this post was submitted on 27 Apr 2026
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Asklemmy
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For some people? Pre-ordering digital games. I mean huh? What are ye even doin there Jimmy-Bob? You afraid they're gonna run out of copies? O.o
Edit: digitally delivered, like say, Steam or GoG games.
Pre-orders are so they know how much champagne to buy for release day.
That used to make sense before all games were delivered over the internet. When all games were delivered physically via disk, running out was possible. Preorder made sure you had your copy on the day of the release.
Lol yeah, that's what I meant, digitally delivered videogames. I remember having to secure my copy of like, Halo 3 or Skyrim in advance so I could play it on release. :D
Lmaoooooo, I didn't even realize people did this
One valid reason is for preloading. On Steam at least, when you preorder a game it will often let you download and install it the night before release so its ready to play as soon as you are.
I suppose this makes sense for those with slower connections. (I remember 6GB games taking ~6 hours on DSL.)
But I have family members on my household's modern broadband that can download an obscene amount of data, like, Witcher 3 in 15 minutes or something, that still preorder games.
And not even from small studios who need every fundraising tactic they can to get to the finish line. I'm talking major releases. It befuddles me so.
Especially when there's been a large number of majorly hyped titles in recent memory that have flopped on release, and end up half price like 6 months later.
I dunno, I have like 500+ games I optimistically hoped to get to at some point, maybe I'm just a patient gamer. I can't help but be a little jealous of the time someone must have, when they can game so hard that they're like "I gotta play this new game NOW!!!" ๐
Also you used to get really cool physical "feelies" for preorders like maps, patches, stickers, comics, statues (OMG Assassin's Creed II)...now it's like ..."Play GTA6 with a Shovel Knight helmet." LOL