There is a topic that is gaining a lot of traction recently and that is pre-orders. Last month we finished up E3 2019, the biggest gaming expo that every gamer looks forward to. It is truly one of the most wonderful times of the year when we get to see what games developers have been pouring their heart and soul into and the results usually don’t disappoint. With so many big titles being named and release dates being talked about, it begs the question; Should we be pre-ordering these games?

For a few reasons, pre-ordering games is a practiced that warrants a closer look to see if this is actually the right decision. I admit, there have been plenty of games that I’ve preordered in the past that I felt were “necessary” games for my collection but looking back, not so much. The most recent game that comes to mind I pre-ordered was Destiny for Xbox One. It seemed like a no brainer at the time, Bungie and Activision are doing a collaboration game that is like a cross between Call of Duty and Halo, who wouldn’t be all over this? In fact, I was not alone in my thoughts, I was joined by over a million other gamers vying to get their hands on it. All in all I wasn’t completely disappointed but could I have not pre-ordered the game and be just as happy? Without a doubt! Part of the reason I rushed in to pre-order was because the developers offered early access to the beta with a pre-order. This brings me to my first reason to not pre-order a game, developers offer a mediocre incentive and gamers rush to throw cash at them. This essentially gives money to these developers for an unfinished product. Would you go into a sit-down restaurant and pay before the meal comes?

Speaking of an unfinished product, when Destiny came out it was it was very unbalanced in how the rewards were doled out at the end of missions. This brings me to the second reason, games are often buggy and unbalanced at release. Don’t even get me started on Elder Scrolls Online and Fallout 76 upon release, these games were just awful. Super buggy and an angry fan base contributed to Bethesda catching a lot of flack. To be fair, after numerous updates and patches ESO has been doing much better and after E3 Fallout 76 could be seeing some decent (and much needed) improvements. That being said, ESO was released in 2014 and now 4-5 years later, I’m finally starting to hear how good it’s gotten.

The final reason I would say (and I am guilty of this from past experience) is the fear of missing out. This can be a legitimate fear if you grew up in the 90’s and early 2000’s when stores would frequently run out of big hype games on release dates. I still remember the incredible disappointment of not being able to play Sonic Adventure 2 when my local Target ran out. The sadness was almost overwhelming. These days, this really doesn’t happen anymore. Especially now with online markets such as the PlayStation Store, Nintendo eShop or Xbox Marketplace, new games are always available day 1.

Either way you look at it, pre-ordering games is a practice that is likely unrewarding now and a bad move overall. I don’t think I’ve ever felt good about myself after pre-ordering a game. In the grand scheme we are giving developers a pass to release unreliable products and as long as we keep up with pre-orders we are just going to keep giving these companies our consent to keep releasing sub-par games. What do you think? Can you think of another reason?

~Greg Silvers - Xbox Gamertag: EventualCoast8 / PSN: Zero3511

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