What is the purpose of preordering?

[Kalahari Inkantation]

[TooB]

It's literally to ensure that you will be able to get a copy of a game you really want to have as soon as it releases.

Any bonuses, or whatever you get extra, is just that, a bonus, and sometimes can be lame, especially when they lock content behind a preorder, like an extra mission or something.

[Samus Aran]

i only ever do it if there's some preorder bonus i want

[Kalahari Inkantation]

It's literally to ensure that you will be able to get a copy of a game you really want to have as soon as it releases.

Is this ever helpful in this day and age?

[C.Mongler]

Prime discount


Now? I dunno

[TooB]

It's literally to ensure that you will be able to get a copy of a game you really want to have as soon as it releases.

Is this ever helpful in this day and age?

Yes. Most recent example being Octopath Traveler. I got so many people asking if we had it, but we didnt, because it sold out

I mean, sure. This argument is moot if you download your games. Can't argue that.

[bluaki]

It's literally to ensure that you will be able to get a copy of a game you really want to have as soon as it releases.

Is this ever helpful in this day and age?

Yes:
* Consoles. There's almost no way you could get a Switch on launch day if you didn't preorder. Some console designs/colorschemes are limited too.
* Limited edition game releases
* Amiibo still often don't have any more stock than to fulfill preorders
* There are sometimes miscellaneous other limited-run accessories. Even something like the GameCube controller adapter had limited stock right after the release of Smash4.
* Very few games are underproduced but there are a few rare examples like Octopath

When ordering online, preordering is a must if you want release-day delivery, and Amazon until today used to have that preorder discount. For digital games, preordering often lets you predownload so you can unlock the game right away without waiting for overloaded servers.

[ClassicTyler]

A lot of the niche games I get won't be sent to Gamestops in my area if I don't.

[don't let's]

Back in the day stores would only get in 10 copies of new pokemon and you had to preorder or wait a week or so until they got the next shipment.

[YPrrrr]

Prime discount


Now? I dunno

[Kalahari Inkantation]

i only ever do it if there's some preorder bonus i want

It's literally to ensure that you will be able to get a copy of a game you really want to have as soon as it releases.

Is this ever helpful in this day and age?

Yes:
* Consoles. There's almost no way you could get a Switch on launch day if you didn't preorder. Some console designs/colorschemes are limited too.
* Limited edition game releases
* Amiibo still often don't have any more stock than to fulfill preorders
* There are sometimes miscellaneous other limited-run accessories. Even something like the GameCube controller adapter had limited stock right after the release of Smash4.
* Very few games are underproduced but there are a few rare examples like Octopath

When ordering online, preordering is a must if you want release-day delivery, and Amazon until today used to have that preorder discount. For digital games, preordering often lets you predownload so you can unlock the game right away without waiting for overloaded servers.

A lot of the niche games I get won't be sent to Gamestops in my area if I don't.

Back in the day stores would only get in 10 copies of new pokemon and you had to preorder or wait a week or so until they got the next shipment.

all of these are valid reasons, of course, even i voted that there is sometimes a point

however, the vast majority of preorders go to standard editions of games that are basically guaranteed to be produced and disseminated sufficiently

so who the are all these impatient undisciplined suckers who absolutely can't bear to wait a few days post launch for a new shipment, or more importantly, to see a few reviews, before they end up wasting another $60 on what may well be the disappointment of the month, which of course they'd go whine and scream about before preordering the next big hype generator without a moment's though a week later

most recently i have seen so much hype and interest in preordering cyberpunk 2077, for which there is absolutely not a single known benefit to preordering beyond having it on day 1, and which probably won't even have a release date until 2020

It's literally to ensure that you will be able to get a copy of a game you really want to have as soon as it releases.

I mean how much of a difference could it possibly make whether you play it on day 1 or day 4?

by day 4 you'll know if it's a 90 or a 70 on metacritic, whereas if you get stuck with it on day 1 and it ends up being a 70 or ends up having miserably broken multiplayer or smth, well, now there's not much you can do and the developer has already been rewarded well in advance for its incompetence lol

[TooB]

 But.... you aren't stuck with it by preordering.

You can easily cancel

Also, many people who preorder don't wait for reviews. They are interested in a game, they want it asap, they decide on their own if they like it or not.