Pre-Orders

[deanb]

So RPS have a post up about the changing landscape of pre-orders, especially with the recent advent of Kickstarter (which yes isn't a pre-order as such, but has definitely brought in tweaks to how pre-orders work)

 

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/11/14/editorial-the-pre-order-heist/

 

The whole "you didn't pre-order it/enough people didn't pre-order it, therefore a snippet of the game won't be included because taking bits out because you're not the first person to buy the game isn't questionable enough" stuff is getting a bit silly any annoying. At this point if you're wanting to get hold of everything your best bet is either pre-ordering and praying, or if you missed out on that and waited for reviews/friend recommendations, then waiting for the GOTY release with everything in. One recent example personally is because I didn't pre-order Borderlands 2 I didn't get the Mechromancer, despite picking the game up within a week or two of release, so if you're wanting to add the fifth member you've now got £7.99 to pony up.

 

The recent pre-order reward tier stuff on Steam is pretty silly, and as the article highlights, pretty damn arbitrary too. However I've a feeling that for as long as Kickstarter maintains hype, that kind of pre-ordering will only continue to grow. It's even worse than the regular pre-order stuff cos at least with a regular pre-order you're kinda guaranteed to have certain things, like the Mecromancer, whereas the rewards tier pre-orders mean there's not much special to pre-ordering unless, due to events outside of the purchasers control, enough people also pre-order too.

[TheMightyEthan]

It seems to me like they're kind of shooting themselves in the foot by making the only way to get all the content be sailing the high seas.

[Thursday Next]

The Article

I really dislike emotive articles like this. It's muddled and angry. I get that it's an opinion piece, it's just not very professionally executed and smacks of a "you know what grinds my gears" off the cuff comment that has been spun out into an article.

 

He seems to have confused pre-ordering with pre-purchasing and keeps using the terms interchangeably where they are not. With regard to pre-ordering in the UK I've never had to pay anything so there's no risk and I'm not giving someone money for nothing in return. In fact, even if I did have to pay a deposit, that argument applies to any industry that collects a deposit. From reading the whole article it seems to be pre-purchasing that he really has an issue with.

 

As for "33% of what". It's pretty obvious that there is an arbitrary figure somewhere between 3 and the population of the earth that has been chosen. Does it matter if they display it as a number of sales as opposed to a %? If the number is 2 million and pre-orders sit at 660,000 does that make any difference? It seems like this is just a minor niggle at most.

 

I also fundamentally disagree with the "DLC should be included in the game" comment. But that's an old argument, and unrelated to the article, either you agree that the publisher decides what the "full-game" is or you don't. None of which changes the reality that it's the publisher's call.

 

The author also seems to be against the "Premium" special editions of games that come with resin statues etc, dismissing these as "ridiculous bits of tat". He is of course welcome to his opinion, but by the same token, if people want these bits of tat, then why shouldn't publishers sell them? Again, this has nothing to do with pre-ordering. In fact, it supports the need for pre-ordering as these editions often do have a limited run so the people who want the tat do need to pre-order.

 

Yes, pre-purchasing is a risk, but then, so is booking a holiday. you pay up front and if you don't like the hotel you are out of luck. You can claim your money back if it is not as advertised or is broken. But if you just don't like it. Tough.

 

 

In Defence of Pre-Ordering

Pre-ordering gives publishers an idea of how many sales they will have day one / week one etc. This can help them to plan server demand for online titles. It also means that where they do limited edition first runs, they can make the correct number so that the limited content stays limited.

 

Publishers want more pre-orders so that they can ship more units to stores on day one so that they can recover the money invested as soon as possible. If they want to incentivise this by adding content (let's just take the publishers word for it that the content is additional and not "cut"), then fine. You have a choice, pre-order and get the stuff, or wait till it goes on sale and pay for the stuff later if you want it. No one is forcing you to pre-order, it just guarantees that you get all the content you want as soon as it is available. Also, gamers as a species, place a huge amount of value on being the first to do something, or at least I assume they do given the rabid desperation to post "first" on every post ever. Pre-ordering is another way to do this.

 

Pre-Purchasing

This is a minefield. It's great that you get the money early, but once you do, you are committed to delivering everything you promised when you promised. It also means that while you have the money, you can't actually report it, so you have the accounting headache of ringfencing it and you can't even declare the cash in your Quarterly Earnings Call so investors won't know or care.

 

That said, if you are going to rush out and buy a game on day one, then you might as well buy it now and be disappointed for less money.

[TheMightyEthan]

And in my experience preordering/day-one purchasing isn't a risk at all. I can't think of the last time I preordered a game or got it on day one and then didn't like it. I'm not sure it's ever happened (the closest I can think of is AC:Revelations, which I liked, just not as much as previous games in the series). The reason for that is that I only preorder games if I'm absolutely sure I'm going to like them. Probably 95% of the games I've bought and then not liked I bought for 75% off or more, because I knew I was unsure about them and waited for a lower price. So the point would be valid if I preordered every game I was even vaguely interested in, but no one does that because that would be insane.

 

Also, tax law/accounting is definitely not my thing, but why can't you treat prepurchases as money that you have prior to the game launching?

 

*Edit* - I'd also like to say I had a similar reaction to TN regarding the monetary risk of pre-orders: it's not a risk cause I'm not charged until the game is shipped, so up until that moment I can cancel the order and I haven't paid anything.

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

I really dislike emotive articles like this. It's muddled and angry. I get that it's an opinion piece, it's just not very professionally executed and smacks of a "you know what grinds my gears" off the cuff comment that has been spun out into an article.

I think to myself, "This must be a John Walker piece." I check the article. I was right. I lean back and place my hands behind my head smugly. But then I frown, saddened by the realization that I will never be able to prove to anyone that I guessed correctly.

[Thursday Next]

Also, tax law/accounting is definitely not my thing, but why can't you treat prepurchases as money that you have prior to the game launching?

 

You can't count the money because if you don't deliver the game, you won't have completed the contract so you would have to return the money. So while in theory, you could count the money, at the same time you would have to count the same amount as a liability. Since it would zero sum, you might as well just ring-fence it and count it when the game ships. Check the Wiki article for "Revenue Recognition" specifically deferred revenue if you want to know more.

 

You have the same issues when you announce things like the Darksiders 2 deal, where the Argus (or something) Tomb DLC was included in the purchase, but was not released till later. You can't count any of the money until you have delivered the whole product.

[TheMightyEthan]

Also, tax law/accounting is definitely not my thing, but why can't you treat prepurchases as money that you have prior to the game launching?

 

You can't count the money because if you don't deliver the game, you won't have completed the contract so you would have to return the money. So while in theory, you could count the money, at the same time you would have to count the same amount as a liability. Since it would zero sum, you might as well just ring-fence it and count it when the game ships. Check the Wiki article for "Revenue Recognition" specifically deferred revenue if you want to know more.

 

Ah, okay, that makes sense.