Sofie Dill

Analyze the steady push of AAA developers to offer "early-access" to an unfinished game, the economics of pre-release hype and how it can immensely help the numbers of a sub-par game (see: No Man’s Sky), and the disturbing trend of releasing a game whether it’s finished or not–only to release the rest of the game as expensive DLC (Star Wars Battlefront). Are these methods sustainable or will enough disappointment eventually dissuade gamers from preordering?

A good way to drive the point home would be to compare games released before pre-release culture with games being released toady. What would have happened if an unfinished game were released on a system that had no internet access? You could also look at how specific game franchises or developers have changed (for better or worse) over the years. – Disastromancer 7 years ago
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Have you heard about Star Citizen? It started as a crow-fund project and now its like this whole investment monster. Its initial goal was for 2 million dollars and was slated to be released a few years ago. But as of now, the project has been funded 141 million dollars, thus giving the creators opportunities to make the game bigger than its initial concept. Its gotten to the point where donators have been given unique starships, planets and in-game money. The game itself has become an enterprise and it hasn't even been released. I think people, in this case, like to feel part of something as big as this and be compensated for it. Everybody wins. In the case of DLCs and expansions, I feel like regardless of people not wanting to purchase them, they will still feel peer pressured into it. – jcastro4 7 years ago
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Also, it's worth noting the ways that places like Amazon, through Prime, are incentivizing consumers in the current market to buy physical games. With prime, Tier 2 editions are discounted often to where the MSRP is for a regular Tier 1 "standard" edition, and the same sort of relationship goes for the Tier 3 editions to the Tier 2 editions. Great topic, and worth exploring. – Paul A. Crutcher 7 years ago
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I feel like preordering is more of a AAA practice, where you see early access done far more often in the indy scene, as paid early access often helps bridge the gap that would normally be bridged by a publisher. – John Wells 7 years ago
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Latest Comments

Feb 27, 2017 Sofie And Spider-Man 2 on PS2!	The Success of Marvel Movies and Why DC Falls Short
Feb 27, 2017 Sofie I was actually more hyped for the Switch before the reveal last month. The launch titles are lacking and the non-inclusion of Virtual Console at launch means that people are basically buying a $300 Zelda machine. I’d rather have a launch delayed until the holiday season to give them more time to polish it and give it more appealing launch titles. Great analysis!	The Nintendo Switch: Pre-Launch Analysis
Feb 27, 2017 Sofie Great article. I’d be interested to see analysis of Stevonnie, though I must admit that I’m kind of disappointed with how few episodes they’re featured in.	Masculinity in Steven Universe: A Matter of GEMder?
Feb 27, 2017 Sofie It most certainly was. TLoU was one of those few games that made me feel what Joel felt, and the last action scene made me feel hurried and stressed without the requisite timer that most games feel is necessary. Give Life Is Strange a try too. It’s not action oriented by any means, but details you pick up and remember can lead to drastic changes to how the game plays out.	Story Telling and Interactivity in Video Gaming