9 Crippling Problems With The Gaming Industry’s Future

2. Digital Pre-Order Bonuses

Speak to any major gaming nut and he/she'll tell you that there's nothing better for a gamer than a good collector's edition. The idea of paying that little bit more to get some cool memorabilia, maybe a statue of one of the game characters, an art book or even a world map to hang on your wall - in a lot of cases it's an attractive proposition and can be really worth the money. Some collector's editions of well loved games will only go up in value as time goes on too - especially if their contents are well looked after and in pristine condition. However, these big box editions are becoming rarer in favour of digital pre-order bonuses which allow retailers to offer different packages and publishers to offer incentives to buy a version of the game with very little extra expenditure. These bonuses can take a myriad of forms, from extra maps to early access to unlockable weapons and different character skins, but all of them suffer from one critical flaw; there is nothing tangible to them. There is nothing collectable about having a map pack, and early access to advanced weapons doesn't necessarily make a player a stone cold badass, all it does is give you a perceived sense of exclusivity. When there are multiple different versions of a game available it can make the pill even more bitter to swallow. Take GTA V; when it was released there were three versions, the standard game, a special edition and a collector's edition. The collector's edition contained all sorts of goodies including a hat, branded bag and all kinds of other gear which is perfectly fine for such a thing. The special edition however, contained a map (which came with the special edition), a steelbook case and then in-game bonuses such as the ability to fly a blimp, character-customisation options and character perks - nothing of any tangible trade-able value to justify the increased cost versus the standard edition of the game. Years down the line the collector's edition of Dark Souls 2 (the one with the statue) will be valuable to collectors, the special "Black Armour" edition that was housed in a steelbook will be worth no more than the standard edition of the game, despite it costing more at the point of purchase.