Opinion: Feed Me, See More: Reasons why you shouldn’t pre-order or buy early access games.
To our new and old gamers, let us not buy into the preorder/early access scam system.
Sure, gamers have become more sophisticated in their skill to sniff out new worthy games, but the industry’s ability to manipulate gamers to disregard their judgment is greater.
For many gamers the moment a new indie game has been announced, the first response is to research it.
However when some major game companies announce their newest product, the hype is so massive that it could possibly break the sound barrier. Some people may press the “buy now” button due to sheer devotion to a game company.
Many of these games are released under early access or pre-order status in order to entice consumers to be the “first” to play, no matter the current state of the game. The game may have bugs and glitches that can make ratings go from ‘Overwhelmingly Positive’ to ‘Mostly Negative’ on Steam, a digital distribution platform, in a few hours.
The reason I buy games in early access or pre-order status is because I don’t want to be excluded from the novelty of a new game that everyone else is playing, especially in an online multiplayer based game that mostly requires social gaming for it to be passably entertaining. It becomes boring to play alone. However I realize that as a college student, unless I want to completely fail all of my classes, I do not have the time or the money to constantly play every released game that is hyped up.
It is incredibly expensive to buy a game before it fully releases. Market prices for new games can range from $20 if they are an indie game to $70 if released by a well known company. Usually there is no price difference between pre-order/early access and the full release. Besides, most of the time, those games will go on sale in response to a holiday or summer break.
An exception to this would be “ARK: Survival Evolved.” This game started out at a low price during early access and then hiked up the price when it was out of early access. Originally the game was around $30. It was even cheaper with the occasional Steam sales and Humble Bundle, a charity platform where people pay $12 to $15 for a bundle of games, apps, books or software. When the creators of the game decided to lift the early access status, the price went up to $60.
Another reason is that sometimes you may have to judge a video game by its cover. The game may not be what is advertised. When the hype of a game increases, the disappointment does as well.
The biggest example of that was the game “No Man’s Sky.” Many potential players saw videos of this revolutionary game, being able to explore a neverending universe with procedurally generated planets that contained unique fauna and flora. Many people dropped $60 and pre-ordered “No Man’s Sky” with the hopes of it being how it was portrayed.
The developers of “No Man’s Sky” used screenshots and video game play that were not part of the game’s final form and made promises they could not keep, such as the implementation of multiplayer. The game’s release was met with immediate criticism and backlash due to the public deception of the game’s image. Not only that, the developers had cut communication with the community for an extended period of time. That caused Valve, the company that owns Steam, to completely refund people even after their refund grace period, extending to a few months.
The last thing you want when you get a game is to think it was a big waste of money and time. Games are not cheap. What happens when you buy a game, play it for about three hours and finish? You can’t refund it anymore on Steam because the grace period is two hours. Most game companies will ban your account if you attempt to chargeback. In the event of a multiplayer game, sometimes servers crash from all the people trying to get into the game. Even worse, coming back from class on release day and being placed on a never ending login queue. Now all this time is being wasted from sitting in front of a screen, waiting for the number to tick down.
Be skeptical of all screenshots and gameplay videos that are showcased by the company before the game actually releases. Wait until all the prominent Youtubers and Twitch streamers leave reviews about the game. Most likely they will be the first people to start playing that game. Let other people spend their serious money first, then decide whether or not you still want the game.
Don’t play an “Early Access” game expecting it to be amazing, when it’s meant to be a slightly polished rough draft.
Do not buy a game that you don’t have a real interest in playing just because everybody else is playing. Also, don’t buy a game just because you own almost all the company’s games believing all their games to be good.
There is nothing wrong with buying and playing a game or two, but it is an issue when you use your hard earned money to buy something that likely won’t last a few hours.
