With the recent ongoing theme of the switching to digital media, do pre-orders even matter? It has gotten to the point where the only reason to pre-order a game is to get bonuses, which at this point in time even that has gotten pretty idiotic.
I don’t care for cosmetics offered when pre-ordered by various outlets, like when Mortal Kombat was released and each outlet had different costumes, I didn’t care for any of that. The good stuff comes in when there are maps released, a good example of this is Gears of War and even the Call of Duty series. Even though I hate that they do this, it is the only reason to really pre-order. The perfect way to go about doing this is making it exclusive to those who pre-ordered for a month, and then release the map for FREE for everyone else. Of course I’m not referring to Downloadable Content, that’s different in its entirety, this is specifically for pre-order bonuses only.
Back when gaming used cartridges and technology wasn’t as advanced as it is today, there was a reason to pre-order your game. At this point in time there was the possibility of a game actually selling out. The point of the pre-order was just that, to pre-purchase your title to guarantee you’ll have one at launch. Now there is enough media to not only cover launch but quite possibly for the rest of the month at any given retailer.
Moving on to the digital version of this, if Xbox One could let me pre-load my game like Steam does, and at midnight unlock the game to let me play, I’d be happy. This would quite possibly be the only reason to I guess pre-order in a digital age.
