r/videogames • • Aug 13 '26

Image / Video It's baffling just how many people doesn't understand this

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If you're someone who pre-orders games, you're an active participant in the constant enshitification of gaming. Doesn't matter what game it is, you're contributing to a scummy corporate tactic that serves no positive benefit to the player.

It made sense with physical copies that had a limited quantity, now it's an outdated tradition from a bygone era.

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74

u/nunya_bidnes77 Aug 13 '26 edited Aug 13 '26

Its not about some fallacy of digital scarcity. A lot of people want to by a game day one because they want to play it before things get spoiled for them, because they want to play with their friends, and because they don't want to get left behind (espevially in competitive online play).

5

u/TufftedSquirrel Aug 13 '26

I'm not a pre order guy. But also, don't a lot of games offer bonus content if you pre order? I mostly play older titles these days.

13

u/BigJohn4077 Aug 13 '26

I think this is a HUGE reason for some people. Nowadays, with everyone from 12 year olds to OnlyFans models streaming, the spoilers come very quickly. I mean a game will drop and within hours there are streamer nerds on youtube showing the final encounter with a boss or cutscene. Happened alot with that new Bond game.

5

u/Cruxis87 Aug 14 '26

Well you click on them so of course they're going to be sent to you. I haven't seen anything like that in YT for over a decade. I still don't know the plot or the who the bad guy in that Bond game is.

4

u/Emotional_Solid6538 Aug 14 '26

People needs to learn the art of avoiding shii you dont wanna see in the internet age

1

u/WariosTaxEvasion Aug 14 '26

I see on social media people put spoilers in thumbnails, video titles, and posts online. So just browsing these places you’ll come across them, not just clicking them intentionally. It’s why I tell people just to avoid the internet until you’ve finished the story of something you don’t want spoiled

1

u/StoicallyHyped Aug 14 '26

I watch a lot of gaming videos, most of them are older videos or stream vods. Because of that YouTube recommends other gaming videos. I avoid spoilers but when I'm scrolling and see "Final boss fight/true ending" and the thumbnail is the main character dead from someone who got the game early then yeah i get a little annoyed

0

u/OctoEight Aug 14 '26

Not everything is a click you forgot short form content. You can just be scrolling on insta, facebook, tiktok and anything else with a reels mechanic and end up swiping up to a spoiler

1

u/AARonFullStack Aug 14 '26

I actively block words for games I don’t want spoilers for.

So GTA is blocked as a search term in my YouTube and I do that for every game I intend to play. I’m still waiting to play red dead redemption 2 and I’ve still not had a single spoiler after all this time.

4

u/dragonflyy1050 Aug 14 '26

Don't forget us that have the money now but might not when the game releases. Sometimes other games come out and I can afford multiples easier if there payments are spread out.

21

u/The_Joker_116 Aug 13 '26

Thank you. I'm tired of shallow-minded whiners immediately going to the "dIgItAl GaMeS wOn'T rUn OuT" bullshit, as if it was the only reason for it.

-11

u/poutin3 Aug 13 '26

why is it Shallow-minded ? wouldnt it be a good financial habits not to spend on pre-orders and making YOUR money work for you and not for a corporation? In the past Pre-Order were a thing exactly because their was a Limitation on Physical distribution, and the pre-order wasnt paid directly to the Publisher but to the distributor/stores to reserve your copy. Now, we're just throwing money at the Publisher because they asked it and made it shinier by adding "additionnal content" and Early access to milk the FOMO.

imho what's actually Shallow-minded is the fact that we are OK with pre-orders and company still milking every fuckin buckaroo we have before even giving us the actual product.

13

u/NetJnkie Aug 13 '26

Bro. It’s usually $60. That’s not making me much for the two weeks I miss out on a pre-order. It’ll be fine.

6

u/Cruxis87 Aug 14 '26

that $0.006 cents would have compounded to $0.009 cents in 40 years. YOU FOOL!

-5

u/InvestigatorFit3876 Aug 14 '26

60 not anymore gta 6 is 70-100 dollars

7

u/NetJnkie Aug 14 '26

OK. For that one game sure. Others are less.

-5

u/InvestigatorFit3876 Aug 14 '26

Fair enough games are 70 for most triple a games and for first part Nintendo 80 but non triple a games you would be right of 60 or less.

6

u/NetJnkie Aug 14 '26

And? It doesn't move the needle here.

-2

u/InvestigatorFit3876 Aug 14 '26

Fair enough just stated it isn’t 60 at least for big publishers but anyway if you made up your mind on a game the price isn’t that big of deal.

5

u/theDiplomata Aug 13 '26

FOMO is crazy

5

u/nunya_bidnes77 Aug 13 '26

Crazy, but real.

1

u/Fantastic-Dot-655 Aug 14 '26

Or because a lot of games have exclusive content for preorders

1

u/Mak0React0r Aug 14 '26

You can still buy day one without pre ordering. I buy most of my games day one but haven't pre ordered in years since I no longer have to worry about copies selling out. I do not miss gamestop midnight releases (yes I'm old)