first day buys vs waiting for deals.

First day buy vs waiting for deals

  • I buy games day 1

    Votes: 3 1.2%
  • I wait for deals

    Votes: 88 35.5%
  • Depends on the game

    Votes: 154 62.1%
  • BUY ALL THE GAMES!!!!!

    Votes: 3 1.2%

  • Total voters
    248
i continuously get sucked in to buying day one and then its always a waste.. dishonored.. call of duty blops 2


fuck that. im not doing it any more.


the only way i will buy a game day one is if i get a deal on it via greenmangaming
 
If its a game I'm really excited about or if it is one that I have an ethical reason for supporting (ie HumbleBundles, many indie games, games like Trine/Trine2 that release a Linux client etc...) I'll buy immediately. I'll also buy immediately if I was planning to buy anyway, but buying early will secure me in-game content for free, or for drastically lower prices. For instance, Assassin's Creed III - I was able to get the Deluxe edition, normally selling for $80, for $48 when all was said and done (Amazon before they jacked the price combined with a discount code they were offering with the pre-order etc..). It is unlikely ACIII Deluxe is going to be that cheap at least until a few months down the line. Borderlands 2 enabled me to lock in all the pre-order DLC and the Season Pass, all for $39 or so.

I'll wait if I'm unsure about the quality of the title, the expense, I can't see a viable way to get a full selection of in-game content and/or I'm sure that a big Steam or GreenMan sale of the DLC will save me a ton, I'm just not that interested etc...
 
I'm surprised at how many voted "I wait for deals" versus "Depends on the game". One would expect that most PC gamers who enjoy PC gaming enough to post on forums about it would've voted "Depends on the game".

I would guess that most people here have one, two or maybe as many as four 'must have' games per year that they would strongly consider buying on day one. Given that, we're talking around $40-$80 in yearly savings by waiting a little while for sales versus purchasing on day one (assuming we're talking about the $50/$60 AAA titles). Is ~half the PC gaming community really that...thrifty? Or do the people who voted "I wait for deals" generally buy so many games each year that the savings by waiting for sales add up to a considerable amount?
 
Depends on Game.

I hadn't paid full price on a new game since Diablo 3 until last night when I prepurchased Standard edition of Assassin's Creed 3. I was torn between getting it, Dishonored, Borderlands 2, or waiting 2 weeks for Far Cry 3. I decided to go ahead on AC3 cause I love the series (still need to finish Brotherhood and start Revelations but I already youtubed the story arcs with Desmond). I am deployed a few more weeks and it is easier to lay in bed with my laptop suspended from the empty bunk above me playing games with a controller than it is with a mouse and my N52 speedpad so that factored heavily in my decision. I'll probably wait for the steam sale on the rest of the ones on my list but then again my wife is pregnant and due in May so maybe not. Gotta get those last few months of gaming in before a child ruins it for the next 20 years. :p
 
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I have never purchased a game for more then $30 and i tend to value multiplayer games far less then good single player games. It's good to not be a apart of the hype machine and just be 1 or 2 months behind. If your smart you can easily pay that much for most games even at launch. I was able to get borderlands 2 for $25 a week after launch.
 
Console games keep their value longer than PC games, since the latter's technology upgrade path is much steeper; it's been that way for years.
 
95% of the time I wait for really good deals, plus by then the games are usually patched. For example today I bought Far Cry 3 (pc) for $19.99USD. It's very rare for me to justify $60 for a game anymore.
 
I refuse to buy a game unless it's $9.99 or less through a Steam deal or sale. I'll stretch to $14.99 max if it's something I can't hold for which is extremely rare.
 
I made the mistake of pre-ordering SimCity, I've only played about an hour and have no desire to play it anymore... :(
 
I am so backlogged right now. It really doesn't make sense to buy any new games until I finish some of the ones I already have.
 
Really depends, if I'm really looking forward to that game, I buy it day one, some games I wait till its on special.
 
