Do you buy games as soon as possible or wait until you've heard reviews?

Reviews vary from outlett and places like here mean very little when journalist are giving Pokémon: Sword/ Shield, and Fall Out 4 9/10. And gave one of From Software best games dubbed by fans Metal Wolf Chaos a 4/10; because he didn't like its depiction on America.

Overall a purchase varies on the game/ developer and if I'm confident in the project. I believe to support my favorite gaming developers because they rarely let me down, and early sales do matter more than the average gamer realises.

Combination of professional reviews and customer feedback.

I don't necessarily wait for review, but I sure as hell don't pre-order things.

I do usually watch a few videos before buying.

Depends on the game. If I am well versed with the franchise and I really like what I’ve seen in previews and want not then I’ll typically have no problem getting the game regardless. I buy physical copies of my games so reviews generally come out before I can buy the game on the day it releases so it’s kind of a moot point.

Depends on game. I usually wait for sale for most title. The only titles that I usually pre order or buy soon as possible is Final Fantasy and Persona. I'm a sucker for Persona games and for FF its probably just nostalgia.

And I do love the "only on PlayStation" tag on FF collectors edition first print like on FFX and FF dissidia (even though square will eventually release the games on other platform).

Several recent releases have proven that it pays to wait for reviews and then maybe not buy at all!

Depends on developer. Some have built up a reputation for quality that have people feeling comfortable preordering or day one purchases. Others its best to wait for reviews from a trusted source.

For instance, Naughty Dog can normally get my money if not prior to release, on a day one purchase

None. I do read reviews but take them with pinch of salt. Reviews could, for all we know, come from someone who played only two crappy games in his life, so he would rate any game 10/10.

I need to read reviews both negative and positive, see screenshots and game descrption, as well as see gameplay (not trailer) videos. Only then I can buy a game

There are certain games I will buy right away, regardless of reviews. They are usually part of franchises I'm fond of (like TES) or simply downright interesting (like Cyberpunk) and I know I will enjoy them.

But in most cases, I simply wait for a sale, reviews and general consensus.

Depends on the developers rep.

depends on many factors, but mainly on what game it is. If it is a new Disgaea, I preorder the CE as soon as I can. If it's somnething I only slightly care about, I might get it in a sale (and never play) or actually play when I have an urge to do so. My backlog is 1000+ games big, so I rarely feel that urge xD

I rarely even buy a game at full price and I refuse to buy a game with heavy micro-transactions, so I tend to wait at least a few months, if not a year or two, before I buy a game.

When I'm interested in a game I always make sure to read multiple reviews but they're not the say all and be all. I just like to be informed. Must buys are must buys, though. If I want it I'm buying it. I just feel like the more information I have the better.

Depends, games I wanna play no matter what I just pre-order.

I have been ignoring corporate site reviews for years now. I have a handful of youtubers whose tastes in gaming are reasonably aligned with mine, and I go by their opinion most of the time. Even so I generally wait for the games to be all patched up before buying, which usually coincides with a significant price drop.

I only buy online games that I know me & my friends will be playing right away. I wait for the price drop on any single player games I want.

There's only a few franchises that I'll buy at release. Most games I want to play will usually be months after release, usually on a sale. Not for any particular reason other than having plenty of games I already enjoy playing and not so much time to play them all these days.

Depends on the game.

Until the price drops by at least 50%.

@speeny:

I always buy games that I've been waiting on for a long time right away. I only listen to reviews when it's a game I'm not sure of. And even then, I look at both good and bad reviews. So I can see the good and bad points.

I'm sure that people will buy Final Fantasy VII Remake once it hit the shelves, long before any critics can write reviews about it.

Persona 5 Royal in other hand will gather dust on the shelves for very long time despite its stellar reviews from the critics. Only very few people who may sick of countless of action RPGs and FPSes curious enough to check it out.

Always read reviews and wait for a sale.

Like said above, it depends on the game & the developer. If it's a dev I trust, and like the look of what I've seen so far, I'll buy it day one without looking at reviews. Astral Chain is the perfect example.

Persona 5 has sold over 3 million copies, none of which factored towards current Royal sales, and that is nothing to sniff at.

For context seeing as you like to discourage Action RPGs, the first Dark Souls last recorded sales was 2.3 million copies. And that is sales from three modern platforms, and Persona 5 is on two, one being a ten year old platform on its release (PlayStation 3)

Three million sales for most is a great success. Heck most developers are very happy hitting 1.5mil!

Depends on the game, but there aren't many I buy right away

nioh 2 resident evil 3 final fantasy 7 remake doom eternal ori and wisp of the wild I don't any review of site and magazine for that games probably don't give them 10 0r 9 but I don't care all its must for me that's matter

This, with watching some gameplay videos.

there's a few that i've bought in early access if the price is low enough and there are enough player reviews stating good playability.

but for larger, more expensive AAA releases i will always wait and check user/player forums until i am positive that it is not riddled with problems due to bad quality control and/or design. usually after a few good updates or even until a game+DLC package version is released later.

More like wait over a year or more for significant price drops, complete editions with all the dlc included, bug fixes, good mods...

