Do NOT Pre-Order Games in 2022

If there is one piece of advice, I’ve heard time and time again being someone who has consumed videogames as their primary media form for almost my entire life, is to always try your best at tempering your expectations. Unfortunately, in 2022, the industry as a whole as seen a large shift in how it functions and its overall goals for delivering games. There are still many studios out there, talented people out there, who just have a vision and want to see it come to life. And to them I say thank you and keep doing what you’re doing. It’s a shining beacon that we need to remind ourselves of every now and again. But for the rest of us, it’s hard not to see some aspects of videogames and get frustrated that games come out half-baked, buggy, broken, and dead-on arrival. Which is why I feel compelled to say this in 2022, many years after its introduction: Do NOT pre-order games anymore.

The main idea behind a pre-order back in the day, was to help lessen the potential of not getting a physical copy of a game that you are excited for. Especially if it’s a huge release, something like the original Modern Warfare 2 is a prime example of this. That game was hyped beyond belief; the tension before the games drop was literally palpable. There aren’t many titles in recent memory reaching that level of meteoric excitement. So, people thought ahead and pre-ordered a copy of the game, because there was a very high likelihood that whatever brick and mortar store you were planning on going to, was going to sell out. And now, with the soon release of the Modern Warfare 2 sequel to 2019, I feel as though some people are doing the one thing they shouldn’t; giving them your money before they really deserve it. We don’t know if the full package will be good. After playing the open betas, I can say that it will most likely be good. However, there’s no guarantee on that. You never fully know with these kinds of things. Any product can look good on the surface, but fall apart when it’s fully in your hands. There have been plenty of games in the past that put on a good show, teasing what it could look like, but fall flat on their face once it was in the user’s hands.

Now, all of this was before the boom of digital sales for games; where most of our purchases nowadays are bought through a marketplace online, whether that be steam, epic games, or any of the console stores. Things are much different. A lot of people, myself included, get our games digitally now, one, for convivence, but two, it might be the only way to get access to a game. We don’t use game discs for PC anymore. That era has long since been dead and buried. Digital is the only way to go at this point for certain platforms. But to pre-order, in a weird way, kind of does the opposite of what it once did. Before, it helped facilitate that you were much more likely to get a copy. Instead of going to a store and rolling the dice on whether or not they still had any physical versions left. Now, when you pre-order, you’re giving someone your money, and there isn’t going to be a world where you won’t get the game you want. There's not limit to online copies. Digital sales have an infinite amount of them. There is no pressure to give someone your money before you need to.

What makes this feel even worse is when the game comes out, and it’s a mess beyond belief. And we’ve seen this before. Fallout 76, Anthem, Battlefield 2042, and the launch of Cyberpunk 2077. All of these games promised the world, day one, and were just absolute disasters that either were salvaged one patch at a time, to the point where they are at the very least playable, or dead before the game got a chance to try and redeem itself. Which sucks in the cases like Anthem, because just the concept of flying around in a lush and beautiful world while wearing an iron man suit that has abilities and can be customized sounds incredible on paper. But of course, as we learned years later, poor management and the wrong choice on engine lead to that games demise. Now no one will touch that idea ever again; the stigma behind Anthem will live in infamy for years to come. Imagine if you pre-ordered that game and got as burned as we did? I would hope you would never do it again for any future titles. This is ultimately just a PSA for anyone who still uses that silly gotcha; don’t. Do yourself a favor and just wait. Wait for the full release; watch a review or two, find some gameplay online and use those resources to make a better judgement call as to whether or not you should purchase a game. No matter how enticing the cute little bonuses are when you pre-order, they aren’t worth it. Just wait. Please. Considering that games nowadays are being subjected to the “next gen tax”, it won’t be too long before we see most of our new games priced at $70. Which I mean $60 has been steep for some time now. So, with a price hike to 70, please be careful with your money and the games that you buy. This goes for AAA games from well established companies. In regards to indie and smaller titles, it’s a lot harder to gauge those kinds of games, so again, proceed with a level of cautious optimism. If this video helps even just one person not get burnt by a bad video game release, that’s all I could ask for honestly. Sometimes, these companies make it blatantly obvious which games are going to crash and burn, and sometimes it’s a little harder to tell. So, do yourself and your wallet a favor: don’t pre-order games anymore. Thank you very much for taking the time out of your day to watch this video, and if you enjoyed, consider subscribing to hear me talk about other stuff I find interesting and want to have a conversation about. I hope to see you in future ones.