I buy everything I really want on day one but those are very few. Now that I think of it, I didn't buy a single game in 2012, uh, except The Scorchers DLC for RAGE. Nothing really worthwhile was released for my very narrow taste. Pretty sure this year I am going to start and stop with the upcoming Rise of the Triad remake.

I've bought 20 or so games on Steam sales. Most of them I never really play for more than a few minutes because they suck.
 
I tend to buy day all promising games, but I get them cheap, not retail =/
Only game I'm planning to buy collectors edition is The Witcher 3 atm.
 
With very few exceptions, I wait for deals. The last game I preordered was DE:HR. Most games I wait till they are under $20 if I really want them, otherwise I'll pick up anything that looks interesting for $5
 
I'm surprised at how many voted "I wait for deals" versus "Depends on the game". One would expect that most PC gamers who enjoy PC gaming enough to post on forums about it would've voted "Depends on the game".

I would guess that most people here have one, two or maybe as many as four 'must have' games per year that they would strongly consider buying on day one. Given that, we're talking around $40-$80 in yearly savings by waiting a little while for sales versus purchasing on day one (assuming we're talking about the $50/$60 AAA titles). Is ~half the PC gaming community really that...thrifty? Or do the people who voted "I wait for deals" generally buy so many games each year that the savings by waiting for sales add up to a considerable amount?

There are just so many games. Why buy a new one when you can get a good slightly older game that is new to you?
 
I do deals 95% of the time. Actually some times pre-order deals come out really good so you can play on day 1 and still not pay $60.

It's just not worth it to buy day 1. Games go on sale within weeks now and for multiplayer games day 1 means the servers are hammered like crazy.

There's also always the chance that the game will have a bunch of hype but bomb for a number of reasons like DNF, Aliens, SimCity...
 
I play all sorts of games. I have 101 games in my steam lib. and another 20 non steam games. Sales comes so fast and frequently that I wait for the sale on almost all games. Currently there are only three titles I'd buy first day and its more about saying thanks to the maker for giving me so much entertainment in the past, have some dough, then it is OMG I have to play this new game now. Battlefield 4, TW Rome 2, any Defense Grid game or DLC.
 
I have enough self-control that I don't waste my money on Day 1 purchases. History has shown that most all games eventually end up in the $5-$10 range so I see no reason to pay any more than that for a game. Just because I choose to wait for the price to drop won't make the game any less fun. For the amount of games I buy I saved literally thousands of dollars over the years.

Only exception was GW2 which I bought at a 20% discount and a $5 Amazon credit because I run a site for it, so I couldn't wait for a better deal.
 
Being that i game on console i can either rent games at 14.99/month(BlockBusters) which i can beat about to 2-3 games or i can buy a game on release day and sell it for $45-50 on ebay. I NEVER play the same game twice or purchase DLC. Hell sometimes i get more money than what i paid for the game. I keep the COD i purchase until the next one is released and then i sell the old one. Only because i can pawn noobs in a 10 minute game & off to work i go. :p
 
Most games are deals, the big ones.. the 1 or 2 a year that I want to play and see great value in at $60 I will buy day 1.
 
I almost always wait for a deal unless is something I really want. The only games that come to mind in recent memory that I've had day 1 were Borderlands 2, Skyim, BF3, and the new God of War on PS3. The prior two I got for ~$40 pre-ordered through promotions, BF3 was free from a friend who works at PB (I did buy B2K, though), and GOW only cost me $15 after some cashback and promotions going on through Capitol One. Honestly, I don't know the last time I paid $60 for a game. The only times I'd consider a pre-order is a series I'm really, really into (as was the case with TES and Borderlands) or if it's a multiplayer focused game where I know the pinnacle is going to be the games release window (I would have paid full price for BF3 had it not been given to me). For the other 99% of games I own, it just doesn't make sense. The game will be the same whether I play it launch day or a year later.

