5 Reasons Why you should NEVER buy on Launch Date

[Words_and_Wisdom]

Technology is an amazing thing. However, despite countless testing, errors and issues can still occur. The Nintendo Switch is a prime example of what can go wrong, with reported issues of dead pixels and with the joy-cons. However, you can be a smarter consumer by listening to these 5 reasons why you should never, never buy anything on launch date, as well as notable examples.

1. Massive production can lead to massive errors in the beginning.

Launch days have a tendency of having a myriad of issues. This certainly has happened with the Xbox 360 infamous "red ring of death." Or how about how the PS4 had many issues with freezes and crashes? Another recent example is For Honor with its lack of dedicated servers causing people to crash out of a game, or worse, cause game-breaking glitches that warps peoples characters about. Naturally a game or a game console will have bugs or glitches throughout the lifespan, but without a massive group of people to test features and limits, those problems could be numerous and hindering.

2. Without any reviews, you won't know what you're getting.

No Man's Sky is a text-book example of false advertising. With their hype (and blatant lies) the development and marketing team have brought to the public, it lead to leagues of disappointed fans, following a curtail of demanded refunds. You won't know what you're going to get on launch date, no matter how much press a product may have gotten. With the first point, a game may have many issues and bugs at launch. Go on YouTube and watch some reviews before deciding to purchase a game or a console.

3. Early Access Promotes Faulty and Unfinished Products

Early access products promote bad and lazy design decisions. It's like letting chefs get away with serving raw steaks to its customers. Buying into Early Access hype lets future developers know that you're into unfinished games. It's a bad practice, and you should avoid it whenever possible. Sure, not all Early Access games are bad, some could be quite good in fact. But a lot of the time they go unfinished and underdeveloped. Often, games get stuck in Early Access hell and never get an 'official' release.

4. Study the trend and the development process before making a buying decision.

You should see first what updates will be coming and what the developers are planning for the future of a console or a game. A good case would be Warhammer Online. It may have had its performance issues, but it was still fun. If the development team put more resources into developing it, it could've been a big hit! Unfortunately, there was a severe lack of content and performance optimizations to the point where all the servers shut down.
For a console, you may not even know what other games will be coming out in the near future other than the ones presented for launch. The PS Vita certainly didn't provide for anything noticeable to make it a market effective portable device. For games, if you don't know what the developers plans are for future content, who knows how much of a lifespan the game will be.
(Heck, there's speculation that the Nintendo Switch will be a console for Virtual Reality later down the line.)

5. You may not even be able to get a refund if something goes wrong.

Fortunately, many of those who were scammed into buying No Man's Sky have gotten refunds on Steam. But that may not always be the case. You could be stuck with a faulty product until patched, or worse, left to dry.

[genericname85]

i have a confession to make. i never buy pre release shit. i ususally just pirate it and buy it later (if it will ever come out, which is not a given, since games stay in "beter" indefinitely nowadays) and out of all the shitty games to do that with, i bought no mans sky :( such a let down.

[Izumiblu]

When buying hardware, if you are not an early adopter wait at least 6 months before buying, preferably a year and then research your mfr build dates or lot codes and get the latest one on the market...

[think_logic85]

I never buy a console on their launch, neither the games when they freshly come out. Because they are normally twice the price than they are actually worth.

People who normally buy the console games at launch are the following people :

- They know that soon the console is gonna be sold out and the market has to re-order them by the supplier, thats where they sell the console for a higher price. It's a business thing to them.

- People who are fans of consoles and want to have it on Day-One, they consider it being supportive towards their favourite company.

- They want to be the first ones to get their hands on something shiny and take great pride in telling / showing that they were able to get it on day one.

[AleDeEurope]

When it comes to hardware, yes, I would never buy something like a console or a phone on launch date, because like you said, they tend to come with a lot of problems.
But when it comes to software, like games, then I do tend to buy on launch date the games I'm hyped for, like I did for The Witcher 3 or Battlefield 1. I knew the games were gonna be great, and also games tend to get reviewed a few days before the game is launched. So far, I've never been disappointed with a game I bought on launch date.

[Words_and_Wisdom]

There is less risk to software. Unless its an entire operating system, which is something I should've mentioned.

[AleDeEurope]

Yeah. Plus, with games for example, there's patches, so even if the game has some bugs at first, they can be fixed with a patch, you won't have to take it to a store and have it fixed, or changed for a new one.

[JudgmentDay]

I always wait for revised editions of the same console, typically "slim" editions or "pro" editions before I decide. That and any bundled special offers or promotional offers. No need to rush and buy anything at launch anymore, since it's constantly going to be revised, updated, and re-released anyway, even games are constantly patched and updated these days.

[art84]

Don't forget the launch titles might be only one game that is worth getting at the moment. I have never bought a console on launch day as it's better to wait a few years for more games to come out and problems be fixed with the console like with the Xbox 360 for example.

[Unit1]

Well said.
Early access and greenlight are the pest of the gaming industry! Selling unfinished games and leave it at that.

[Zorax]

Great Take, I completely agree, but most people are quite impatient.

[ThatBritishLad]

I think the last thing I bought on release date was the PS2 port of Star Wars The Forced Unleash, which itself was a port of the Wii port. It's fun being cheap. I'm still waiting for a GOTY edition of Dark Souls 3 so I can pick that up.

[jacquesvol]

I prefer to buy objects that have been sold to millions already. And even then... I recently bought a Windows10 computer for my wife. The worst OS I ever touched.

[Benk111]

I agree I got the nintendo 3ds when it first came out and it never was able to connect to the internet or do updates. r

[lifes_curve_ball]

Ah but the reason to buy it early is to resell it while demand is up then wait till you see reviews to decide to buy for yourself or not lol

[behappybabe]

There aren't that many good games for Nintendo anymore anyway

[Anonymous]

I never buy launch systems because there's always a limited number of games, few of which are good, and the price tag goes down pretty quick.
Even the N64 wouldn't have been good on launch day with only 2 launch games.

[FaithfulGuardian]

Lol, I never do buy technology day one because I know there would be glitches or they will release updated versions. I am a human being, not a sheep. Also, the Switch is for sissies :)

[nameus3r]

Smart Take, and just note the differential for male-female attention it got

[pavlove]

and, also, the switch sucks

[litty]

Unless that game is Zeldaaaaaaaaaaaa!