VGCollect Forum
General and Gaming => Modern Video Games => Topic started by: vivigamer on February 21, 2021, 01:54:43 pm
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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?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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 $60)
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These days buying a game day one basically means you are paying to be a beta tester. Often games are released broken or buggy, and need a serious overhaul before being good. Games go on sale pretty regularly, and I usually snag games 2-3 months after release for 50% off. While its very rare for me to preorder games, I did pre-order COD Cold War. Predownloaded it...and I was unable to even play it for several weeks...it just would crash on me while loading up.
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Nah i don't pay full price for new games anymore, unless it's something i'm really exited for (made an exeption for yakuza 7 and ac valhalla) but these days can't say i'm really hyped about anything that's coming out in the near future. Maybe the new story of seasons and harvest moon games in march but i doubt these will retail for 60$.
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.
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I was going though some folders, and this image is a perfect representation of how I feel about day one purchases...
(https://i.imgur.com/rtp89S4.jpg)
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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.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiMyCzezfTg (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiMyCzezfTg)
Relevant
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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I had a feeling about Crystar being hard to find over the years. No one I knew had it on their radar; even fans of "niche" games. I'm glad I got mine day one. The artbook that came with it is pretty spiffy, too.
Blue Reflection was on my radar for a long time.