Buying indie games day 1 hits different tho.

It was different in the old days. Midnight release parties at the game store, rush home, put in the game, immediately start playing.

Nowadays they can't even ship a functional game day one half the damn time.

And that's assuming it even "ships", in a physical sense.

Pre-ordering games used to be cool.

You'd show up to the game store for the midnight release, pick up your copy, then head back to your buddy's place and play until 9pm.

You'd get a physical copy of your game and some cool shit too.

No install times either.

Just plug and play.

It was the style of the time.

Nowadays you get a code in a box (at best) and some cheap trash.

I haven't pre-ordered a game since before 2012.

I don't really understand preordering digital products. They're not going to run out of stock. At least with physical games, you can get limited edition physical goodies with it.

Unless you're Microsoft. I've looked into getting some of the old DLCs I never got to try for certain games, and they're all still full price even for games that are like 20 years old by now. Want to buy a map pack for COD: WaW in 2026? That'll be 10 bucks, please! I could probably buy myself a new, unused copy of the game for less than that at this point. It's ridiculous, even just from a business standpoint. I'd strongly consider buying the old DLC if the prices were more reasonable, but no one is gonna pay full price. I guess the silver lining is that they've been full price for so long, and inflation so rampant, that $10 is only worth like half as much as it used to be.

I can’t wait to play GTA 6 in 2028, assuming we haven’t blown up the planet yet.

pirating a 17 years old game?

If you play more niche titles, preordering is sometimes the only way to ensure you can even get a physical copy.

You guys buy games?

Preordering a cool indie game by backing it on a crowdfunding site where the creators get paid well and they put your name in the credits or something.

I’m a a middle Pooh kinda guy

What’s the next level of this so I can repost it about pre-ordering an early access game like what just happen with ArchAge Chronicles. Posts full of people proudly announcing their prepurchase and defending it only for it to be a probable review-botted quick cash scam.

I was going to say Diablo 3 was the last game I preordered but then I remembered that I did preorder Witcher 3. Diablo 3 was the last game I bought from blizzard

Only time I preordered a game, it was BioShock Infinite for 360. Say what you want about the quality of the game, but I at least got a hardcover guide book and still have it. The midnight release party may have been ass since gamestop decided to go all out by actually doing it¹, but that guide book is pretty amazing, IMO, despite never actually using it. Looks cool.

Nowadays I would never be dumb enough to preorder a game unless I know I'm getting a physical copy. As it is, I got in on some leftover kickstarter goods for Brok The InvestiGator when I ordered my Brok and Graf plushies and it was so worth it since I got an official install disc of the game and a branded USB with the installer, both base game with zero updates. So even if Steam disappears, I can have backups of the base game.

¹ was open for the event but made zero attempt to celebrate of the release

I've only ever pre ordered 1 game (splatoon raiders) and it was worth it. I am never preordering again so I can keep my perfect record.

I love buying a console once it's old. I bought the ps4 way after the ps5 released. Cheap games, i know which are flops, no spoilers for me, and usually i get the best releases dirt cheap.

i pre-ordered witcher 3, cyberpunk 2077, and crimson desert. i enjoyed/am still enjoying all three, but the practice of pre-ordering really is devilish. the witcher 3 version was even on a ps4 which i don't own anymore, so i had to rebuy the game on steam years later for like 15€ with dlc. i don't really regret pre-ordering, not even cyberpunk. i liked it at launch, and like it even more now. the quests, side quests, and world building are decent to excellent, and those were for the most part already there at launch. it was just very buggy, and some things just didn't work.

GTA 6 is something like 200Gb, pre-ordering it means you can pre download the game and install it before the lock is lifted on the release date. That's the only reason to pre-order a game nowadays.

Pre-ordering a game? Is this a beta-release?

I've done this once before. It was GTA V on PC, and it was because Rockstar kept delaying it. I appreciated that it wasn't gonna be a total mess, and I didn't regret it.

I did buy Tears of the Kingdom on Day One. Love that game, but the Switch really showed its age with that title.

The last game I pre-ordered was Doom (2016).

Same thing for phones.

Only ever pre-ordered 2 games. One of the 3ds Pokemons, and Skyrim. Skyrim was ordered at my college campus's GameStop. Went to pick it up, and they asked me for my ID to verify my age. Funny enough they didn't need my id to refund me. So I took my money to best buy and got some extra free swag.

I will never not pre-order games from Larian or CDPR. Why? Because I know them, I trust them, and I know what to expect.