Hope this isnt a new trend

[soera]

I was scrolling around through some sites and I always end up on Gamestop's site to see if any new releases are announced. Then I saw a game that was released 3 weeks ago already marked down $20 (Battleborn). Why the fuck did I pre-order this game if I could have just waited a couple of weeks to save $20? I wish I hadnt opened it. The return policy is 1 month on unopened items. I could just return it and rebuy it.

[rayne315]

I don't think its going to be a new trend I just think that a lot of people who bought it weren't expecting it to be a MOBA and returned it OR it could have been that the open beta was more or less the entire game and was out for quite a while before the game actually released.

just a note on the first one. personally I would never spend over $30 for a brand new moba because I know they are going to have micro transactions out the wazoo, and I will be playing the exact same maps and doing the exact same thing for too long.

[Flashback2012]

We were in Meijer the other night and stopped by their electronics department. I was rather surprised to see Battleborn, Quantum Break, and a couple of other recent releases on sale at $15-20 off already. Seems to me like they'd make more money if they didn't try to maintain the $60 price point. I realize back in the day that 16-bit games could retail for $60-70 but I think the industry is the healthiest when premier new releases come out at the $50 price point. 

[kashell]

I don't see it being a major trend for all new releases.

[gf78]

I've always viewed these price-drops and "flash sales" as a sign that the game(s) are not selling as well as expected, especially within the first month of release.  You don't see the newest Mario or Zelda or Halo having a big sale right after launch.  At best, you see GameStop or similar stores offering bonus trade-in credit toward the purchase of said game.  For example, GameStop has been running a bonus 50% trade-in credit toward the purchase of Doom.  Battleborn was riding the hype from Borderlands.  Unfortunately, it's a MOBA with micro-transactions as pointed out by rayne. 

I'm currently at the point where paying full price for a game isn't economically feasible with medical bills, expenses , saving money for Christmas, etc.  I took advantage of that 50% bonus trade-in credit at GameStop for Doom and ended up spending $4 and change to get it.

Aside from being in a position where I don't have the spending cash like I used to  for games at the moment, I really don't like the direction gaming is headed.  Even games that have a strong single-player component these days require online updates and sometimes just a connection to even be able to play the game.  Collecting for the current generation seems redundant to me now because these new games all have a limited shelf-life.  Once EA, Activision, etc. shut down online support a great majority of today's titles will cease to function.  I'm not really cool with that.  Then you have these near-immediate price drops where stores are slashing up to 40% off a brand-new title within a few weeks and I end up feeling just like Soera does in this instance:  Screwed over. 

[burningdoom]

Damn, guess this means we'll never see an XBox One port.

[desocietas]

With the fervor of Overwatch, I figured they think it'll be even more difficult to sell Battleborn now...

[kamikazekeeg]

just a note on the first one. personally I would never spend over $30 for a brand new moba because I know they are going to have micro transactions out the wazoo, and I will be playing the exact same maps and doing the exact same thing for too long.

To be fair to Battleborn, while it'll have new characters to purchase down the road, when you buy the game, you get access to all available characters and there are 25 of them.  I very much prefer that along with Overwatch, compared to what Heroes of the Storm and other regular MOBA's do with free characters and having to pay money or grind the game for a long time to buy characters and the costs are way more than a normal game.

And basically Battleborn just released at the wrong time.  If it released two months ago or two months later, it might've been okay.  I think it was doing okay critically, but most people are buying Overwatch, like me.  I don't think this is a trend normally as I rarely see games drop so quickly, even with ones that I know aren't doing well.

[gf78]

just a note on the first one. personally I would never spend over $30 for a brand new moba because I know they are going to have micro transactions out the wazoo, and I will be playing the exact same maps and doing the exact same thing for too long.

To be fair to Battleborn, while it'll have new characters to purchase down the road, when you buy the game, you get access to all available characters and there are 25 of them.  I very much prefer that along with Overwatch, compared to what Heroes of the Storm and other regular MOBA's do with free characters and having to pay money or grind the game for a long time to buy characters and the costs are way more than a normal game.

