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The Witcher 3 has exceeded 1.5 million pre-orders

MUnited83

For you.
That pre-ordering isn't a good thing (regardless of the quality of this game (it's probably pretty good)). They have burnt their hands again and again but won't be any wiser next time.
Nothing wrong with it if you:
Don't give a shit about reviews(i don't. Meaningless crap aside from reporting technical issues)
You like the developer and enjoyed their previous games so you are confident that this one will be good as well.
You have your expectations in check.
You want to play it on day one.
You get it on a preorder deal that most likely won't bee matched for months.

I mean, there's plenty of reasons one could have to preorder something. Nothing wrong with that. As long as you research and make an informed decision, thats fine.


And many games would never sell as much without preorders even if they had the best reviews ever. Frontloaded sales are very important and are the reason some titles can even exist in the first place.
 
I thought not pre-ordering was good, seems this thread proved me wrong.

I've had the stance of disagreeing with those who hate pre-ordering since i was born. :)

I think some people will only pre-order some games, while others seem to have an unnatural hate for it. Me, I don't care, if i have the money and like the look of something, I'll pre-order it because i want to play it when i get back from work and not have to go out... though in this case my wife is going to go out while i am at work and get it for me :)
 
Pre-ordered as soon as reviews hit. I won't get play it soon, but I had a $20 cert expiring plus you get the $10 at BB for pre-ordering. Between this and BB, I'm good through the holiday.
 
Great news for CDprojekt and the pc performance thread with Andy's guide has shown this game can look absolutely gorgeous with the right rig. Don't see any "downgrade" in those shots. Have had this preordered on steam since e3 last year (thank you b/s/t)

Can't wait to get home to get started, really should have taken the next 2 days off...
 

nacolucas

Neo Member
That's amazing! Will we be able to see accurate numbers at some point? I would like to see how many people got it on each platform.
 

Kiro

Member
And here I am just getting around to buying bloodborne yesterday. I'll definitely grab this game in a few months
 

Vintage

Member
I thought not pre-ordering was good, seems this thread proved me wrong.

Now it's not pre-ordering, it's just buying the game since reviews an impressions are out.
Pre-ordering would be bad before any review, making a decision based only on marketing material.
 
Some developers earn respect.

EA/Ubi/Acti, overall, don't.

So locking certain collector's edition bonuses to one platform earns respect?

Ok then.

Now it's not pre-ordering, it's just buying the game since reviews an impressions are out.
Pre-ordering would be bad before any review, making a decision based only on marketing material.

If you think reviews are not marketing material then I have some bad news for you. Plus, most of the reviews so far mention the PS4, what about the X1 or PC owners?
 

Majukun

Member
shame a part of it is thanks to their lies.
I'm sure the game is great by its own right..but seeing how many copies they sold this way ..it means they are just gonna became worse and worse in this regard....
 

Croatoan

They/Them A-10 Warthog
I have a feeling that this generation will be remembered by the explosion of Western RPGs in mainstream gaming. Last gen saw the real birth of them on consoles leading up to Skyrim's (and to a lesser extent Mass Effect's) sales.

This gen Witcher 3, Fallout, Cyberpunk and ES VI are going to print money leading to most publishers wanting to have their own epic sprawling adventure. I am not saying they are going to pass up FPSs or anything like that though (most of them will probably be FPSs lol).

Why you ask? Because a lot of mainstreamers got their feet wet with Skyrim and now see RPGs as things not only nerds can enjoy.
 

Brandwin

Member
I tried to preorder for PS4 last night on BestBuy.com, let me get all the way to check out and then said, due to high demand, item removed from cart. Looks like I’ll miss out on the $10 Reward Certificate. Oh well, my fault for waiting.
 

VariantX

Member
Congrats to CDPR for scamming 1.5 million people.

I really want Witcher 3 to be good but I've got no way of knowing for sure. I cant believe how easily people throw thier money away on pre-orders and hype alone. Its depressing, proves all you need for a million seller is a good marketing team (WATCH_DOGS)

I would be right there with you if it wasn't for the fact that people have already been able to play the game and been able to watch tons of unscripted footage prior to launch. People in this case actually know what they're getting well ahead of launch. This isn't like when publishers knowingly withhold information people need to make a purchase before launch day.
 

hydruxo

Member
I would've been one of those 500k if PSN had let me buy the game this weekend. Still unable to buy it so I'm just gonna buy a physical copy.
 
I have a feeling that this generation will be remembered by the explosion of Western RPGs in mainstream gaming. Last gen saw the real birth of them on consoles leading up to Skyrim's (and to a lesser extent Mass Effect's) sales.

