If you play video games, you’ve probably noticed that in recent years no game release is complete without a major push by retail stores and the publishers for us to pre-order the game ahead of time.
Hell, there is never a time GameStop stores don’t have giant posters up advertising all the pre-order exclusive goodies you will get by simply slapping down a $5 deposit. Extra skins for your character! Extra missions and maps! Exclusive weapons! A cure for cancer maybe!
The idea of pre-ordering games has gotten a lot of backlash from the gaming community, and for good reasons. Pre-ordering allows games that are broken and unfinished to get released and still make money because everyone bought the game before anyone had a chance to try it and find out that, nope, it doesn’t work. At all.
To buy something without knowing what it will be like is a risk. People are largely okay doing it with movies and books because they are relatively inexpensive. But a new game is usually around the $60 mark, which is a bit more of an investment. Game companies know this, which is why they offer bribes and incentives in order to convince you to slap your money down before the product is even finished.
It used to be rather tame. When you pre-ordered you would get a book of artwork or some other kind of collectible. Something separate from the actual experience of the game. But now, in the eyes of many gamers, game developers are siphoning things that should just be be part of the package to try and force people to pre-order. It’s kind of like holding part of the game hostage until you agree to pay a ransom, but with no guarantee that what you get back will be worth it.
So pre-ordering is already looked at suspiciously, to say the least. Then here comes the goddamn Deus Ex franchise to make the whole situation even worse.
Take a look at that image. LOOK AT IT. That is the promo for the next game in the series, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. Specifically, it is a promo for the pre-order exclusives that need to be goddamn unlocked. And how are they unlocked? Why, by the number of pre-orders, that’s how!
So not only did they create content meant only for those who buy the game ahead of time, they are threatening to not let anyone use it if Square Enix doesn’t feel pretty enough. They’ve turned something that is already widely viewed as a scam and turned it into a pyramid scheme. “Yeah, you’ll make out. Just make sure you tell your friends and family to get in on this too! Trust us, it will all work out fine!”
What makes it more insulting is that you don’t even get the worthwhile perk, extra in-game content, until tier three. The rest is really meaningless shit. Oh cool, a digital artbook you can’t even put on your coffee table because it was an email. Spared no expense, these guys.
And if you make to the majestic fifth tier? They’ll release the game a whole four days early! I mean, games being released broken and before they are finished is a major concern in gaming right now, but yeah, being willing to release something early after you’ve already taken everyone’s money doesn’t raise flags at all.
This really should be the last straw. If you are still pre-ordering games, FOR THE LOVE OF HYRULE, STOP. The only way they can get better and improve is if pre-ordering stops, and you’re just enabling them. The game industry needs an intervention, and until it gets the help it needs, we have to stand firm and cut them off from their pre-order addiction. Otherwise they will keep going down this dark path.
