The Poison Of Pre-Order Culture

[Alex]

So I watched Raw and found out the thing Sting was teasing was his appearance in WWE 2K15. I thought that was pretty cool. Trouble is he's only available if you pre order which I thought sucked.

Now I like Sting. I'd like to play as an official version of him in a game. But I don't see why I have to pre order a game to do that. Surely just having Sting in the game would be enough to get those Sting fans to go buy it.

This seems to be a thing that happens with some regularity now. Only if you pre order a game do you get certain gameplay aspects such as special characters/extra gameplay modes and missions.

It's like they make a game, chop off part of it and say you can only get this if you pre order it.

I may not be making much sense but Jim Sterling from the Escapist articulated the point better in his video about the same subject.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/vid...st&utm_medium=index_carousel&utm_campaign=all

What say you. Is it valid criticism or is it something that's being blown out of proportion??

 

[Trill Co$by]

First of all, not a single WWE 2k Game has released a pre-order bonus that you couldn't buy as DLC later on. Pre-ordering just gives you a code so that you can download it sooner. Second, it's a smart strategy and don't see the problem. Any game publisher is obviously publishing a game to make sure people buy it. Getting these pre-order sales in early gives publishers an understanding of how much their games are being anxiously waiting on.

I don't see a problem with pre-ordering; I really don't. I've done it plenty of times, and it's worked out. When I went to go get GTA V, I literally was the last person to receive my copies. I had pre-ordered three copies because I have three consoles in my house, and this allows us all to be able to play at the same time. And in cases like that, pre-ordering the game works out in great wonders.

 

[Slyfox696]

It's like they make a game, chop off part of it and say you can only get this if you pre order it.

This is the argument made against so much of DLC, but it's just not accurate. What's MORE accurate is they don't have time to include the content sold in DLC when they are first hitting deadlines in the development, marketing, retail process so they include the bonus content after to make a game more appealing and to hit higher profit margins.

As long as content which is included with pre-order is available for purchase later, I have no problem at all with pre-order bonuses. It's just a little extra nicety thrown in for free.

 

[Thriller Ant]

As long as content which is included with pre-order is available for purchase later, I have no problem at all with pre-order bonuses. It's just a little extra nicety thrown in for free.

Agree with this. Pre-orders, no matter the medium, is that it gives the company/artist an idea of how successful the product will be and allows them to hit the break even point sooner, and possibly even before the product comes out. That's why pre-order bonuses are so common.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

This is the argument made against so much of DLC, but it's just not accurate. What's MORE accurate is they don't have time to include the content sold in DLC when they are first hitting deadlines in the development, marketing, retail process so they include the bonus content after to make a game more appealing and to hit higher profit margins.

As long as content which is included with pre-order is available for purchase later, I have no problem at all with pre-order bonuses. It's just a little extra nicety thrown in for free.

I agree with Sly. If pre-ordering gives you a bonus (which is often available later anyway as DLC) which doesnt cost anything extra then it's just an incentive to pre-order the game to access that content immediately.

I can see the argument for DLC being a pain in the ass, if developers deliberately leave content out just to charge customers later but there is also the very real possibility that sometimes companies do not have time to put everything in the game they'd like to, and release this additional content when it's ready later, for a small fee. WWE games do this, they often add extra wrestlers as DLC a few months after the game's release date as these guys joined the roster too late to be added to the game for release date. Also, the pre-order content of WWE games is always released as DLC later on anyway.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I'm not particularly fond of pre-order exclusives, or DLC for that matter. Games should be released in full when they are released, that's it. The extra content should only be an easter egg, and no more. I dislike it if powerful items, new characters, or entirely new quests are only available if you pre-ordered the game or wait for it to become available through DLC. That may just be the oldschool gamer in me speaking though. The more powerful/useful/extensive the pre-order material is, the less I am in favor of it. Small extras such as an alternate outfit for a main character to award someone for pre-ordering, or maybe real life novelty items and posters? Sure. Sting in the new WWE game only being playable if pre-ordered? No. Stuff like that takes it too far. Even if he becomes available through DLC later, the game should be released IN FULL when it comes out. I have always been of of this mindset and it is not likely to ever change.

 

[Slash-LN]

I think I've only pre-ordered two games.
One was a WWE game and I don't remember what the special item you got for it was. I'm pretty sure it was Steve Austin. It didn't help me in any way because I didn't have internet at the time so I couldn't redeem the code. I knew I was going to be buying the game anyway and was already at Gamestop and had the money with me to just go ahead and pay it off rather than just putting 5 bucks down.

The other game was that Lucha Libre game. I think it was AAA. The pre order bonus for that was a mask and I thought it was an awesome bonus and so I went ahead and got it. The game was terrible just like the TNA game but I still like having the mask.

But yeah I have no problem with pre-orders. Especially games that sellout quickly like someone said GTA V.

When the WWE game came out last year I was kind of bummed about not getting Warrior but then someone on here told me that I could just pay to get him and I think it was something like 99 cents. I'm pretty sure after a certain amount of time all the dlc stuff goes down in price. Or maybe there was a sale or something.

I just know when I got the game before last year's game it was 19.99 to get everything. By the time I got this year's game the dlc all came to about $12.

Anyway if there is something awesome for a pre-order bonus I have no problem ordering it. Otherwise I just wait and get the dlc stuff later.