first day buys vs waiting for deals.

First day buy vs waiting for deals

  • I buy games day 1

    Votes: 3 1.2%

  • I wait for deals

    Votes: 88 35.5%

  • Depends on the game

    Votes: 154 62.1%

  • BUY ALL THE GAMES!!!!!

    Votes: 3 1.2%
  • Total voters
    248
X

Xenomaniac

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Mar 12, 2003
Messages
1,592
How many of y'all actually buy games when they are first released? I use to always buy games on day one of release. As time has gone by, I've noticed myself waiting for deals on games I want instead of buying them on day one. I'm feeling as if this is becoming the latest trend when it comes to PC games over console games. Heck I see deals on PC games come out faster than on their console counterparts. Am I the only one noticing this or is this really becoming the new trend?
 
As I get older I don't have the time to play I used to so I have a backlog of games. So no I do not buy games on release date anymore. Ive also found that my preferences have changed so shitty games just don't get purchased anymore so I'm more apt to wait for user reviews instead of jumping right in...curse you sw:tor!
 
Depends on the game. If it's thing I want, like Assassin Creed 3, new Hitman or Forza it's day 1. If it's thing I'm mildly interested in, like Dishonored, UFO, then it's deal waiting.
 
i bought dishonored day 1 and i totally regret it. it will be like 20$ at christmas. I am going to wait more often for deals.

some games ill buy day one though
 
Because you don't rely on physical sales theres no need to buy day one. Before if you didn't buy the boxed game in the store, maybe a week or two later you'd never see it again. Now you can pick up years old games for $5. So unless there's some pressing need, there really isn't much point.

Thats probably why they started stuff like preorder bonuses. Though most of the time these come out later on for $0.99, so you can get the full game+preorder good for $10 in 6 months, or buy it now to get bonuses for $60. or it's a bunch of crap not worth $50. So it's not really hard to choose. :D
 
A lot of the time now you can get pretty awesome pre-order deals on games. I've also seen a lot more titles going for $50 or less again rather than that $60 "standard" that seems to be popular with EA and the like.
 
MavericK96 said:
A lot of the time now you can get pretty awesome pre-order deals on games. I've also seen a lot more titles going for $50 or less again rather than that $60 "standard" that seems to be popular with EA and the like.
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yeah digital preorders you can get a good deal on. i am pretty happy i got hitman for 36$
 
Always wait for deals, with very few exceptions.

Last 3 games I bought at/near full price, in order of purchase: WoW Mists of Pandaria, Madden NFL 13 (last one I had was 2008 and sold long ago), and Crysis 2.

Aside from WoW expansions, and maybe an occasional sports game, I can't foresee myself buying at full price ever again. They're always sub-$10 on Steam within 6-8 months. I have a big enough backlog to wait.
 
I pretty much always wait for a deal. You can get a lot of good deals with preorders too now. I bought Dark Souls, Darksiders 2, Dishonored, Guild Wars 2, Borderlands 2, XCom, Kings Bounty WotN, and NFS Most Wanted as preorders and got them all between 25-40% off.

Most of the time though I do wait for big deals but if I can get good deals on a new game I do want to play I'll jump on it
 
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I bought Portal 2, Borderlands 2, Super Mario Galaxy 2, and Skyward Sword on launch. But pretty much every other game I've bought in the last three years I've waited for a deal.
 
Wait for deals (price drops) man!! Only buy what you really want upfront.. even then you can probably score a solid deal at launch.
 
I will preorder a Franchise I really like, especially if they have an attractive collectors edition ...

I did this with Diablo 2 and 3, Oblivion, Fallout 3/NV, Baldur's Gate 1/2/ToB, Icewind Dale, and Civs 2/3/4/5 ... I have done it with other games where it didn't work out so well (Elemental, Hellgate London, Rage, HOMM VI) ...

and I have sat on the sidelines and waited for sales on many others (Skyrim, Assassin's Creed, Borderlands, Torchlight 1/2, Wolfenstein, Witcher 1/2, Stalker, Portal, Far cry, etc) ...

it is heavily dependent on my budget, what other interests or distractions I have at the time, proximity to a big sale (Thanksgiving, Summer, etc), prerelease buzz/previews, contents of CE, and my general mood ;)
 
I wait 95% of the time. A few games I pick up on launch if I know I'll put in some serious time. Especially if it's a game that doesn't drop in price hardly at all in the first year. The majority of deals I buy are games I probably wouldn't have bought at 50% of original price. I buy a lot because $5-$8 is basically the price of a rental and I can own it. If I never play it, who cares.
 
i don't have as much time for gaming any more, and my backlog is growing bigger and bigger...i tend to wait for sales. although if i find a really good deal (got BL2 preorder for $35 through GMG) i will purchase when it first comes out.
 
