Topic: What Pre-Order Bonus Would Get You to Commit?

[Fatty The Hutt]

If there's a soundtrack involved for a game I know I want, I'll usually bite. (I didn't with Radiant Historia, to my regret). But most other pre-order bonuses don't really interest me. I got a nifty T-shirt once for Lego Indiana Jones that my son wore for awhile but he's older now, so that's not going to happen. In game items seem sort of interesting but not enough to make me want to pay day 1 retail price. Figurines, posters and art books do not motivate me at all.


So, what about you? What pre-order bonuses make you foam and drool and rush to the nearest retailer to plonk down you five bucks?

[Khushrenada]

Harvest Moon Plushies.

[shingi_70]

Something tangible like logos or a comic book.

[TJ Spyke]

It depends on the game. Like I couldn't care less about a Call of Duty soundtrack, but offer it for a Mario or Smash Bros. game and I will pre-order it (I would buy the game anyways, but this would get me to pre-order it).

[Shaymin]

Money off the preorder.

[S-U-P-E-R]

A cool toy or waterbottle or something is the best

[lolmonade]

Money off the preorder.

By far my favorite.  Target lately has been giving a $5 gift card if you pre-order a game from them.  Matters much more to me than the mickey ears from Epic Mickey 2 I got for pre-ordering from Gamestop.

[broodwars]

For me, the biggest draw is a CD soundtrack. Not one of those stupid digital download codes. An actual physical object containing music.  The other big draw is story-based singleplayer DLC for the main game, like Ninja Theory is doing with the new Devil May Cry and Vergil's levels.

[Adrock]

There's no better way to make me commit to a game than to just make a fun/awesome game to play. Typically, I only pre-order these days if a game is niche and likely to be more difficult to find if I wait. I'll never have that problem with a major release. And I'll pre-order on Amazon just because they'll charge me for the game when the game comes out then ship it right to me which is great for when I don't keep track of release dates.

Additionally, I'm over the limited/special editions that are never worth the money because I usually look at the extra thing once (sometimes never). That said, free extras are better (like Code of Princess'sesses art "book" and soundtrack). Still, bonuses are nice and all, but what I really want is a quality title. Give me that and you can have my money.

Money off would probably be my pick, but I only really buy Nintendo games on release day these days and I almost never see those offers for them. Besides, if I'm patient I can score a Buy 1 Get 1 X% off or Buy 2 Get 1 Free which is always a better deal.

[NWR_insanolord]

I prefer to buy games digitally, which doesn't allow for preorders (except on PC), but I'd love to see a preorder program on the eShop that gave you early access to the game.

[ShyGuy]

I don't know that I've ever gotten a pre-order bonus before.

[ymeegod]

DLC season pass.  Always hate buying an game (nowadays) just to find it has something like another $40 worth of DLC stuff to go along with it.  So I end up waiting for the GOTY edition instead. 

Call it an reward program.  When you purchase any game, all DLC that is made ofter your date of purchase you'll get for free.  So another words if you wait around for a price to drop on the game itself you'll end up having to PAY for DLC which you could have gotten for free.  Not only would that plan help with inital sales (the frirst few months) but it'll help kill some of the used games as well--people would hang on to their games longer IMO.

[nickmitch]

You know what gets me to preorder? The friendly and convincing reminders from Gamestop employees.

[Ceric]

I like Wall Clings and other Odd items.

[alegoicoe]

Back in 2003 when Wind Waker came out i got a big a** sea map with all secrets and all islands listed, i thought that was a cool pre order which i used a lot.

[Fatty The Hutt]

Some neat respnses here that got me thinking of things other than soundtracks that might motivate me.


Agree that a physical soundtrack is what I want. That said, I have never seen an offering for just a soundtrack download code.


Money off is a fantastic motivator, I agree, I also want to buy digitally more these days, so I would love to see a digital pre-order program on Wii U that got you a discount. I already have the Deluxe Promotion, but that is not a pre-order incentive since (for now) I can use it whenever. Plus, it is not actual money off the price.


