While in theory it doesn't make sense to buy at launch gamers on gaming forums make damn sure that you have to buy and play at launch to not get games spoiled.

Yeah yeah you can not read threads and post about a game you've not yet played but that is damn close to impossible with popular games where stuff floods the internet a while after launch.

I'm not talking about spoiling stories (because I really don't care about the paper thin crap that game makers and gamers call "stories") I'm talking of just mechanics of the game, stuff you can do or way to solve certain problems.

Take BotW and TotK that are very flexible and open ended in how you solve problems and/or do stuff. It's much more fun to discover that (and a part of the experience) instead of (just by chance in some cases) have read or seen a GIF of something.

Yes, why nickel and dime on the stuff you want to see more of. The race to the bottom sales are part responsible for the move to MTX and Season passes to pay for games. Yet that doesn't work for single player games. Nintendo not joining the sales bandwagon also makes me more confident to buy their cartridges since they don't lose value like games on other systems.

It does if it’s something you are willing to pay for. People value different things differently, what’s valuable for one person at $60 or $70 might not be valuable for others. It’s a case by case basis, and it always will be.

If I get a game released in my favorite franchise, I'll buy it day 1. Full price.

I know I will get my return on entertainment investment.

But other titles that may be a little more sidelined in regards to my personal taste? Always buy later.

Depends on the game for me. If it's a new Final Fantasy, Persona, Xenoblade, or Fire Emblem game I'll generally have no issue buying those games at launch (financial resources permitting lol). But I generally do like to wait for sales on most games these days as I find it hard to justify spending 70 on a new title (more like near 80 once taxes are calculated in).

I don't blame anyone for waiting to get many games these days though. Between patches, content updates, and DLC/expansions I can see why some would wait for a complete version to be released later on (or just getting the game and it's DLC on sale)

Nintendo games never go on sale and can be hard to find later. Buy at launch.

Everything else doesnt hold value and is easy to find, wait for a sale. RE4, just grabbed it for $20.  Outside Nintendo I probably average spending $15 per game.  

I would rather save money on software by waiting, leverage the saving for hardware upgrades.  

I buy complete editions of games at launch (if they are confirmed to have everything on disc),
otherwise I do not. In recent times, I even moved almost entirely to used games because I can always save at least 50% (this includes Nintendo games)
As a physical-only gamer, I learned to restrain myself a long time ago.

My most waited games of a given year, meaning Nintendo games and a select of 3rd party usually get bought on launch and I actually almost never regret those kind of purchases because I feel them to be fair.

Games that are on my wishlist or to be waited until purchased. Some sort of backlog, are to be waited on discounts, for the physical version first if it can be found or in digital if the discounts is sufficiently deep for me to think it's worth trading the physical format.

Anywoo, it's not an habit I got myself into. Nor do I think people should exactly do that as I know Nintendo do not discount their stuff in the matter of a month after release so I have confidence in the value of what I buy.
3rd party are mostly not as such.

Just from a pure capitalistic standpoint.

What do people think has the best chance to generator a sequel or other good game from the studio. The game that sold 1 000 000 copies at full price or the game that sold 1 000 000 copies, most at stupid discount price like $15.

For a lot of games that fast goes to the discount bin the amount of copies sold doesn’t actually matter to if they get a sequel or the studio will make another ”masterpiece”. The discount bin is almost never to be ”nice” to gamers but mostly a damage control move.

I posted here earlier something to the effect of "I buy games when I want to play them" - Nintendo is the exception.

With Nintendo games, I'll buy them day 1 just to try them out for a few minutes or an hour, even if I know I'm not going to play them much until quite a while later. The reason being that I don't need to worry that I threw out money because the game got price cut before I got around to playing it.

So, case by case was my vote.