Buy games on launch or later?

[R2DJ]

MW3, Battlefield 3, Assassin's Creed Revelations, Batman Arkham City, Skyrim, Need For Speed: The Run, Super Mario 3D Land. So many good games coming out this "AAA season". My wallet is begging for mercy.

But hold on, I didn't say I'm gonna buy all of them. I DO want them all. I'm sure some of you has the same wish list as me.

I just bought RAGE a week ago and I gotta say: I love it! When I tried it at the Eurogamer Expo and attended the id Software conference, my appreciation of id's work just grew bigger. Easily, the one sole feature that makes RAGE a kick-ass game is the 60Hz frame rate. But I've only played it for 2 days since I've been busy with university so I might just play the multiplayer during my free time. So this will mean I will return the game for a full refund and save it for Assassin's Creed Revelations (which fully deserves my £40!) I will be getting RAGE back on Boxing Day or something.

Which leads me to this question: Should I buy the games near launch day or should I wait until there's a sale/price drop/holiday blah? The good thing about getting the game early is that I get to have an advantage (i.e. for MW3/Battlefield when I get it on Day 1, I'll play with everyone that's on Level 1 so we're all equal).

Also, I haven't really been that observant, but how long does it usually take for games' prices to drop? I've recently seen Deus Ex go down to £24.99 but Dead Island is still at £39.99.

Thanks

 

[Ryupower]

IMO:
depends on the game

some game, you need to per-order and get at launch they are games, you know will be hard to find latter
like NIS games(like Disgesa) or 'Tales of' games,

some games get a GOY version, that has the extra DLC, and extra fixes
and
some game get a fast price drop
and
some game get a newer version latter
or
get a port to a different system

so it
depends on the game and if you are willing to wait


as for
Batman Arkham City and Skyrim,
they most likely will get a GOY version sometime in 2012-2013
that will have the extra DLC and expansions

 

[legendofphil]

It depends how much you want them and how much money you have.
I am in the same boat, there are loads of games I want between now and Xmas.
Get the ones you really want at launch, wait on the others.

 

[Depravo]

I'd rather wait and buy two older games for around the same price as one new release. I mean if I've never played them before they're still new games to me, right?

 

[retKHAAAN]

there are so many games out there that it's fairly easy to keep busy while waiting for a price drop.

If it's a big multiplayer game though and you're REALLY into multiplayer you may be better served to get it at launch as the community as a whole likely will and will have everything unlocked (have an advantage over you) if you wait.

Personally, I'm a single player / local multiplayer guy so I have no problem waiting.

 

[Ergo]

It really depends: if the game is going to have a large MP component, then it's probably a good idea to get onboard as early as possible to keep pace w/ the people you'll be competing against.

Otherwise, well, you might as well just wait--after all, in my experience, I know very, very, very few people that really need to buy games day one (and at full price) because they already have a half-dozen other games on tap that haven't even been beaten yet.

(Also: buying new, relentlessly, despite not having the time/too much backlog to play, seems more like keeping up w/ the Jones' (err, rather, geeks) than a sane purchasing scheme.)

 

[Hells Malice]

Varies?
It's completely opinion based.
Someone out there might wanna buy a crappy sports game at launch. Whereas I would wait till it was under $5, or free. Varies from person to person.
However:

MW3 - Don't buy this piece of crap. Problem solved. Doesn't matter when you buy it, it'll be full price until a month (or longer) after the next Crap of Doody game is released.

Battlefield 3 - Another game unlikely to pricedrop very quickly. Launch, or rent it. Battlefield is one of those games that are fun for a week, and get boring after that.

Assassin's Creed Revelations - AC games tend to pricedrop fairly quickly. Could wait.

Batman Arkham City - Never followed Asylum so I have no idea

Skyrim - Launch. Unlikely to pricedrop for quite a while

Need For Speed: The Run - Oh god another one. Wait. It'll pricedrop in a week after they sell like 10 copies world wide.

Super Mario 3D Land - Download it.

 

[HaniKazmi]

Super Mario 3D Land - Download it.

That'll be quite a achievement

I usually buy a game when I feel like playing it, whether that be at launch or several years later.

 

[impizkit]

Some games are a launch title, like Skyward Sword will be. Others are a wait for a price drop. I had to wait a long time for Super Mario Galaxy to drop in price.

 

[retKHAAAN]

Varies?
It's completely opinion based.
Someone out there might wanna buy a crappy sports game at launch. Whereas I would wait till it was under $5, or free. Varies from person to person.
However:

MW3 - Don't buy this piece of crap. Problem solved. Doesn't matter when you buy it, it'll be full price until a month (or longer) after the next Crap of Doody game is released.

