How much has the way in which video games are now delivered changed your games buying?

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Gemini73

PostHow much has the way in which video games are now delivered changed your games buying?
by Gemini73 » Sat Oct 13, 2018 10:21 am

From road-mapped DLC, microtransactions and seasons passes, to services such as Gamepass and PS Now, buying a video game has become a lot more than simply slapping down the cash for a single title as it is was a few generations ago. The majority of new games have a life lasting way beyond that initial purchase; some successfully carve out a long lasting history supported by a loyal fanbase, others lose steam somewhere along the line and so eventually fizzle out.

Has this approach to how video games are released changed your games buying in any way? For example do you jump in head first, hoovering up everything publishers have to throw at you, or do you do find that you're a little more cautious these days?

Last edited by Gemini73 on Sat Oct 13, 2018 10:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Lagamorph
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PostRe: How much has the way in which video games are now delivered changed your games buying?
by Lagamorph » Sat Oct 13, 2018 10:24 am

I generally don't buy episodic stuff until the full thing has come out.
Recent happenings with Telltale have kind of proven to me that's the right thing to do.

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PostRe: How much has the way in which video games are now delivered changed your games buying?
by NickSCFC » Sat Oct 13, 2018 10:28 am

Not at all, I buy the big must have titles at launch and anything else when it's cheaper.

Have downloaded a few PS Plus and played a few PS Now titles too which obviously didn't used to be a thing.

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Drumstick
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PostRe: How much has the way in which video games are now delivered changed your games buying?
by Drumstick » Sat Oct 13, 2018 10:29 am

Not really, it's made me perhaps a little more cautious about what games I spend my money on. As a principIe I don't buy DLC or any additional paid for content outside of the base games so I need to be confident that there is enough in the normal version to make it worth my while instead of it relying on future content.

Also, as a Switch owner, I won't be buying any titles where developers pass on costs to their customers by using smaller storage carts and requiring the end user to buy SD cards to store games on.

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PostRe: How much has the way in which video games are now delivered changed your games buying?
by jawafour » Sat Oct 13, 2018 11:43 am

I love the idea of DLC... it could be a great way to spend a little more and get great new gear and levels for you favourite games :toot: .

But, of course, publishers have pushed it so far that in many cases the cost of the game doubles and "micro" transactions have become £79.99 "Best Value!" packs.

I was fully into the pre-order culture from around 2014 until the end of 2017. Gold Editions, pre-order gear... I couldn't resist. And this was digitally, too! However, I grew frustrated that, quite often, the games I'd bought were discounted just weeks later and that the pre-order bonuses became weaker and weaker. This year I have barely pre-ordered a game; I think the only new one has been PES and I did so because I knew I'd play it a lot. I still only got the base game, though; none of the MyClub coin junk! Looking ahead, I will probably pre-order Falllout 76 but only the basic game - I can't believe how unappealing the "Deluxe" content sounds and it costs an extra twenty quid (33%) :lol: .

Tl;dr I used to pre-order and get season passes but now I don't; I feel that they rarely offer quality or value.

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PostRe: How much has the way in which video games are now delivered changed your games buying?
by Kriken » Sat Oct 13, 2018 11:52 am

The biggest factor in changing my buying habits is just having so much choice now, having picked up a few more consoles and having a PC good enough to play all the latest games and emulate the stuff that's not reasonably accessible. I'm less inclined to play stuff at launch because that starting retail price seems extravagant when my backlog is so big now.

Not the biggest fan of DLC but its existence and propagation has not really made much of a difference for me. I'm generally not attracted to games that rely so much on them carving up content to sell later on because the base games radiate cheapness: they have that generic triple A game look, seem a bit too focused on being cinematic and following the latest gaming trends.

Usually when I've purchased 'DLC' it's been a part of ultimate/deluxe editions that are not much more expensive than the regular game on Steam, so I think why not.

In one case where I was pretty up for DLC, Breath of the Wild's, I was disappointed by what they were offering when it was released but not annoyed since I just didn't buy it and felt satisfied enough by the base game, which came well before it.

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KingK
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PostRe: How much has the way in which video games are now delivered changed your games buying?
by KingK » Sat Oct 13, 2018 9:47 pm

Digital has made me weak. I buy so much stuff I’ll never play, or not play enough of.

Too easy to buy. Must.resist.

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Curls
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PostRe: How much has the way in which video games are now delivered changed your games buying?
by Curls » Sat Oct 13, 2018 10:51 pm

Games are too expensive and DLC coming out makes me not want to buy them until much later.

