Not digital. I used to preorder popular games way back before digital was a thing as supply could be tight, but it makes zero sense in a digital world where they can't run out of supply.

Especially with how the trend today is release and drop hotfixes (or in some cases just laugh to the bank) I won't drop $$$ until its in a good state

No, one time there was a highly anticipated game that I really wanted.

Walked into the store after checking a couple reviews and bought it full price.

Ask the clerk, he confirmed there is never shortages or anything like that for physical disks.

Imo, there is even less of a reasons to preorder digital copies, what are they gonna do, run out of bandwidth?

Once, Diablo 3. I figured it could not miss. It missed.

Only twice and felt foolish after release. Stalker 2 was selling below pre order price on a trustworthy key site. And cyberpunk, not sure why I did that one.

You are assuming the reviews have any bearing on whether I want to play the game. This is a risky assumption.

When Cyberpunk was busted and everybody was hating that's what prompted me to jump in. I went and got a PS4 physical version of the 1.0 last-gen release when I could find one on sale, even though I primarily played the game on PC. It's one of my favorite gaming artifacts. I like it more than any collector's edition nonsense.

Also, what reviews? I don't know if I know what "reviews" for videogames even mean anymore.

Anyway, to answer your actual question, if there is a discount at launch (which is increasingly a thing, which is kind of sad) or a decent preorder bonus I can prepurchase. I don't mind. Otherwise I just get things when I get things.

No, it just doesn't make sense to me to do so. I mostly play single player games, so special skins to show you preordered are pretty pointless, and the most you tend to get is a discount on some DLC that I can just buy later, once I know I've enjoyed the game enough to warrant it, or items to give you a stat boost.

It's not like preordering a physical game, where at least I get an art book or something in exchange for handing my money over.

No.
My backlog is so big and my interested in gaming became so little I prefer watching YT or stuff on my Jellyfin server.
I wanted to play Helldivers 2 but decided against it because I had nobody else and now it's kinda in late-progress I won't even bother.

never

I've stopped preordering most games, partially because of a backlog, partially because games like 2077 ruined my trust in even "good" companies (and no, I do not think 2077 deserves the redemption arc the Internet gives it). I did however pre-order Path of Exile 2 by a week because I had A) played a beta experience which was terribly fun B) followed all of the content creators talk about the beta's they played and how even when they complained it felt like choices I'd like (more action focused combat) and C) the preorder I got came with keys for friends I wanted to distribute ahead of time. So I knew for sure I was going to play it, like it at least enough to justify the price, and that I wanted to preload it for a launch party.

Pretty much the biggest and best reason to preorder is for the preload so you can play at launch. But not every game needs to be played at exactly the launch time (in fact we struggled on launch day of poe2 but did eventually get to play) and all pre-orders should be done as close to the launch date as possible so you can get an easy refund if it sucks.

No. Heck, I don't even play Early Access games (with rare exceptions, like Satisfactory). I'm not paying to be a beta tester.

All they have to do is add a skin or some shit as a pre-order bonus and people will deposit money. It's absolutely crazy, especially with the state almost every launch is in these days.

Big games are like 50% off after a few months anyway, no point buying those at all until then.

Steamdeck top 4. Yeah right Valve.

I've pre-ordered games due to hype a few times and every time I do I get shafted and dev runs with my money. Now I stick to promising EAs. If I pay 20-30 bucks for EA, get some fun out of it and then dev runs at least I got some fun out of it.

I bought a pre-purchase once, and it was for Bloodstained.

Not only was I excited to play a new Metroidvania from the guy who made the best Metroidvania, but the price in my local currency was 1:1 to the dollar. I knew that this price was wrong and that it might go up after release. And I was right, the price increased.

Totally worth it and the game was amazing at launch.

No because it's stupid to preorder digital goods. I'll happily join early access to help fund projects I find interesting lile enshrouded.

Do I pay full price for games before they are available to play and are most likely not going to be finished upon release? No.

