The concept behind pre-ordering a product is simple. You pay some or all of the price up front before the product is out, and in return you reserve your copy for the day that it is released. Pre-orders help stores decide how many units to stock, and they guarantee that consumers will get their copies on time.

For some time now, video games have been a perfect candidate for pre-orders. Several hit game franchises draw release day lines that rival Apple Inc products or Batman films, but as games continue making the shift to digital distribution thanks to platforms like Steam or PlayStation Network, the pre-order model makes less and less sense.

Game publishers still want the metrics and guaranteed sales provided by pre-orders, but because digital copies can be bought and downloaded immediately, they are being forced to offer pre-order bonuses as a form of bribery or extortion, depending on how you look at it.

When should you pre-order?

Some games, such as The Witcher 3, add value for people who pre-order by offering extras like artbooks, comics, game soundtracks, or cosmetic items such as unique outfits or character skins.

Many games also offer bonus items that can give players who pre-order distinct advantages over those who do not.

For example, recent games like Battlefield: Hardline and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare provided players who pre-ordered with experience boosts that gave them a head start in the game, so players who wanted to be competitive at release were almost required to pre-order.

Of course, a few weeks into the life cycle of a game, many of those advantages are irrelevant, making those bonuses less important in the first place. An artbook or unique skin will remain valuable throughout the game, but a slight head start early on makes little difference long-term.

Obviously, whether or not you should preorder a game depends heavily on what kind of personal value you get out of it, and if you’re going to buy a game either way, then pre-ordering might be a way to get a few extra perks, even if they aren’t really valuable in the long run.

photo credit: Ben Andreas Harding via photopin cc