Recent example. Fallout 4. I waited until much later....and then I never bought it. I'd lost all interest by the time an edition with all DLC was released. Shame really.

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PostRe: How much has the way in which video games are now delivered changed your games buying?
by Sprouty » Sat Oct 13, 2018 10:55 pm

I game share with a friend on PS4, which means a copy each for every purchase, but this also means I pay more sometimes. I used to hate the idea of digital copies, but indie games sucked me in and I don't see that changing in the future. I would love a streaming service like Netflix or Playstation Now, but not convinced that the current generation of broadband would deliver a smooth service quite yet.

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PostRe: How much has the way in which video games are now delivered changed your games buying?
by 7256930752 » Sat Oct 13, 2018 11:07 pm

Curls wrote:Games are too expensive and DLC coming out makes me not want to buy them until much later.

Recent example. Fallout 4. I waited until much later....and then I never bought it. I'd lost all interest by the time an edition with all DLC was released. Shame really.

Why are games too expensive? They cost a lot of money to make and have stayed at the same price point for over 20 years.

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Curls
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PostRe: How much has the way in which video games are now delivered changed your games buying?
by Curls » Sat Oct 13, 2018 11:11 pm

Hime wrote:
Curls wrote:Games are too expensive and DLC coming out makes me not want to buy them until much later.

Recent example. Fallout 4. I waited until much later....and then I never bought it. I'd lost all interest by the time an edition with all DLC was released. Shame really.

Why are games too expensive? They cost a lot of money to make and have stayed at the same price point for over 20 years.



Well. it's the same with everything isn't it? Buy it new its £50, buy it 2 or 3 years later and it's 20 and just as good. Patience is a virtue. I guess the major difference these days is online communities tend to ween off after the first year.

Also when I was a teenager I could spend all my paper-round money on games. These days I have adult things to buy.

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Peter Crisp
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PostRe: How much has the way in which video games are now delivered changed your games buying?
by Peter Crisp » Sat Oct 13, 2018 11:14 pm

KingK wrote:Digital has made me weak. I buy so much stuff I’ll never play, or not play enough of.

Too easy to buy. Must.resist.


The older Steam Sales were deadly for this.

I think "Oh £3 for a game I may get round to playing maybe? Why not" and then I had a list of about 75 games I'd never play most likely ever :fp: .

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PostRe: How much has the way in which video games are now delivered changed your games buying?
by 7256930752 » Sat Oct 13, 2018 11:17 pm

Curls wrote:
Hime wrote:
Curls wrote:Games are too expensive and DLC coming out makes me not want to buy them until much later.

Recent example. Fallout 4. I waited until much later....and then I never bought it. I'd lost all interest by the time an edition with all DLC was released. Shame really.

Why are games too expensive? They cost a lot of money to make and have stayed at the same price point for over 20 years.



Well. it's the same with everything isn't it? Buy it new its £50, buy it 2 or 3 years later and it's 20 and just as good. Patience is a virtue. I guess the major difference these days is online communities tend to ween off after the first year.

Also when I was a teenager I could spend all my paper-round money on games. These days I have adult things to buy.

None of those things mean that games are "too expensive". You're right that it's often better to wait but sometimes it's nice to have the new shiny thing.

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Curls
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PostRe: How much has the way in which video games are now delivered changed your games buying?
by Curls » Sat Oct 13, 2018 11:30 pm

Hime wrote:
Curls wrote:
Hime wrote:
Curls wrote:Games are too expensive and DLC coming out makes me not want to buy them until much later.

Recent example. Fallout 4. I waited until much later....and then I never bought it. I'd lost all interest by the time an edition with all DLC was released. Shame really.

Why are games too expensive? They cost a lot of money to make and have stayed at the same price point for over 20 years.



Well. it's the same with everything isn't it? Buy it new its £50, buy it 2 or 3 years later and it's 20 and just as good. Patience is a virtue. I guess the major difference these days is online communities tend to ween off after the first year.

Also when I was a teenager I could spend all my paper-round money on games. These days I have adult things to buy.

None of those things mean that games are "too expensive". You're right that it's often better to wait but sometimes it's nice to have the new shiny thing.



They're too expensive for me. Everyone has their own prices and limits on what classifies as expensive. A lot of it goes down to what you earn and how frugal you are. Not sure why you're nitpicking at that comment really.