I only pre-order/dayonline indie devs I care about like kickstarters. Unlike corporations I actually support free market. Pre-ordered xenonauts and Shadowgate yesterday. My roommates trying to sell me on Pre-ordering WarZ.
 
Almost every game is released with some kind of game-breaking bug, or a series of smaller but still annoying glitches. Online games are plagued with server and connection issues. Buying Day One and expecting to enjoy it immediately is not viable these days. Publishers and developers are exploiting the ability to patch far too much.
 
Plague_Injected said:
Almost every game is released with some kind of game-breaking bug, or a series of smaller but still annoying glitches. Online games are plagued with server and connection issues. Buying Day One and expecting to enjoy it immediately is not viable these days. Publishers and developers are exploiting the ability to patch far too much.
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Lets not forget the majority of games, at least on consoles, need to be patched on release. Digital versions are different because they sometimes include that patch once the game becomes downloadable/playable.
 
I wait these days. Of course by the time the game drops I usually have moved on and no longer have any interest in the game.
 
Well the only 3 games I've ever bought on day was are Mass Effect 3, Doom 3 and Final Doom. All the rest Ill wait til they come down in price til where I think its worth it.
 
I'm never in a rush to buy single player games.

If there's a competitive multiplayer title, or MMO coming out that I REALLY want, ill probably pre-order it, but I think I wont do that for a while, BF3 was the last one.

but mainly, I wait for deals.
 
with some games coming out a total mess and actually unplayable. I wait to see reviews, whats being stated in forums. Money is tight, if Im going to pay 60.00 it better be worth 60.00
 
Depends on the game. X:Rebirth will be a day one purchase for me whenever it comes out, as will GTA5 most likely. But many of the not quite huge games or the lesser advertised AAA games are ones that I'll wait on (like dishonored and xcom this year).

If a new Unreal Tournament is made, I'll buy it day one, or at least very close.

The big thing for me is reading the [H] response to games, rather than waiting on reviews. If it looks like around 80% of people in a games thread enjoy most of it, I'll pick it up pretty close to the release date most likely. It's not about the price for me, since I enjoy gaming and make enough to support my habit, it's about the value of the game for the money and whether the wait is worth the amount I'm saving.
 
Climber said:
As I get older I don't have the time to play I used to so I have a backlog of games. So no I do not buy games on release date anymore. Ive also found that my preferences have changed so shitty games just don't get purchased anymore so I'm more apt to wait for user reviews instead of jumping right in...curse you sw:tor!
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It burned me too
 
I usually spend no more than $30 on a game. The only exception is if I'm playing a game competitively and a sequel or expansion comes out.
 
DF-1 said:
I'm never in a rush to buy single player games.

If there's a competitive multiplayer title, or MMO coming out that I REALLY want, ill probably pre-order it, but I think I wont do that for a while, BF3 was the last one.

but mainly, I wait for deals.
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this.
 
Always better off to wait... Most games now come out like betas and are patched. I say wait until the bugs are worked out and the price drops... It's still a new game to you when you geta it
 
I'm only eager to rush out and buy multiplayer online games. SP only games can always wait while it really is an experience to play with other people on the first day.
 
DF-1 said:
I'm never in a rush to buy single player games.

If there's a competitive multiplayer title, or MMO coming out that I REALLY want, ill probably pre-order it, but I think I wont do that for a while, BF3 was the last one.

but mainly, I wait for deals.
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I do the same thing, even buying BF3 just as you did. You have to get those multi-player games right away to play with your friends or clan, but single-player can wait. I'll be looking for a deal on Skyrim this holiday season, hopefully on Steam. With the patching and mods, it'll be an even better experience than if I'd paid full price on day 1.

Now, if EVERYONE did that, it wouldn't bode well for large, expensive-to-develop single-player games. Fortunately, there's always someone with extra cash and poor impulse control. :)
 
Depends on the game. Some games if I'm interested in them around release date, it's worth me getting it then, others I can wait to get.

You also have the fact that even at release day you can often pick up a game on sale.
 
I can't remember the last time I purchased a game day 1, so I'd say wait for deals. I have plenty of unfinished games to play anyways, so I'm not in a rush or anything.
 