Preordering anything with no real or artificial scarcity doesn’t really make financial sense. It’s a predatory sales tactic to get people to part with their money sooner, in this case before customers have a chance to use software that is pretty much unreturnable. Gaming publishers love digital preorders because some customers end up paying full price for games they don’t even like and can’t even resell.

Sadly, for at least the last ten years or more, most non-online games are best played a few years after release date when they’ve had their bugs fixed or their ‘complete edition’ released.

With 14 days after release and 2 hours of playtime you can still refund. Maybe some just see it as the current day demo? Quite easy to see if it runs well and what the playability and average response is within that time frame. Like a wishlist that reserves the cash in advance.

No reason to. A while back, some publishers gave 10% off pre orders, I bought maybe one or two like that. Some do digital goodies which doesn't entice me at all (I'm DLC proof). I can download anything fast enough. So why would I pre order?

Nope. I used to pre-order ESO expansions because you got some cool mounts or whatever, but I haven't played that in years.

Also try not to give into early access either.

For me it really depends on the game, the studio, and the publisher. I preordered Firmament because Cyan has a good history. I might also pre-order a digital game if I think a game is particularly novel, or if I think I'm going to like it pretty much regardless of the reviews (e.g. I like the franchise it's from/ties into), the last reason is if there's some kind of in-game incentive to do so (e.g. pre-order and you get some in game minor boost/cosmetic/whatever) but that's really only a minor consideration.

I only pre-order Guild Wars 2 expansions, as it's my favourite game and I know that whatever I get, I'll feel that it was worth the money for the thousands of hours of fun I've got out of that game :)

But I wouldn't preorder anything else - I have a massive Steam backlog, and a few years after release I can get the properly finished, patched version of games with all the expansions for a fraction of the price (+ all the mods and community resources that had time to develop and mature). Last year I got Witcher 3 for like 90% off lol. No need to rush, there are so many older games I haven't played yet...

Btw I was a r/patientgamers member for years, I see that they also have a community on Lemmy :) https://sh.itjust.works/c/patientgamers

Yes. After clocking up 10,000 hours on Civ VI. Civ VII can take my money!

Almost never. The last one I digitally pre-ordered was Borderlands 3, and given how that turned out, I think I might buy BL4 on release day, if not a few weeks later

There’s no point because you do not know how the games are.

I'll do it to support indie devs. Though I haven't ever done it through Steam -- just Kickstarter

theres no difference between preorder and buying on release date

so if youre buying it anyway, may as well preorder and cancel it if reviews are sketchy

Absolutely not!

(I pre-ordered stalker 2. Can't help that I'm a Stan for the series and mod scene. I was happy with this purchase.)

It can be hard to get over the urge if you're a fan of a series. The next game MUST be better... right? It's a hard thing to truly get too mad at others since it's pretty much human nature, even if we can all agree it's not healthy.

Not really. The one exception I made in recent times was Cities Skylines 2 after I had 400+ hours in the original, and that was only due to a 30% off sale days before release. Though I wouldn't recommend it for most, I still have 42 good hours in it so it was worth my money.

Otherwise I'm a very patient gamer.

I find it interesting four of the top 10 sellers are Free To Play.

Yes, why? That's the stupidest thing to do.

I was the one trying to talk the friend group out of pre-ordering for years. Oddly enough, I haven't needed to do that in a while.

Might have something to do with how the last time that discussion happened, the game in question was Fallout 76.

I didn't even have to say "told you so" for it to never come up again.

No, I do not pre-order games. I have joined some early access campaigns for games I was very interested in, like Kerbal Space Program and Satisfactory, but...generally "pre-order" is something the BIG studios that are all owned by Microsoft now do, they don't need the funding to get the game done. Meanwhile, Subnautica wouldn't have made it to 1.0 without their early access campaign.

Especially now that games are often distributed via internet download rather than physical disc or cartridge, it's not a matter of making sure you can get a copy. The last game I pre-ordered was Majora's Mask.