Hurr durr preordering is bad, Collector's Editions are ****, blah bah I am frustrated and put my whining on a big tech site
Why did someone let this "article" be published on TechSpot? While it does say some things right, it is quite unpleasant to read.
I understand the disappointment that often comes with preorders, but putting a picture from Witcher 3 together with a "stop buying promises" is pretty stupid, since this game is just brilliant and the whole hype about it was justified with gameplays, early impressions, CDPR politics and quality of previous games from the series. Batman: AK or AC: Unity would both be far better choices.
" Why have demos more or less ceased to exist? Preorders are why." - yeah, sure, the facts that game engines nowadays are huge, complicated pieces of software and separating the demo part from the whole game isn't something that can be done in an hour have nothing to do with that. Demo versions stil exist, but they are far less common. Seems like the market verified them rather negatively. The possibility of checking tons of reviews and scores in like ten seconds also contributed to that. It's not just about pre-orders (though they do play a part), they are just one part of the picture.
"Want to know why exclusive missions and items are withheld from everyone’s game and are instead sprinkled across various competing retailers? Preorders are why."
Nope, it's the DLCs.
"Want to know why it’s now accepted that you can sometimes pay more for a multiplayer game and start with a competitive advantage? Preorders are why."
Nope, it's the DLCs and pay-to-win practices.
Last but not least: what is wrong with Collector's Editions? I've bought about a dozen of them and most of them were pretty amazing. Art-books, card games, complete editions of prequels, figurines, busts, medallions, rings, awesome boxes, soundtracks, making-of videos, digital add-ons... Small, stupid DLCs are the least important part.
I wouldn't say "stop pre-ordering games", I am more like "think carefully and pre-order rarely". I've preordered like 20 games in my life and I remember just one small disappointment: Thief (which was quite good, but far worse than I hoped). But since I had only paid like 30 bucks for it, I wasn't really upset after finishing it.