@RSM-HQ:

While Dark Souls sold less than Persona 5 in term of numbers of sales but I believed DS have much bigger influence on the industry than any Persona games. We already got many Souls-like games in last 5 years and of course Souls-like is already a legitimate game genre but I haven't seen any JRPGs that try to mimic Persona games although Trails of Cold Steel come close and Blue Reflection too if its qualifies. The statistics never said it was physical only or combination of physical and digital sales. I also believe more than half of Persona 5 sales are from digital ones with major discounts and bought by people who already tired playing countless of FPSes and action RPGs or waiting for new ones to hit the shelves. The statistics never said about profits or revenues but as Persona 5 development cost were less than 10% of that Final Fantasy XV, it safe to say that Atlus and Sega made tons of bucks. Persona 5 Royal sold about 245, 000 copies in Japan alone until the end on December 2019, which is quite impressive but given the English version will be released 10 days before the much more anticipated Final Fantasy VII Remake which has been delayed from early March to early April of this year. Most JRPG fans probably hold their money to buy FFVIIR instead of Persona 5 Royal. I believe P5R still can sold well in the west despite some tough competition but not as high as its vanilla version as some people may not interested to buy the exact same game again with only few additions.

Talking about JRPGs, I think we might see the death of turn-based JRPGs at least on consoles in this decade. Yes, they still thrive on PCs and smartphones but their days on consoles are numbered as newer breeds of gamers found the turn-based system are too slow, too tedious, too much waiting, too much reading, etc. Some popular JRPG franchise like Final Fantasy and Sakura Wars already abandoned the turn-based system for real-time hack-and-slash one to cater new generation of gamers. Other franchises like aforementioned Persona, Dragon Quest, Legend of Heroes, Atelier may still alive but for how long? Persona and Dragon Quest already had action-based spin-offs. The Legend of Heroes may thrive on remasters and Atelier series had rather small but loyal fanbase but it too won't last long. There's a rumor that Koei-Tecmo might remaster its older PS2 titles to PC and modern consoles but there's no proof for now.

Honestly I don't like to write such huge walls of text but I believe it's unfair to compare Persona with something more iconic and influential like Dark Souls and Final Fantasy.

Correct me if I'm wrong because only know this from word of mouth but isn't the latest Fire Emblem got some Persona'ish features in the game (Fire Emblem Three Houses)

But on that note Dark Souls brought a lot of interesting features never really done before. I mean Minecraft is very popular and clearly took cues from a game that came prior called Little Big Planet.

I also believe more than half of Persona 5 sales are from digital ones with major discounts and bought by people who already tired playing countless of FPSes and action RPGs or waiting for new ones to hit the shelves. The statistics never said about profits or revenues but as Persona 5 development cost were less than 10% of that Final Fantasy XV

On a counter point Square Enix burns a lot of funds in development and marketing in comparison. I would imagine on making back development costs, it is more in favor of Persona 5 than Final Fantasy XV. Now if we go with the MMO Final Fantasy games, and all the spin-offs Final Fantasy is clearly making way more profit than Atlus/SEGA.

I honestly see Persona only becoming a bigger name as well which will increase sales on main entries and make the spin-offs likely sell better also. Final Fantasy seems to be relying a lot on this remake just to keep the demographic shrugging them off the mainline entries. Otherwise I think Final Fantasy is going to be a very MMO-centric series moving forward. Because the mainline ones cost an arm and a leg to develop and market and don't seem to make much back afterwards.

Talking about JRPGs, I think we might see the death of turn-based RPGs at least on consoles in this decade.

Possibly, but I always take 'death' with a grain when mentioned. And always likely a resurgence, as all genres go through. Take one of my favorite genres for example 'Survival Horror' that was dead during the 360/PS3. Which is shocking considering how popular it was during the 128-bit 32-bit generations. And now has made a healthy comeback with PschoBreak/ Bio; then DayMare and Nemesis are right around the corner with large volume pre-orders for both.

Also worth noting I don't see my SRPG series dying out (Makai Senki Disgaea). They already showcased the next five years of projects at the Tokyo Nippon Ichi event. And two Disgaea games are on that list. They sell well enough be be really good for Nippon Ichi, with every release.

If anything I think you are worrying too soon. Final Fantasy is sure drifting away from TB combat, but someone may take that place with gusto.

I pick option number 3: 6 months after release when the game is 50% off on a steam sale.

Games seem to drop in price so quickly these days that buying anything at launch seems like a waste of money.

If it's a game I've been looking forward to for months like red dead 2 or gears 5 then I just go out and buy. I don't listen to reviews to make a choice though.

Reviews unless it's a game like Resident Evil or Doom that I know will be great.

Depend upon the game if the game is interesting why should I wait for reviews. especially if its a kids games they are fun!

Depend upon the game if it is interesting I won't wait for reviews especially if its a kid games.

I certainly don't rush out and pre-order games, and if a game comes out with any kind of pass or "deluxe edition" I will avoid buying that game entirely, no matter how much I was looking forward to it because I do not want to monetize the practice of developers releasing incomplete games at $60 just so they can charge you another $30 for the rest of it later. As far as reviews go, they have some bearing, but not a lot. I like to see actual game play and judge for myself if it's something I'd be interested in.

There should be a third option: "Wait for the price of the game to drop a bit because that will always happen eventually, and I'm not a fan of getting ripped off"

I usually buy my games once they have been out for a while and the prices have dropped, so I’ve usually heard about the game whether reviews or other people’s opinions, although I don’t let a bad review always stop me from trying something I think I’ll enjoy.

I don’t buy games blindly. I have to be a fan of the series, otherwise a respectable review would always help.

I wait until there are enough reviews to generate a score on metacritic and compare reviewer to user and read some of the clifnotes of them to get a decent idea.
Usually if a game is hovering around 6 or less then it's safe to avoid or conversely if it is strongly 8.5 or higher, it's probably a safe bet to be good.

After my last burn, i'm never preordering again. Except for MAYBE a fighting game, or one that has already been throroughly reviewd (but alas, then its reviewed) on day 1.

BAsically - no more preorders or day 1's.