Battlefield 3 - Another game unlikely to pricedrop very quickly. Launch, or rent it. Battlefield is one of those games that are fun for a week, and get boring after that.

Assassin's Creed Revelations - AC games tend to pricedrop fairly quickly. Could wait.

Batman Arkham City - Never followed Asylum so I have no idea

Skyrim - Launch. Unlikely to pricedrop for quite a while

Need For Speed: The Run - Oh god another one. Wait. It'll pricedrop in a week after they sell like 10 copies world wide.

Super Mario 3D Land - Download it.

...very helpful

guy isn't asking for your opinion on whether to buy games or not. he's asking when to buy them.

telling him not to buy a game he's excited for is a waste of a post.

-quick question-
how is Halo: Reach any better than CoD or Battlefield?

 

[Youkai]

Well the last few years i rarely bought games but if i bought than it was allways on launch day or better PreOrder ^^

Its more or less stupid to do so cuz mostly just a few days later you get the games "used" for half the price, still i just broke my record of preodering (normaly maximum 1 game ... think i bought 3 or 4 games whole last year ... or better last 2 years ) now i have 5 3Ds games and Anno on my preorder list ^^

 

[prowler]

Depends on the game and how big it is/what company is releasing it.

Niche titles are a launch title since they won't lower in price and will be hard to find.
Big titles (example: Deus Ex) are to buy at launch if you're on various big gaming forums/sites since you'll be able to get the jokes and not get spoiled while having some fun yourself.

Also Deus Ex HR is like £18 now

 

[Lube_Skyballer]

Singleplayer have a lower priority (except Skyrim for me) in my book.
Multiplayer games (ie BF3, MW3) are fun to have on the launch date because "everyone" including all your friends are playing it at that moment. After half a year or so, player base decreases and so does the price..

 

[Hells Malice]

...very helpful

guy isn't asking for your opinion on whether to buy games or not. he's asking when to buy them.

telling him not to buy a game he's excited for is a waste of a post.

-quick question-
how is Halo: Reach any better than CoD or Battlefield?

I know it was helpful, I answered his question completely. As for yours, CoD requires 1 skill.
Being able to aim. Things die so fast and the guns shoot so ridiculously straight, you just aim in their general direction, shoot, and win the match. It's a dumbed down FPS so it can appeal to a mass market (and casuals are more prominent than real gamers). CoD is essentially about wandering around the map without being seen, and shooting people before they see you. It's a "I spy, you're dead" FPS.

Halo on the other hand, has a wide variety of weapons of varying effect and usage. You don't die in 1 hit (usually) so it gives you some time to actually survive and counter attack. I could write more, but that's the gist of it and I need to get ready for work. I'm not a console gamer, but I still stand by Halo because it's quite a fun and different FPS.

 

[Cyan]

I voted launch day, but it depends which system and which games.

I would buy Xeno/zelda launch day, but I bought Star ocean 4 two years later for cheaper (I didn't have an xbox/ps3 until recently).


I think you should buy the first released game launch day, and play it.
Then, by the time you complete it or get bored, buy another game which should have been released few weeks/month ago then, and could be cheaper

If you buy too many game at once, you won't complete any.

 

[SinHarvest24]

I only buy games on launch/within a week or two of release only when i'm buying it because of it's online value. Otherwise i'll suggest you wait for a price drop.

 

[Danny600kill]

It totally depends on how much I want the game, to be fair there are rare occasions when I buy a game on launch, mainly only games from Fallout/Elder Scrolls series'

 

[Guild McCommunist]

Really depends on the game.

The last game I pre-ordered/got on launch was No More Heroes 2. Usually I don't have enough cash to spend $60 on a game at the time it launches(and I don't buy any Wii/DS/PSP games anymore).

There's things I want to pre-order (on my list currently: Saint's Row The Third, MGS HD Collection, the Vita and some games like UMvC3, etc), but odds are I'll have to wait until a little after launch.

 

[Maverick_z]

Usually i wait for the game(s) i want to drop in price before i buy them. but recently i bought Gears 3 just a couple days after launch for me like Guild says it depends on the game. but saying that ill probably go out and get MW3 at launch or few days later

 

[notmeanymore]

Buy primarily-Multiplayer games (like CoD, BF, and Halo, but not Assassin's Creed, AC is a primarily-Single-player, with a multiplayer mode) at launch, or better yet preorder them.

Buy primarily-Single-player games used a few weeks later, unless it's a game that is likely to get a bunch of DLC and thus a Game of the Year edition. In which case, if you're patient enough, wait for it and buy it.