Attitudes toward gaming as a whole have been changing over the past few years, as more accessible platforms attract players who may not have otherwise been interested in gaming before. Whilst the primary form of gaming is now primarily on mobile devices, there are complaints that microtransactions and in-game paid services are a growing part of the problem, this becomes increasingly true as the most popular forms of gaming include online gambling through a growing number of different services. It is a trend we are continuing to see around the world, as operators continue to do the same, for example, with bet365 Australia. One of the largest in the gaming world and one which has had some stunning success. Dedicated gaming platforms have also been experiencing the same issues with the intrusiveness of microtransactions, but have been dealing with something much more frustrating – the pre-release culture.

Whilst pre-releases were once a way to gain unique benefits for being early to order, they would often not have any impact on the final product of the released version, but recent years have seen a change as many pre-release games are often launched in an unfinished or unpolished state. One of the most recent examples would be the huge launch of Cyberpunk 2077 after having been hyped for nearly a decade, with huge promised features such as revolutionary AI and new hardware that enables graphic fidelity and performance to be better than ever before, the game for many largely fell short. Filled with bugs, glitches, and not at all optimized for even the best systems available, and even other titles such as Star Citizen which has raised over $300 million through crowdfunded sources but still in an alpha state.

It has become such a problem that most games set for pre-release purchase for early access, odds are that they will largely be a huge mess upon release, but with the huge failures found in Cyberpunk and the response for both immediate refunds to be offered on the PlayStation Network and Xbox too, it begs the question of how much longer the practice will be widely tolerated for – whilst it’s almost certain that there won’t be any end to the current pre-release and pre-ordering approach, a few more poor releases could push fans to be more willing to boycott the practice – given many previous incentives for doing so have been removed too, the only selling point is that early access can be given, with perhaps a few cosmetics that would otherwise be placed behind a paywall. Unlike microtransactions and other gaming features that have started to be regulated, this isn’t something that can be fixed without a boycott from fans but requires a united front, but the hype machine continuing to churn will keep the process going."