Please note I am looking at this from a completely personal prospective and not taking into account the man-hours, technology costs etc etc to make the thing. Just so you don't waste time writing a post with all the costs broken down ;)

Expense is something the end user justifies. One person goes to a pub and pays £15 for a meal and thinks it's reasonably cheap. Another thinks its a rip-off.

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PostRe: How much has the way in which video games are now delivered changed your games buying?
by 7256930752 » Sat Oct 13, 2018 11:33 pm

My habits have changed in that I will buy the 'service' that I will likely play long term, I've dabbled with FIFA and Destiny but come back to CoD. I don't put stupid amounts of time into it but it's nice to have something that is constantly evolving that I can dip in and out of. I don't pick up single player games on release unless it's something I really want, gets crazy reviews or I want to support the developer.

I tend not to buy things unless I will have time to play it which saves money and keeps the backlog small.

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PostRe: How much has the way in which video games are now delivered changed your games buying?
by more heat than light » Sun Oct 14, 2018 7:06 am

I hardly buy anything new at all these days. Unless it's something I'm really interested in I'll wait for heavy discounts or it to go free on one of the services I'm subscribed too. I have such a large backlog that I always have something to play, it doesn't need to be anything recent.

On the flipside of this, I will pretty much instabuy anything that drops below £2 in a sale, regardless of how gooseberry fool it is, especially if it's an easy completion. But that's the achievement whore in me. I guess that's the value I place on 1000G of Gamerscore.

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Trelliz
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PostRe: How much has the way in which video games are now delivered changed your games buying?
by Trelliz » Sun Oct 14, 2018 8:08 am

PCGamer did some interesting research into stesm sale prices and how long things generally take to reduce, its well worth a read

I have reached the point where buying things new/at launch is a rare event. I got Forza Horizon 4 because its a series I really like and have played it a lot already, however on the other hand i bought Ni No Kuni 2 and haven't played it yet. I have both too much of a backlog and the majority of games don't really interest me anymore that spending bug bucks on new things to add to the pile doesn't make sense, neither does impulse buying stuff for a few pounds which get buried or never played.

I'm not sure if it was on here or not, but i saw someone say something about how GOTY/"complete" editions don't seem to come out anymore - maybe publishers got wise to how many people just wait now instead.

Also i disagree about the price point of games not changing - with stuff like battlefront the base game was £50ish, but then the rest of the game has been hollowed out to sell after, hiding the real cost of the full experience of £80ish in "premium content" and dlc.

When it comes to dlc i take a long hard look at what it actually is and typically wait for reviews - i picked up shadow of war cheap once they removed the microtransactions and was about to get the season pass as it was on sale then i read reviews for what amounted to extra orc skins and two not amazing mini-stories and decided i wouldn't bother.

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PostRe: How much has the way in which video games are now delivered changed your games buying?
by OrangeRKN » Sun Oct 14, 2018 6:42 pm

I will normally wait until episodic games get a complete release before buying them (e.g. Walking Dead, Hitman).

I generally play games by binging them then moving on, so long-tail support for games and updates don't do much for me (and if it's really bad I'd rather wait and get the complete edition once all is done). That extends to online games too, I just don't really play many games online across a long time period. I rarely return to games for new DLC even if it is a game I really like - I still haven't got the Mario and Rabbids DLC for example.

So basically I am not the modern market

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Death's Head
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PostRe: How much has the way in which video games are now delivered changed your games buying?
by Death's Head » Sun Oct 14, 2018 7:45 pm

I don't buy anything on release anymore and the likes of CDKeys makes me feel everything is overpriced. On the PC, very happy to wait for bargains and pay £5 to £10 for big titles. On the PS4, I will pay a little more, up to £15 or possibly £20 for big titles, but that is my limit.

I want to play the new GOW and Spiderman game on the PS4 but they will still be great games when £15 or £20 so I can wait whilst working through my small backlog.

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PostRe: How much has the way in which video games are now delivered changed your games buying?
by 7256930752 » Mon Oct 15, 2018 2:38 am

Trelliz wrote:Also i disagree about the price point of games not changing - with stuff like battlefront the base game was £50ish, but then the rest of the game has been hollowed out to sell after, hiding the real cost of the full experience of £80ish in "premium content" and dlc.

N64 games were £49.99 which would be around £90 so even using your hyperbolic scenario games have actually gotten cheaper!

Map packs as DLC is hardly a game being "hollowed out". Other than it being a pretty average video game you are getting a complete product with the base game of Battlefront.


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