A Broken System Part 4: Preorders

Part 4 of A Broken System, a video series looking at issues with the games industry. This time we're looking at the culture of preorders and why it's a problem. Full script and video below.

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Something that I have mentioned throughout my videos has been a culture of preorders and how it’s contributing to problems within the gaming industry. So what exactly does that mean? What is a culture of preorders? First of all while I’ll assume most of you know exactly what I mean when I say preorder let’s explain it for the few that may not. A preorder is basically when you go to a video game store and agree to buy a copy of a game that has not yet been released and the store agrees to reserve a copy for you. It’s pretty much that simple. Back in the day especially video games would often sell out, sometimes for weeks. If you wanted to have the prestige of playing first you had to preorder to reserve a copy. It also makes sense if you were going to buy the game anyways. So how could this possibly be a problem?

Well there’s a few things that poison what is otherwise a good system. First is the fact that the system is entirely pointless and outdated at this point. With the advent of internet shopping there’s plenty of ways to get a copy day one without having to reserve a copy. It’s very rare for a store to run out completely. It is not a necessary step but publishers in particular are hooked on it.

Presales are used to woo investors who are a huge source of income for games publishers. Preorders show interest in a game before release and can lead to sequels regardless of how the game actually performs after release. They continuously try to get consumers to preorder with enticements of special items only available for preorders or special access to a certain mode or sometimes even another game. These special items also make it harder for someone to cancel a preorder thus retaining the money. This is a practice that is becoming problematic when publishers are holding back entire portions of the games unless a certain number of people preorder. Luckily the consumers have been pushing back against this behavior, but the fact that it happens is worrisome.

So essentially we have a culture driven by preorders, publishers that push it and consumers that still want to be the cool kid on the block with the first copy of the game. That is why we have games journalists trying to rush with the reviews and get theirs out first. I’ve already addressed why that, especially for multiplayer games, is a bad thing. Preorders at this point, only serve the publishers. Consumers take a gamble with preorders, the game could be great or it could be terrible. The latter wouldn’t be a big deal if consumers could easily cancel or return. However many stores have a policy that limits preorder cancellations if digital items are involved and they increasingly are.

Basically the idea of preordering is extremely outdated and can potentially trap consumers. I’m not saying no one should preorder a game. I do it, especially if I know I’ll buy the game anyways even if it’s a broken mess, but that’s rare. However this culture of preorders where everything revolves around them needs to be put to rest.