Heya everyone, Cloudman here again. I haven't done a thread in a while due to being busy lately, but I'm back to talk about something else in the industry, and this time is, as mentioned in the title, pre-orders.

These days, pre-ordering has gotten a really bad rep, some people on the internet and youtubers going as far as saying the whole idea behind it is a cancer to the industry and needs to go away, and that everyone needs to rally up and stop doing it altogether. I agree that pre-order bonus have gotten ridiculous to outright terrible, such as extra small free items in games, extra skins, and worse, the 4th monster bonus in Evolve and Goro character unlock in Mortal Kombat X.

I don't know about you, but those last 2 sound quite dispicable to me. I'd rather have those be in the game already than pre-order them with the risk that I may not like those games, or they don't turn out as well as expected. This got me to thinking about pre-ordering and bonuses before. I remember pre-order bonuses being better than this. I think I recall pre-ordering games, such as pokemon and Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 days, and getting good gifts. I think I remember being told at a game store that pre-ordering those games would get me a poster (KH 358/2 Days) and a small Lugia toy (Pokemon). Normally, I don't pre-order games, but those were cool extra gifts to get! So of course I pre-ordered them! I wanted those games anyways. Sometimes the first shipment of games have extras, like an artbook, or a CD. While not pre-order bonuses, that's a nice incentive to get that game if you're interested in it.

Even before this, me, perhaps as well as many others, saw pre-ordering as an assurance to get a copy of a game reserved for yourself if said game was very popular and in danger of being sold out quick. This was basically the very definition of pre-ordering back then, right? I think there were rare occasions I did this, like Kingdom Hearts 2 and Pokemon games.

So my question is this. Is there a time when pre-ordering is okay? Or do you think pre-ordering are harmful to the industry and needs to go away? Do you have any good or bad memories of pre-orders, or pre-order bonuses? Let me know what you think, and thanks for reading! : )

When you freaking feel like it is or its not.

Make up your own damn mind, and live with it.

Preorders are ok when I do them.

I have currently one preorder running so I don't forget the release. Gonna preorder 2 more as soon as they're available on Amazon.

So should we heed your advice on what games to pre-order? Haha, I joke. These days I don't pre-order much anymore, but I may for things like amiibo in the future.

Eh I preorder whatever I decide I may want on day 1. I can always cancel and I have 7 days to return the game for a full refund (in cash, not store credit) and I can keep the preorder bonus. I still to this day have never played Dragon's Crown and yet I own the art book thanks to preorder and return... no not because I didnt like the game I just needed the money at the time.

I don't see the down sides of preordering. I don't buy games that I'm not absolutely sure I will like. So I preorder at Amazon, which has the benefit of possible early delivery and possible lower price. Sometimes there are even bonuses in there, which is nice.

So preordering for me has literally only benefits. Benefits that I wouldn't have without preorder.

I pre order pretty much whenever I want. Don't let the vocal minority of the internet sway your thinking for anything.

I don't think we have that luxury anymore... At least for Gamestop I don't think. And when I mentioned an artbook, Dragon's Crown was the one I meant xD That book is awesome! And the game is cool too. : )

I pre-order every game regardless. I do think the little bonuses are stupid, and more often than not I never even download them.

I put my money towards things that entertain me, so if I can give more money to Sony, Naughty Dog, Polyphony Digital, San Diego, Rockstar, 2K, etc. and show support before the game even ships, then I am happy. Anyone that thinks devs don't work hard or publishers don't care once they have my money is a freaking loon. Every company I have ever worked for has tried even harder to make the customer happy when they are paid up front and in cash. If someone can afford that kind of transaction, then that is a person you want to make happy, and hope for their repeat buisness in the future.

I think the real problem here is the BS splitting up of content. That I have hated in every form of entertainment for years. Movies, CDs, Television, Sports and many more are all guilty of it. The, if you buy this here you get this, but here you get this, and if you buy it here you get this, that crap is the real problem. Then again its a catch 22. This is what the open market and multiple competitors creates. In a monoply all of this would end, and everyone would recieve the same version with the same content, it would work on every device, and connect to the network no matter where you go, and everything would work in harmony. But, people are scared of monopies, because of to much power, and lack of innovation. So, I guess you have to take the good with the bad.

I don't quite understand what's bad about pre-ordering either, and yet it as a negative thing comes up sometimes. So I thought it was something worth talking about. Extras them seem very possible to be included in the game at the start, and being kept behind pre-ordering does seem a bit off putting.