The only reason that any video major game is made is to make as much money as possible. So, if there are people willing to pay some extra money to play a few days ahead of everyone else, it only makes sense that publishers would offer that.

In some respects, I think it's tacky. But, it's just basic, smart business.

I've spent most of my gaming life buying games several months or years after release, so that I can get them at a lower price. That's really the same thing, in principal. I agree to play the game later, so the publisher agrees to sell it to me at a lower price. 

Here's my take on it. Publishers are always looking to squeeze more money out of their big budget, blockbuster games. We know this. We also know that they like to frontload their returns as much as possible. Over the last decade or so, this has generally meant pushing you into pre-orders that promise various exclusive perks, often spread across multiple retailers, and not infrequently ripping meaningful content out of games in that effort to secure your pre-order, if not the super special ultra deluxe version that also comes with whatever vague future DLC they have planned. Those practices, I think we can all agree, are pretty trash.

If their new method of choice to secure maximum profits is what essentially amounts to a tax on impatience...I can live with that. No, it's not really "early access." Yes, you're either paying more, or not playing on the game's actual release date. But, as long as that window is held between a few days to a week...I think that's pretty ok. It's not great, but it beats a lot of the alternative money making schemes we've seen in this space, so I'm basically ok with it.

Getting to play a game I want early is a great perk.

The target audience for AAA games have long been stupid gamers, so this is just another step on the long established ladder of getting more money for basically nothing. Although being able to play a game earlier than commoners is certainly one of the better perks of the usually way overpriced Deluxe and Premium Editions of games, so it can easily be viewed as a positive for no other reason than the rest being so damn bad.

I miss those days, the days people would camp outside for the latest WoW expansion, or when GTA IV/V launched, or Gears of War 2, etc.

Pre-ordering back then made sense, because back then we had an even limited supply of copies per store, so midnight launches made sense, but today?, hardly anyone does those anymore and it makes even less sense, given that the modern day pre-orders for complete editions go into the $100's.

Pre-loading was sort of like an ease of waiting to download at the time of a game's launch, but tbh, I don't bother with pre-loading, mostly because not all dev studios support it, or they somehow manage to magically fumble it completely, or allow pre-loading based on regional release times (which then makes the act of pre-loading practically useless).

I've grown to be the same over time, in that I'd rather just take my time and wait for a game to either be patched up to make it as best as it can be, as well as just waiting for a cheaper sale, because buying a game day 1 these days sets you back more than anything.

Depends on who, but I did for example with Forza Horizon 5, you basically get the season pass that's discounted before release, so get it now and get early acces or get it later and pay more (till a sale happens way later).

Think stuff like the battlepass for NBA2K is way worse, spend 10$ a month for a Tier 1 battlepass but be warned you can't unlock the Tier 2 items....To get those you need to get the second battlepass for 10$ a month..... so yeah people will be spending 70$ for the game and 240$ for a year for the battlepasses and nothing will transfer to the next iteration...

At a basic glance, it simply seems fine, but it's always been about the money to them so of course, they'd try and prey more money out of fomo'd customers. Those who are the "buy later or on sale crowd" are not the target audience of the jack up priced editions.

Doesn't mean it is truly acceptable if you know where this slippery slope of a tactic could go in the future.

As for pre-ordering, unless the perks make sense like for ex. getting double the gold coins on the eshop, which translate to more store credits is a relative good perk for doing so but otherwise gives you nothing since digital as basically no finite distribution numbers (Although, don't fucking tempt the publishers to actually do so !!)

Pre ordering physical games can still make sense however if you know for example the game you're pre-order won't receive a big physical printing, therefore it won't guarantee the availability of a copy on launch or subsequent weeks.
Aside from that, don't bother with pre-ordering, especially if it's solely based on hype

Not Kinda, TOTALLY. Even worse is on case of games that are day one in subscription but if you want to play it a few day earlier (and avoid spoiler) you have to buy a premium edition that is even more aggravating than the difference between regular and premium. Also it totally makes "day one" a lie.

Not only that but for AAA games having "open paid beta" for like 2 years where the game is "basically finished" and using that to have not only revenue but do all the QA testing and only "going gold" when the game is quite old and polished inflate the scores as well.

I have been pre-ordering some stuff because of the 10-15% discount, but only do that for pubs/devs I trust will deliver a great game, otherwise I'm perfectly fine to wait for a 50% price cut on pre-owned copy.