage sessions special edition was $40(!!) on ebay, sealed, some time after it released. all AAA games get overprinted 'limited' collector's editions and are too overpriced, art book or no (skyrim collector's was $150 day-one... yeowch!).

notable exception is xseed games. their special editions are usually the cost of most retail AAA games ($60), while standard release is $40 or $50, but the art books are rather thick, and printed on heavyweight, glossy paper with extremely sturdy binding (if you've seen an 'animanga' book, it's like that). plus, i want to support xseed localisation and the games. so i have room for those despite being 'marketing team friendly', for a variety of reasons.

otherwise, i extremely rarely day-one purchase. i did with animal crossing new horizons, i probably will with shin megami tensei 3: nocturne rerelease because i'm a sucker. i am more willing to for idea factory and xseed just out of support, since i tend to like their games a lot. but ngl, i can't be bothered keeping up with release dates for the most part. even for games i like, i just remember the launch window ('late october' or whatever) and look it up when i remember. and i especially don't care to keep track of releases from big companies like nintendo, as if they're niche and going to be hard to find, or threaten to run out of stock for good.

[lordsofskulls]

One issue i am noticing recently though, certain games releasing new.... dont make it past 6 month to 2 years, due to low print, and end up going over $80+

Crystar

Blue Reflection

Liar Princess and Blind Prince.

Trails of Cold Steel 1 and 2 Definitive Edition

Their also other games i cant think of... but ya their certain games that are brand new, they come out and have such a small print run.... they gone within 6 months - 12 months and prices go up crazy amount


edit: so if you have any weird video games, might be good idea to pick them up day 1.