Free DLC in the form of extra playable content (not just maps or costumes or weapons) is a decent motivator provided I know what it is ahead of time. I am not a fan of the season pass idea where you will get all the DLC as it comes out for what ends up being a discount. What if I don't give a crap about the DLC? Too late, I bought it. I pre-ordered Batman Arkham City for the free Catwoman playable scenarios. In retrospect (as I still have not completed that game) I probably would have been better off (financially) waiting for the Wii U version. But then again, it would have been torture for mee to not be able to delve into Gotham every now and then over the past year. Love that game.

[Fatty The Hutt]

I like Wall Clings and other Odd items.

Really? I get that those things might be fun and nice to have, but you're saying those are the things that will definitely get you to pre-order a game and pay full price? Really?

[Fatty The Hutt]

Is anyone motivated by the incentives at Gamestop where if you trade in quickly, you get a ridiculous amount of credit, nearly all of your purchase price? I imagine that's probably a half way decent way to go if you are able to devour your games and don't mind not keeping them. I fit into neithert of these two categories. I play S-L-O-W and I can barely bring myself to part with nearly any game. Only the real clunkers, and I am usually careful to avoid those. Sometimes they have been gifts, or sometimes awful kids games my little ones "couldn't live without" at the time.

[TJ Spyke]

I wouldn't call half the game price ridiculous (the most you get for a $60 game is $30).

If they started doing something like "pre-order Super Smash Bros. 4 and get 1 free Virtual Console game of your choice", I would pre-order as well.

[Adrock]

I got $39 for trading Metroid Other M toward Halo: Reach. I originally bought it at Target and used a $5 gift card I got for Brita Filters. That was the most I got for a trade in (and the fastest I've completed a game within the last few years). I think it would have been $25 of trade credit.

I don't normally do this, but I completed Other M twice and wasn't super attached to it. I bought it again some time last year at Play N Trade for less than $10 and I had credit on top of that.

[broodwars]

Agree that a physical soundtrack is what I want. That said, I have never seen an offering for just a soundtrack download code.

It happens all the time with PS3 games and Limited Editions. The Limited Edition description will say it includes the "digital soundtrack".  Then you open up the case, and there's just a slip for a download code off of PSN or the publisher's website.

[TJ Spyke]

Well, "digitial" means you will download it, so you can't complain about being deceived. But I have not seen digital only copies offered. It wouldn't matter to me, once I rip the CD then I will never use it again (except to rip to game consoles too, like I have the Mario All-Stars soundtrack on my PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3).

[Ceric]

I like Wall Clings and other Odd items.

Really? I get that those things might be fun and nice to have, but you're saying those are the things that will definitely get you to pre-order a game and pay full price? Really?

First I have to be willing to buy the game to begin with.  So for me yeah.  I want to get something unique that I can't just get later if the mood suits me, which it probably never will, like the Kirby Pink Stylus, Paper Mario Wall Cling (that was actually an accident), Mario Keychain w/ 3D Land, etc.

[Ian Sane]

I rarely pre-order since it is restrictive on my purchasing freedom.  Plus if I don't pre-order I can think twice if the game gets poor reviews.  The real incentive to pre-order is certainty in getting a copy.  Most of the time this is not an issue as I live in a well populated area with lots of stores that have a good selection of games.  The last game I pre-ordered was Xenoblade because I was legitimately concerned that if I didn't, I couldn't get a copy.  And even then I was uncomfortable making that commitment, since the only indication I had that it was a good game was the fanatic praises of the Rainfall movement, which has an obvious incentive to overhype the game (though they actually didn't; it's as good as they said).

If it's a game for a series where my purchase is pretty much 100%, like Zelda, a good pre-order bonus would be something that I would be interested in enough that I could see myself buying anyway.  Like a keychain isn't really worth it but a CD soundtrack is.  The best though was the awesome Ocarina of Time Master Quest pre-order for Wind Waker.  I was going to buy that game anyway and we all wanted the Ura Zelda content to be released and, boom, here it is FOR FREE.  That's got to be the best pre-order bonus ever offered.

[Mop it up]

I rarely pre-order, but when I have, it's usually because of a gift card offer.