This gen Witcher 3, Fallout, Cyberpunk and ES VI are going to print money leading to most publishers wanting to have their own epic sprawling adventure. I am not saying they are going to pass up FPSs or anything like that though (most of them will probably be FPSs lol).

Why you ask? Because a lot of mainstreamers got their feet wet with Skyrim and now see RPGs as things not only nerds can enjoy.

According to Ubisoft they did a earnings call last year I think saying that open world games are where the money's at. 50% of their revenue came from open world games according to their last financials (I think it was them)... so yeah more open world games. Just hope people look at the Witcher and learn that each open world game should at least feel different and not just be a design book copy, which at the moment many of the ubi soft games seem to be lately.
 

Dynasty8

Member
Congrats to CDPR for scamming 1.5 million people.

I really want Witcher 3 to be good but I've got no way of knowing for sure. I cant believe how easily people throw thier money away on pre-orders and hype alone. Its depressing, proves all you need for a million seller is a good marketing team (WATCH_DOGS)

Where do you even find this nonsense from?

The game is 100% legit, it deserves all the praise. I'm 25 hours into the X1 version and loving it so far.
 

OCD Guy

Member
I would be right there with you if it wasn't for the fact that people have already been able to play the game and been able to watch tons of unscripted footage prior to launch. People in this case actually know what they're getting well ahead of launch. This isn't like when publishers knowingly withhold information people need to make a purchase before launch day.

Exactly.

I pre-ordered yesterday, and that was after watching gameplay videos and reviews of the "downgrade" version.

I thought it looked really good, yes the earlier videos looked better but the game still looks good.

Also I'd say Witcher 3 is far from a scam, the reviews were out before release of the game, and there has been more than enough footage of the game as it stands.

I'd say most of the pre-orders have been from people that have actually seen current footage, rather than every person pre-ordering purely on the early release videos.
 

Lucumo

Member
Nothing wrong with it if you:
Don't give a shit about reviews(i don't. Meaningless crap aside from reporting technical issues)
You like the developer and enjoyed their previous games so you are confident that this one will be good as well.
You have your expectations in check.
You want to play it on day one.
You get it on a preorder deal that most likely won't bee matched for months.

I mean, there's plenty of reasons one could have to preorder something. Nothing wrong with that. As long as you research and make an informed decision, thats fine.


And many games would never sell as much without preorders even if they had the best reviews ever. Frontloaded sales are very important and are the reason some titles can even exist in the first place.
You can't really make informed decisions because you don't know how a game will end up in most cases. A lot of people pre-order weeks or even months before a game is released. The only reason to do that is because of those special deals since you could always just buy it on day one if you wanted to.
The problem is that people will think that pre-orders are fine - The Witcher 3 fulfilled their expectations after all. And for that reason, they will be less reluctant to do it again and awful, unfinished and undeserving games with large marketing budget will profit from it. We have seen it often enough and we will see it again. And what's annoying, people will whine about it even though it was their own fault.
 

Vintage

Member
If you think reviews are not marketing material then I have some bad news for you. Plus, most of the reviews so far mention the PS4, what about the X1 or PC owners?

If not for reviews, how else would I find out that the game is good? I can't play the game before buying it, so should I never buy any game? And there's been a lot of footage and impressions both on PC and XB1.
 

Yogg

Member
Congrats CDPR, those are impressive numbers. I didn't preorder and I'm still getting my copy tomorrow. I expect the sales numbers will be through the roof for the first month, or even the first week.
 

TriGen

Member
I was one of those 500,000 preorders. Reviews were too good and I got $10 off my order from amazon.

Yeah, I pre-ordered it last night digitally on my PS4 because at that point I had seen and read so many good things I felt like I couldn't resist. Getting an extra 500K in pre-orders in that small amount of time shows how much good word of mouth and reviews help.
 

Vicarious

Member
You can't really make informed decisions because you don't know how a game will end up in most cases. A lot of people pre-order weeks or even months before a game is released. The only reason to do that is because of those special deals since you could always just buy it on day one if you wanted to.
The problem is that people will think that pre-orders are fine - The Witcher 3 fulfilled their expectations after all. And for that reason, they will be less reluctant to do it again and awful, unfinished and undeserving games with large marketing budget will profit from it. We have seen it often enough and we will see it again. And what's annoying, people will whine about it even though it was their own fault.

Not everyone has been burned by they're pre orders like you have, people earn they're money, they should be able to spend it on what they want.
 
I think they need to be praised for 10% cheaper for digital orders. I wish more Devs did this. IMO it should be 50$ digital but ill take 54 over 60

Exactly, for a game I know I'll absorb (RDR was my game of the Gen) I can take digital so I can remote play no worries and not have to worry about the disc (Share my 4 between 4 people). It's ten dollars cheaper for me since Amazon is taxed now in Florida but the digital order isn't.
 
