Steam and GOG are great but I want unhindered access to physical copies of console games. Gaming will never feel as good as it did during the PS1 era.

I only pre-order collector’s editions that come with extra items that will only be manufactured in limited numbers. For example, I wanted the physical copy of the Ni No Kuni Wizard’s Companion so I pre-ordered that one.

I don’t see the benefit of pre-orders to even the producer. They don’t tailor the number of copies they plan to manufacture to pre-order numbers, do they? The game companies know that early adopters exist so, if it’s free to pre-order a game, what do they gain from a couple thousand pre-orders?

“Do you pre-order games from retailers, or have you in the past? What are your thoughts on retail exclusive content? Any other major consumer pitfalls you would like to mention?”

No. Yes. It’s horrible. Digital game renting. Ugh!

But but, if we don’t release copious DLC then we can’t sit on our old assets and pump out miserable side stories to pad the budget for the sequel that will ALSO use the same assets! What do you want from us? REASONABLE expectations? REALISTIC development processes that don’t require cash injections from DLC to validate the absurd expense we inveigled others into believing is a matter of course in game production? pshh

Instead, I pre-order games on Amazon when they are something that I know I definitely want and will play at release: Pokemon, Final Fantasy, et cetera. This requires no money down, and ensures that I do not simply forget to order the game–a real possibility given the many other things I have to remember. The more of it I can automate and forget about, the easier it is for me to function.

As for exclusive content, it is deplorable. Everyone who pays for the game should get all the content. I have been firm on this for years. DLC is very nice, but it should be free and available to all, or it shouldn’t exist in the first place. I’m sorry, but I don’t buy into the ‘what if they want to add to the game!’ argument. If they wanted to add to the game, they could have waited a little longer, put that DLC into the game, and increased the value to consumers and the likelihood of sell-throughs.

In fact, this is what would have been done before. Nowadays, developers release less and less in their games, so that they can sell us more and more of the game content as DLC. The fact that it has been fiddled to make it APPEAR as though it is extraneous doesn’t mean that it must be so. It is, of course, purely a device of the developer.

Look at Unreal Tournament in 1999. There were vast amounts of DLC, patches, add-ons, new game modes, models, skins, voice packs, and so on. None of it cost a penny. They released a game, and then they released extra stuff for it to make purchasing the game even after launch a good value proposition. Patches, add-ons, and new modes drove continued sales of the game.

The industry has become incredibly greedy over the years, and I am less and less inclined to buy into it. Indeed, large quantities of planned DLC actually tend to turn me off nowadays, to the point where I sometimes decide not to buy a game for that very reason. If a developer is going to be so avaricious as to release a cut-down shell of a premium title, and then charge me for the bits that should be in the game, then I am going to reply by not buying the game. I have too much other stuff to play anyway. I’ll do that, instead–you know, those PS1 games where the whole thing is on the fucking disc to begin with.