Why not to buy a game on day 1

There has to be a better way. I told myself, as I scrolled through the infinite list of books to reach the item that I really wanted to sell. I had accumulated them over time with my exploits as Geralt in the amazing Witcher 3. The books themselves were great, they were the essence of an excellent world building mechanism, but right now they were in my way. Rows and rows of books. There had to be a better way. Turns out there was, and it was to wait for a few weeks until a patch arrived. With one of their weekly patches CD Projekt Red added an entirely new tab in the inventory for books. They also made the books weightless, so you can carry as many as you want. The only problem, by the time the patch came through, I had already sold almost all of my books; to solve my initial problem.

Looking back now, and games like Arkham Knight (on PC), Mortal Kombat (on all platforms including yours truly), and Assassin’s Creed Unity (well PC again) have suffered game breaking bugs on day 1, which were not fixed until later. All 3 of them are great, excellent games, and anyone playing them now would most certainly attest to the fact. But because they had such a bad launch, all 3 of them were poorly received and their sales most definitely suffered because of it.

We want to be the first one to post a review, the first one to say its awesome. But is this all worth it

In this world, where Pre-Order Bonuses are becoming full fledged DLC, and a game’s future is judged by its day 1 sales number; a case needs to be made for some patience. Why not wait for a couple of days/weeks and play a near perfect game than to splurge on Day 1 and receive a bug-pool instead. Instead of slogging it out with an unfinished or even an unpolished game. Why not wait until the devs have released all their critical patches, and get an optimized Geralt hunting across THE CONTINENT. Instead of posting your venting your venom on steam reviews.

The argument might seem to hold true only for games which are unplayable at launch, but my experience with Witcher 3 and even Destiny to an extent prove that this logic of waiting most possibly covers every game ever made. The year 1 edition of Destiny today is way more streamlined and feature proof than it was when it was launched. In fact, if the people who initially bought Destiny and then left it because of lack of content; would be pleasantly surprised if they were to log back in now.

Its not Game Of Thrones after all

Then the games get cheaper too. There are flash sales, Black Friday sales, and your random this is on a sale today sale. A full retail game maybe available for half its price in mere weeks after its release. Other times, the DLC or Expansions (depending on where you fall) are available as bundles for far much more affordable prices than they were initially. I bought the entire Walking Dead Season 1 and 2 for Rs. 1K each. That’s a steal, whichever way you look at it.

Then why do we still buy games on Day 1?

Mostly because its bred into the gaming culture. In the not too distant past, video games released with a proper cushion of sometimes months between them. Gamers had to wait and that built up anticipation. They had time to save up money to wait for their next Castlevania, their next Mario, and their next Doom. Whenever a game came out, we had to have it on day 1, because we didn’t have anything new to play in the interim.

Today, the wait is still there, however there are a lot of options to fill your time with. Waiting for the next Gears Of War, you can check out Halo instead. Can’t wait for the next Uncharted, try filling in that void with Tomb Raider. But the marketing, and the mindset that we have grown up with today makes us ALPHA EARLY ADOPTERS.

We want to be the first one to post a review, the first one to say its awesome, and the first one to say it sucks. We want to be the first one to stream its gameplay, and the first one to champion a game at the water cooler.

But is this all worth it?

Does spending 60$ and upwards on a game which would be much cheaper and most definitely better in few weeks sound right? Wouldn’t waiting until the game is properly reviewed (by someone you trust) give you a much better idea about whether you really want to buy the game or not. Maybe you wouldn’t be so disappointed with Diablo 3 always online DRM, if you had just waited for a few weeks. Maybe you would still be playing DriveClub, if you hadn’t put your money down on the first day.

Its not Game Of Thrones after all. The ending won’t be spoiled by your colleague (unless you work at IGN or Kotaku); and you may also be able to judge what suits your need the best. Oh and that reminds me, you should totally pre-order Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End.