I remember pre-ordering Diablo 3 from Amazon and it came something like 5 days after the release date. Of course, I did not get next day shipping but still…
Anyway, I am wondering if there is a better online option than Amazon, when it comes to pre-ordering GTA 5 for PC.
IMO it really depends on the bonus being offered with the pre-order. More games are starting to differentiate what you can get as different stores have pre-order exclusives. Barring that, I usually find myself ordering through Steam since you are able to pre-load some games and play them the moment the clock ticks over. Despite the letdown that watch_dogs was, the pre-order went rather smooth, and I was playing it before the official release because the pre-load opened up early. Since that experience, I have been wary of pre-orders, mostly those from Ubisoft.
The last pre-order I got from Amazon was shipped so that it would arrive on the release date in the mail, but I guess that depends on some factors on Amazon’s side. In all reality you shouldn’t have trouble finding it in stock at a local store since most places get enough stock to handle the expected demand.There’s bound to be few stores that have it in stock, so you don’t have to worry about shipping from an online retailer.
For PC the best place is Steam.
I strongly urge against pre-ordering nowadays. Stores rarely run out of stock anymore plus, most games come out of the gate broken.
Well, the quickest option is to order it as a digital download. That way, the moment it’s live you should be able to play it (assuming they let you pre-download and most games do). As said, Steam is the normal answer here although other digital merchants may have a better price on it by a few bucks.
And the SMARTEST option is to not preorder the game AT ALL, because more oftan that not you’ll end up overpaying for a bug ridden, overhyped product. It doesn’t matter where you ordered Assassin’s Creed: Unity or Aliens: Colonial Marines from. It doesn’t make them good.
Do yourself a favor and wait a week or two before pushing buy. The game will still be there. You won’t miss it. Stop encouraging this sort of behavior.
I really think digital preorders should come at 30% discount. You’re taking a risk to support the product, because so many games are released in an unplayable state, so they should really reward/incentivize that risk and support. I don’t know why people preorder at full price - I guess you get some sort of skin or trinket or something in game usually, it seems like a pretty meager reward.
But I think games from major publishers can’t do this, because they have a launch date price contract to prevent them from undercutting retailers. You often see independent games come with a preorder discount (or a discount in an early access stage), but basically never AAA publisher games.
Although there is the case of greenmangaming. They often have site-wide preorder discount coupons for 10-30%. I guess they can do this because it’s a site-wide coupon and the list price of the game is still the same.
Well, the article I linked in the “What Are You Playing?” thread noted that people are paying a premium for “Early Access” so paying full price on a (supposedly) completed game pre-order and getting a magic helmet for your efforts almost sounds frugal 
Most of the early access games are cheaper than release. There are a few exceptions - I think planetary annihilation was more expensive to get early access to. Kickstarted stuff like star citizen is often more expensive if you buy a higher tier, but then you get some sort of increased goodie with it - a basic version that includes the game is cheaper than it’ll be when it comes out in retail.
Some early access games will even go on steam sale during early access. I snatched up contagion for $3.50, Kerbal space program for $14, and Wreckfest for $21 that way.
Well, the average worked out to $1 more for Early Access than for the released game (for games that have seen release). I don’t doubt that a few obnoxious titles (PA, Wasteland 2) were trying to wreck the curve though.
I wonder if those include higher priced backer versions of products for people who want to contribute more than the minimum and probably get some bonuses out of it, but may not exist after release. I’m not actually sure Early Access has these, but Kickstarter certainly has way more than the minimum support tier to merely get the final product.
As SenorBeef suggested, Steam resellers are the best way to pre-order games. They usually have coupons from 20-30% off. I love Greenmangaming.com myself; use this referral link and we both get a $2 credit.
It gives you a Steam key that you then activate on Steam, just as if you bought the game directly from Steam. The only difference? You just saved 30% for a minute more work.
Greenmangaming usually has the best deals, but you can also check isthereanydeal.com for other steam resellers. You can sync it to your Steam wishlist, even, and it’ll let you know whenever a sale on any of those resellers happens.
Thanks for the replies.
Don’t you have to install software on your PC to use Steam? I don’t like that idea.
I guess what I wanted to know is whether GameStop or other stores would be faster shipping the game than Amazon. And if anyone had first hand experience concerning that.
GameStop will usually have a physical copy for you on release day if you preorder from a store instead of by mail.
Amazon is huge and nobody beats them for delivery. But shit happens and packages get delayed on occasion. Amazon will refund the shipping if that happens, but you still get the game late.
The PC games industry is moving over to digital distribution. Steam is the best service of its kind. Most games you buy today will require Steam, uPlay, or Origin even if you buy the boxed copy (for DRM, patches, and multiplayer). Might as well buy it digitally to begin with and skip the hassle.
A large percentage of new release PC games these days are Steamworks so you’ll need to install Steam whether you buy it digitally or on DVDs in a retail box. All the retail box does is give you the unpatched files so you download less stuff and the Steam activation key. Buy a PC copy of Skyrim and you’ll need to install and use Steam whether it’s from a retail box or a game key bought on Green Man Gaming.
And, really, if it’s not Steam it’s something else. Buy a new Assassin’s Creed game in the retail box and you’ll still have to install and use Uplay. Buy a retail box of Battlefield and you’ll be installing Electronic Arts’ Origin service. It’s just the way of the world these days unless you want to stay exclusively with indie games and a few select DRM-free titles.
As a rule, you have to install software on your PC to play games at all, so you may want to get used to that idea.
Unlikely at best.
Though again, your best bet is to NOT preorder. What good is paying more to get the game “on release” if it takes two weeks for the patch that makes it playable? (This happens! WAY more than it should, though it depends on your definition of ‘playable’.)
PC is largely a digital market place when it comes to … well most things,but definitely games.
Buying digital is usually the most convenient and fastest way to get the game in your uhm… “hands” and play it.
Steam is great. It auto patches your games for you (or doesn’t if you don’t want it to) and if you want you can put a shortcut to the game on your desktop/start menu and launch the game directly without ever seeing Steam.
I return you get great sales (there’s on going on right now!) and the convenience of having your games auto-patch, as well as support for stuff like voice chat, the workshop for games that support it which makes it a cinch to install mods, and achievements in games, if you care about that.