Not everyone has been burned by they're pre orders like you have, people earn they're money, they should be able to spend it on what they want.

I've pre-ordered lots of games and have only felt disappointed by one purchase, and that was the Collectors edition of Colonial Marines... (gah - yeah I know sorry!!!!). I knew something was not right a few days before release.... But I don't regret anything.

I feel the whole "You are an idiot for pre-ordering" in general needs to stop. It's not particularly helpful to anyone and as you say, people should be able to spend money on what they want.
 

erawsd

Member
You can't really make informed decisions because you don't know how a game will end up in most cases. A lot of people pre-order weeks or even months before a game is released. The only reason to do that is because of those special deals since you could always just buy it on day one if you wanted to.
The problem is that people will think that pre-orders are fine - The Witcher 3 fulfilled their expectations after all. And for that reason, they will be less reluctant to do it again and awful, unfinished and undeserving games with large marketing budget will profit from it. We have seen it often enough and we will see it again. And what's annoying, people will whine about it even though it was their own fault.

So what? As you said, its their fault -- caveat emptor. If those people care about the money they hard work for then they'll responsibly pick and choose what games and developers to support. If they don't then no amount of finger wagging is going to change that.
 

Lucumo

Member
Not everyone has been burned by they're pre orders like you have, people earn they're money, they should be able to spend it on what they want.

I've been a gamer for 20 years now and have never pre-ordered a game in my life. So I obviously have never burned myself. Others have though and they don't learn.
And it's impacting me because companies give this special thing or that exclusive item to people who pre-order which others can't obtain afterwards. They are pushing it because it works and some people unfortunately are making it work.
Apart from that, as I already said, I dislike their whining and don't want to see awful, unfinished games earning tons of money because of pre-orders.

So what? As you said, its their fault -- caveat emptor. If those people care about the money they hard work for then they'll responsibly pick and choose what games and developers to support. If they don't then no amount of finger wagging is going to change that.
Pretty much answered it already with my reply to the other guy.
 
D

Deleted member 325805

Unconfirmed Member
I wasn't even going to get this until my mate told me to stop being an idiot and get it ordered. Hopefully it's good.
 
I was gonna ask about this earlier.

I tried pre-ordering online for pick-up at my local best buys and every one of them said they were out of stock and removing it from my cart. I had never seen that happen before. I know it's right before release day but that never stopped me before. Did they not get that many or are that many people really buying this? I can't imagine people on the southside completely cleaning out stock at a BB. Doesn't seem right.
 

erawsd

Member
I've been a gamer for 20 years now and have never pre-ordered a game in my life. So I obviously have never burned myself. Others have though and they don't learn.
And it's impacting me because companies give this special thing or that exclusive item to people who pre-order which others can't obtain afterwards. They are pushing it because it works and some people unfortunately are making it work.
Apart from that, as I already said, I dislike their whining and don't want to see awful, unfinished games earning tons of money because of pre-orders.


Pretty much answered it already with my reply to the other guy.

The only thing companies want from you is your money and they are never going to stop dreaming up new and more effective ways to get it from you. If everyone stopped pre-ordering tomorrow nothing would change. This will still be a hype business with massive marketing campaigns. Publishers are still going to force out awful and/or broken games. The crummy preorder bonuses they give away now are just going to become DLC and microtransactions. And who knows what they will come up with next to get you to commit to an early purchase.

The one and only recourse you have as a consumer (that still wants to play games) is to just support companies that deserve it. Whether thats by preordering, buying collectors editions, or just buying two copies and gifting one to a friend. I preordered Witcher 3, I preorder Bloodborne, I backed Pillars of Eternity -- and I was happy to do it in each case because these are all developers that I want to see elevated in the industry. On the flipside, I have and will never preorder anything from the likes of Ubisoft, EA, or the non-Blizzard side of Activision...
 
There are currently four different PS4 versions of this game sitting in Amazon's top 20 hourly. Standard, Collector's, Comic Bundle and digital.
 

Hypron

Member
Not everyone has been burned by they're pre orders like you have, people earn they're money, they should be able to spend it on what they want.

This. I can't remember the last time I preordered a game and ended up regretting it (I don't think it's ever happened actually). Don't preorder every game under the sun if you're not sure you're going to like them, but I don't see what's the issue with preordering.

I also saved a ton of money by preordering TW3 and Bloodborne at the same time by making use of a combination of: preorder discounts, lower US PSN prices, $50 PSN credit cards for $40 and $15 PSN credit cashback for $100 spent.
 
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