2023 is developing into an unusual year for my video game purchasing habits: I am buying far more games on release than usual. Today is the release of Jagged Alliance 3, and I bought a pre-order key from a key reseller. Assuming I didn't get scammed somewhere during that process, I'll be able to play JA3 from this afternoon on. Until then, I have time to ponder the reasons why I am more willing to buy a game on release than I used to.

One factor is certainly my changed personal situation. As I am retired now, the large chunk of my time that used to be eaten up by work is free time now. Thus hobby events, like game releases, have become relatively more important to me, while they previously were overshadowed by work events. I can actually be there today at 3 pm on a Friday for the release of Jagged Alliance 3, while previously I would at best have downloaded the game on Friday evening after a long day at work, and only started playing on the weekend.

Another factor is price. I haven't become less price sensitive; if anything, I am more price sensitive now, because a pension is always less than the previous salary. But Jagged Alliance 3 is not a terribly expensive game; it's full price is $45, which is already moderate in this new world of $70 games. And then there are pre-order price reductions, and further rebates, even on sites that have an official license from the game developers. Add a further "rebate" by using a grey market key reseller, and I ended up paying only $25. Another case this year was Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom on the Switch, where with the Amazon pre-order price guarantee I ended up paying $60 instead of $70 for my pre-ordered physical game. Knowing Nintendo, the game won't get much cheaper in the future, so I could as well buy it on release.

The counterweight to price is value. I typically ask myself whether for a price of X dollars I'll get at least X hours of fun out of a game. Zelda was a resounding success there, and so was for example Age of Wonders 4, where I have already played 100 hours. For a pre-order, there is a certain amount of guesswork that has to go into this calculation; I guess Jagged Alliance 3 will be another 100+ hour game for me. How do I know? Modern video game marketing via Twitch and YouTube really helps me here. I wouldn't buy a game based on pretty trailer, but I will buy it based on having watched some streamer play the game for several hours. This now being possible before release is great. Even if you have to take into account the possible bias of the streamer being paid to influence me. But watching actual gameplay tells me a lot more than whatever influencing comments that streamer makes, and most people can't fake excitement for hours on end anyway. It also helps that all of the games I mentioned so far were sequels. Knowing how much I played previous games, plus watching actual gameplay confirming the sequel isn't totally different (casting an angry stare at FF16 here), makes it rather likely that I'll get my targeted hours of fun.

The weirdest game I'll probably play for 100+ hours in 2023 and that I pre-ordered is Baldur's Gate 3. I paid full price, $60, for that as far back as October 2020. But then I already played the Early Access for 124 hours, so I can't complain about value for money. The release in August will basically be a non-event. I'm not even sure I'll play the release version more than the early access version, because I actually consider the higher levels of Dungeons & Dragons less interesting than the lower ones. The fact that for the start I'll have to play through an only slightly changed Act I again, which I have already done several times, isn't really that enticing.

- posted by Tobold @ 8:54 AM Permanent Link