I have only purchased a few games on day 1, starcraft 2, diablo 3, counterstrike go, and perhaps a few others. My review from these seems to be, play hardcore for like a week, then i lose interest. This could possibly happen when you buy it later, but when I buy it day 1, and dont play my "money's worth," I feel disappointed.

That being said, I played a ton of starcraft 2 beta (probably lost interest before the actual game came out, but I wanted to play the singleplayer too), and have a 2 chars at level 60 on d3. On go, though, I haven't played that much, but it was only like $13, so I don't feel so bad.

I think I am like the others here, I usually wait for a deal, unless it's a game that I know I will play a lot of immediately/have the time, etc.


I'm even becoming picky on games I pick up here and there for ~$10-20 because if I don't play them in the next 6 months, I could save 50% or so by the time steam has them on holiday sales. Lately I have been waiting for ~$5 games (Metro 2033, Assassin's creed 2, Mirror's edge) and have quite enjoyed them and felt like even if I didn't play them immediately, I received the value I wanted out of them.

Honestly there are so many betas now, and other games I have in my backlog, that it sometimes doesn't make sense to buy new games. I am playing Dota 2 hardcore, and prior to this I was playing Planetside 2 (Also free) a bunch. Even before that I went 2-3 weeks without playing anything..
 
Where's the option for funding a game's development process? :p

If a game looks like a can't-lose epic then I'll often pre-order or purchase day 1, but I'm beginning to see the value of waiting. If I could go back and cancel my BF3 pre-order I would.

I used to have fairly slow download speed so pre-purchasing/pre-loading was a good way to get an early download going when it was offered...but now I download at 3MB/s and there really aren't any games that take long to get anymore.

So yeah, it just depends on the game.
 
depends on the game. if i'm excited about it i'll buy on day 1. life's too short to wait.
 
Very much depends.
With some games that I'm really excited for (Borderlands, Assassin's Creed 3,Skyrim, etc.) I'm willing to take a chance and pre-order so I can play ASAP.
With others that I want...but not as much, I'm willing to wait for reviews or at least word that the Day 1 version isn't broken.
 
Totally depends on the game. Any releases that I've done lots of research on already where I'm just waiting for the release date, I buy on day one. Others that I'm not so thrilled about but still look pretty good, I buy on sale.
 
Backlog much too big to justify a preorder for myself.

Add the fact that release day games seem to have a horrible track record for bugs...

I'm good with deals.
 
I still mostly buy Day 1 but am more choosy in terms of what I buy...for example I bought Assassin's Creed 3 but held off on Sleeping Dogs, Black Ops 2 and Hitman: Absolution
 
I'm with some others who've said it depends on the franchise, with some exceptions.

I generally pre-order/go "day one" with what I feel I know for a fact I will get into, as long as there's enough media before-hand to assure me it has something to offer.

Recently, it's been games such as Borderlands 2, Guild Wars 2, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Max Payne 3 and Far Cry 3 being the most recent.

Borderlands 2 is still paying for itself over and over, with almost 300 hours already invested and it's still holding my attention and a blast to play.

Despite being three hours of cut scenes, I actually got into Max Payne 3 a lot and thought it was excellent. It was like an "interactive movie" in my view, though I do wish there was a bit more gameplay. But I definitely didn't regret the experience.

DE:HR was also excellent, IMO, and definitely got a lot out of/from the game, so definitely have no regrets.

I initially pre-ordered Hitman: Absolution, but cancelled it based on a gut feeling which, for me at least, was a smart decision. I don't like the way Hitman: Absolution turned-out.

Guild Wars 2 was a "mixed-bag" for me in the end. The world is beautiful, but as a whole, the game is seriously fundamentally flawed in too many ways. I cant say I regretted it, totally, since I did enjoy the time I spent in the world, but since I relatively quickly drifted away from it, I'm 50/50 on feeling it was a waste.

Far Cry 3 I've no doubt will not disappoint me based on everything I've seen.

But, in regards to the pre-ordering/"day one" issue, the only reason I bother these days with everything being digital, is just so I can get into a game as soon as possible. Otherwise, since everything is digital at this point, as others have said, pre-ordering isn't necessary.

Actually, since everything is digital and can be obtained at any time, it's an advantage, because you wait the extra day or two for more reviews and feedback from other gamers, then just order and download.

Still, there are certain things I want to play as soon as possible, so depending on the game, I'll pre-order.
 
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