I am not here to jump on the No Man’s Sky hate bandwagon. That wagon is already filled to the brim. No I am here to tell all the bandwagoners that this is all their fault. People love to get excited about things, and when they get excited about things they want to do something. In the case of videogames the only thing that they can do while they wait is pre-order, but once again this has burned them.
People let the hype work them in to a tizzy, and they were ready for No Man’s Sky to be the best game of all time. You would be able to fly to the infinite number of planets and make them your own. Each planet would be wondrous and filled with adventure! The space simulation would be pitch perfect. This would be the ultimate game! As it turns out No Man’s Sky is Terraria (in the Minecraft family), but in space. Which is not a bad thing, but it is not the be all and end all to gaming.
Understandably people who thought that they would never have to buy another game ever again are upset they spent $60 on something that was different than what they expected, but had they waited less than a week until after No Man’s Sky came out they would have understood what the game was, and then made an informed decision. Honestly once that week was over a lot of them probably would have got the game anyway because people who have accepted the game for what it is seem to like it. It is relaxing and it is fun to wander around and see what is next. Sure the space combat is kind of wonky, but there is still the thrill of landing on or jumping to new worlds.
All of this to say that the current system of pre-ordering needs to stop, and in this age of digital downloads there isn’t even a need for it. For most games the reviews are out the day before launch which is still enough time to read the reviews, and then buy the game and have it download to your console or PC in time for go-live. In situations like No Man’s Sky where we had had to wait a while, the reviews were still up pretty quick, and since it is not multiplayer no one was missing out on anything. Do yourself a favor and save your money until you know what you are buying. You will be happier. I know I am.