The only upcoming games I can thing of that I'm willing to pay up for are Battlefield 4 (I'll swing for it for 20% off at GMG, which It's likely to have several times over before it releases), and The Witcher 3. And really, TW3 is the only one of those two that I would unquestionably pay full price for even if no sort of pre-order sale or bonus is done. I know I'll get my monies worth...
 
I wait for deals 99% of the time, exception might be once every 2 years, here's why:

1) Patched, working titles. Bad ending in Mass Effect 3? What bad ending? Rage graphical issues? Nope.

2) Steam and Amazon backlog of AA and AAA titles. Nuff said. Still haven't played Max Payne 3, Crysis 2, etc

3) Price. I can afford $60 games, but why throw money away? Got Rage for $5 and Mass Effect 3 for $7. Also, see backlog.

4) Dissapointment. Never. No day 1 or pre-order only to get stuck with a Colonial Marines. Worst case for me it's a good game, but just not my style and I'm out under $10

5) DLC. No more nickle and diming, and no more waiting for the expansions. Grab the GOTY, deluxe, or what-have-you version that includes everything.

Now I voted wait for deals because that is the case, but as I said every year or two I jump the gun. Did this with Diablo 3. I mean, it's a Blizzard game, c'mon. Haven't played for months, tried recently, but now smartphone app won't work - don't know why, don't care. Uninstalled. No worries, playing $10 Torchlight II.

Honorable mention: Video card. Being the games are older, I can usually max out the graphics or at least have a better experience due to newer drivers.
 
Day one, assuming there's a coupon somewhere that will allow me to get the game at $35 or under.
 
Depends on what it is and how bad I want it .....If I want it bad enough it is preordered well in advance. But I will NEVER buy or pre-order another DRM game.
 
Definitely better to wait on pc titles. First off, the price drops quickly in most cases. Second, you want to make sure the game gets patched first (early buyers are folks who pay extra to be beta testers). Third, if it is an online title, you want to wait to see if it succeeds or not (Unreal Tournament 3 anyone?)
 
After being badly burned by Bioshock Infinite, I'll only buy first day games from the series and publishers I trust - Asassin Creed, GTA or Tomb Raider. Everything else, especially those "revolutionary superb games", and anything from 2K, will be bought when they are on sale.
 
ALWAYS wait for a deal!

Then when the deal comes check for any coupons, check through cashback comparison sites, such as NerdWallet or Cashbackholic. Click through a cashback site and earn the little bit extra.

You can usually save 30-40% by just doing that!
 
Depends on the game but mostly I can wait because of my backlog. I'm actively working on my backlog and once that list is significantly smaller then I'll start buying sooner.
 
After being badly burned by Bioshock Infinite

Lol, wat.

I dunno how much you paid, but I got a copy for like $25 via the AMD bundle that people were selling like crazy. Amazing deal for an amazing game (which apparently you didn't like?).
 
Lol, wat.

I dunno how much you paid, but I got a copy for like $25 via the AMD bundle that people were selling like crazy. Amazing deal for an amazing game (which apparently you didn't like?).

Exactly, anyone who paid full price probably feels kinda cheated. I got mine for $30 along from the Buy/sell forum, and from browsing other sites that looked like the going rate ($35-40 on the absolute high end). Even if the game is great, you pre-purchase it for $50-60 and before it's even out you see deals/sales dropping it to $35-$40. For some minimal DLC? The chance to play some other game 24 hours before everyone else? Eff that.
 
I think I ended up getting Bioshock Infinite day one or two. I think I watched Sesslers review and bit the bullet so I dont think it really counts as a blind purchase. Theres nothing else I've been wanting of late. I paid $30
 
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Most games I wait for a deal because I have a big backlog, and games tend to be released in an unfinished form lately. However, once in a while I make 1st day purchase.
 
May have already been said but "Kickstart" type funding is changing my thoughts on this a bit... I'm avoiding most day one purchases but I'm interested in pre funding/buying games from developers like Chris Roberts that seem to be for the fans more than the big company profit.

We'll see how these go over the next year or two, but more promising than cod/consoleitis crap that rolls out every year.
 
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