And basically Battleborn just released at the wrong time.  If it released two months ago or two months later, it might've been okay.  I think it was doing okay critically, but most people are buying Overwatch, like me.  I don't think this is a trend normally as I rarely see games drop so quickly, even with ones that I know aren't doing well.

Maybe it's just me, but these multiplayer-centric games don't interest me all that much.  I grow tired of doing the same thing over and over again.  Battlefront was fun for a bit, probably helped along by my love of Star Wars.  But it got stale.  How many times can you play deathmatch or some variation before it gets old?  Same for Call of Duty, etc.  I prefer my games to have a story or at least a goal besides having the most "frags" or whatever.  I've also never had any interest in playing a "MOBA" like League of Legends, etc. 

Again, it all goes back to the shift of gaming to primarily online.  When the next big thing comes along, users of whatever the "hot" game is right now dries up.  Or worse, the year after you get a game, the developers/publishers release the sequel and squash the existing title.  Looking at you NBA2K-whatever. 

[kamikazekeeg]

just a note on the first one. personally I would never spend over $30 for a brand new moba because I know they are going to have micro transactions out the wazoo, and I will be playing the exact same maps and doing the exact same thing for too long.

To be fair to Battleborn, while it'll have new characters to purchase down the road, when you buy the game, you get access to all available characters and there are 25 of them.  I very much prefer that along with Overwatch, compared to what Heroes of the Storm and other regular MOBA's do with free characters and having to pay money or grind the game for a long time to buy characters and the costs are way more than a normal game.

And basically Battleborn just released at the wrong time.  If it released two months ago or two months later, it might've been okay.  I think it was doing okay critically, but most people are buying Overwatch, like me.  I don't think this is a trend normally as I rarely see games drop so quickly, even with ones that I know aren't doing well.

Maybe it's just me, but these multiplayer-centric games don't interest me all that much.  I grow tired of doing the same thing over and over again.  Battlefront was fun for a bit, probably helped along by my love of Star Wars.  But it got stale.  How many times can you play deathmatch or some variation before it gets old?  Same for Call of Duty, etc.  I prefer my games to have a story or at least a goal besides having the most "frags" or whatever.  I've also never had any interest in playing a "MOBA" like League of Legends, etc. 

Again, it all goes back to the shift of gaming to primarily online.  When the next big thing comes along, users of whatever the "hot" game is right now dries up.  Or worse, the year after you get a game, the developers/publishers release the sequel and squash the existing title.  Looking at you NBA2K-whatever.

Depends on the game.  I am Battlefield player, but basically ever two years there's a new one to play and I never play the previous one again generally, but I've put 100's of hours into that game.  I'm getting more than enough time out of it to be worth the price.

On the other hand, I put nearly 700 hours into Team Fortress 2 over the years and I think that's how Overwatch is gonna turn out.  It's a platform that they'll update for years since they don't need to release a new one every year or two.  Overwatch is handling it better though with free characters and maps and the only thing you can buy are cosmetics.

[bikingjahuty]

Considering how quickly the price of most next games drop after release, I rarily buy games grand new when they first come out for this exact reason. Sure, it's fun to be part of the initial hype when the game first launches, but I'd rather save $20 to $45 and just play it a few months down the road.

[dreama1]

What's the point of pre-ordering anyway it's not like it's going sold out the same day it hits stores that you couldn't walk in and buy it. There's always trickery when pre-ordering games these days.

[desocietas]

What's the point of pre-ordering anyway it's not like it's going sold out the same day it hits stores that you couldn't walk in and buy it. There's always trickery when pre-ordering games these days.

Depends on the game, of course.  Some items yes, they send plenty, other items will only get sent to the store if people preorder, and they might only send enough to cover the early preorders (not the ones that came the day before launch).

Even with bigger titles, a store might have enough to cover preorders and some copies at launch, but if you want to guarantee that you have a copy, whether you come in at midnight or 2 days later, a preorder might hurt less than driving around to several shops to track down a copy.

[badATchaos]

Unless its a limited release there is no point in pre-ordering.

[turf]

Unless its a limited release there is no point in pre-ordering.

If you want the bonuses; or, in the case of Amazon Prime, you get a discount for preordering.