8 Ways The Video Game Industry Punishes Its Most Loyal Consumers

2. Games Are ALWAYS Better After Launch

Like the consoles they're accessed on, a game will only ever get better once its out in the wild.

There's no substitute for an entire planet's worth of feedback, and though many games tend to ship with bugs and glitches from day one, the amount of fixes that get rolled out addressing specific issues go hand-in-hand with burgeoning communities pointing them out.

Even something like The Witcher is a demonstrably different and more technically proficient game now than at launch; the result of various frame rate and animation improvements, alongside a complete menu overhaul. Other titles like Rainbow Six Siege and For Honor receive copious amounts of additional content, refinements and balances to their mechanics, putting in stark relief the question of just why you would buy on day one.

How much do you value being in on the launch day conversation? Because that unquantifiable amount is a huge part of what the industry trades off, letting them get away with the majority of points in this article.