Should you buy games at launch?
Should you buy games at launch?
Over 2017 large game sales/price reduction have gotten closer to launch than ever before raising one simple question. Why buy games at launch? Yes, it can be fun to be an early adopter, to be the person talking you your friends or your favourite online community about the latest and greatest games, but when it comes to value for money, even waiting for as little as a month can reward you with a discount as high as 50%.
Now the Steam Autumn Sale has started and every major PC gaming storefront has their own equivalent sale, taking advantage of Thanksgiving and Black Friday to sell as many products as possible at reduced pricing. These sales include games that are as little as one month old with heavy discounts, making value conscious gamers kick themselves at the money they lost by not simply waiting.Â
Â
| Game | Realese Date | Launch Price | Today’s Price | Storefront |
| Project Cars 2 | 21/9/2017 | £44.99 | £26.99 (40% Off) | Steam |
| Middle-Earth: Shadow of War | 10/10/2017 | £44.99 | £26.99 (40% Off) | Steam |
| The Evil Within 2 | 12/10/2017 | £39.99 | £19.99 (50% Off) | Steam |
| Destiny 2 | 24/10/2017 | £44.99 | £29.24 (35% Off) | Battle.net |
| Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus | 26/10/2017 | £39.99 | £19.99 (50% Off) | Steam |
| Assassin’s Creed: Origins | 27/10/2017 | £49.99 | £41.49 (17% Off) | Steam |
(We don’t even need to go to key resellers to find prices this low)Â
Â
Other benefits of waiting (aside from price reductions)
On PC one of the biggest benefits of waiting is the possibility of enhanced performance or stability, be it with new game updates or driver changes. Assassin’s Creed: Origins’ patch 1.03 offered users a significant increase in the game’s CPU performance, Nvidia’s new Geforce 388.31 driver has a significant impact on Destiny 2’s performance and Wolfenstein II suffered from a range of stability issues at launch.Â
Around a month after the release of all three of these games on PC, with PC gamers being rewarded with both a lower price and a better gameplay experience for their wait. None of these games have somehow gotten worse after launch. Â
If you are a value conscious gamer who wants their money to go further, simply waiting is the best thing you can do when it comes to new releases. Yes, some publishers are unlikely to shift their prices this close to launch, but these examples showcase exactly how much can be saved here.Â
You can join the discussion on post-launch game sale events on the OC3D Forums.Â