How often do you purchase a game?

I would like to know, how often do you purchase a game and how long does it take? For me I usually wait a week for a review of a game till I purchase it. How about you?

Oh you mean how long before or after it releases? Months if not years usually. Few games are really worth preordering due to patches, sales and most especially DLC. I usually just wait for the gold or complete edition and, since I have a large backlog and little money to spend on games, a nice sale for like $5 or $10.

Only new game I am going to pre-order will be The Witcher 3 since there is no indication that CD Projekt RED will screw it up, but they are a rare and nearly lone exception. It just isn't worth it most of the rest of the time and few companies are really consistent with the quality of their releases.

How often, I've really cut back lately cus I have almost all the popular steam games and gog titles I want like to give you an idea there was a steam flash sale during the summer sale right now and I had all four titles, I think it was darksiders 2, hitman absolution and two others, don't remember. I probably buy 1 a month and then 2 or 3 during the big sales, but in the past I've bought like 10+ during one sale period. I also used to buy nearly every humble bundle but they have been as good lately.

As far as when, it's just all about money. I generally wait for a price drop to $30 and then a 75% off for 7.50 for triple A titles like batman series or ufo eu which I just picked up. For smaller games I'll wait til they're under $5 like a faster than light or bastion for example. They just get discounted so quickly and I have a huge backlog I don't see the point in spending more.

I added it up once a while back and I think from 2012 through 2013 I spend like $400 and got like 300 games between humble bundles, sales etc. Before that I hardly bought any cus all I played was world of warcraft and civ. I do know the most expensive steam game I ever bought was skyrim in 2012 summer sale for $30. It's by far the most expensive steam game I've bought cus second is the spore pack at $15 and I think warhammer 2k pack for same. Last game I paid full price for was cataclysm for wow and civ 5 wayyy back. I pre-ordered it. Will never pre-order again. Sorry civ6 whenever you come out.

After release? Usually years. I don't care about playing the latest and greatest, just about how good of a game there is, and by this point, there are an awful lot of good old games. And, I don't like spending tons of money on games, since I'm somewhat cheap, so I tend to wait till there's a good sale, which is rarely close to release.

I can think of four games that I have personally bought (paid for myself, not received as a gift) within a month of release:

- Civilization IV, in 2005. Bought a week after release for $40 (20% off), hard copy.
- Age of Empires III, in 2005. Bought a week after release, also for $40, 20% off, hard copy.
- Chivalry: Medieval Warfare, in 2012. Bought about a month after release, $10, 60% off, digital copy.
- Europa Universalis IV, preordered, 2013, $34, 15% off, digital copy.

For all except Chivalry, I'd already played the predecessor heavily, and it's only Civ4 that I wish I'd waited on. Chivalry was already pretty inexpensive when I bought it as part of a four-pack with friends. But as you can see, it's pretty infrequent that I buy a game near release.

For how often I buy a game, it depends on if you count buying multiple games at once buying once, or buying, say, five different games. It also varies a lot by how good sales are. Sometimes twice a week, sometimes once every two months. But I tend to wait for sales, since for all but the rare game I'm really looking forward to, I tend not to play them as soon as I buy them (another reason I tend not to buy soon after release - why pay full price if you're unlikely to play it right away anyway?). So I bought Gunpoint for $2.50 last week, but haven't played it yet (other than the demo a month or two ago, which convinced me to buy it) since 95% of my game time since then has been continuing EU4 games (and the other 5% has been my in-progress Half-Life: Blue Shift campaign).

I buy WoW expansions right away. If I were really into any other multiplayer type games, I could see getting them right away as well.

For everything else, waiting = cheaper & better.

I think there are basically only 3 games which I bought for full price:
- Civ3
- Civ4 (okay, was already cheaper, but got directly WL with it, which makes it 60€)
- Arcanum
and I have no idea how long that was each after release.

Normally I don't (or didn't) care.
I need something to play, and it doesn't have to be the latest thing. My machine couldn't handle it either . But even if...naaahh...enough good stuff out there to play.
Get a bunch of really good games for 50€, can play with that for months.

Only thing which could motivate me: Being into a community, where people are waiting for a certain game, and you don't want to lose track. E.g. understandable, that many people on the forums will buy CivBE, because they're already here and discussing it. No point in doing that if you're not buying it.

Usually i buy the big titles on release. Sometimes even pre-order it. Mainly Ubisoft games, because i've had good experiences with them and I enjoy their games. However, with AC Unity dropping the MP, and seeing Black Flag for -50% in the winter sale, i'll change that and wait.

Smaller titles, or DLC from big titles go on the wishlist untill they go on sale, like now.

Generally now I wait for sales. Games just aren't worth full price any more having been gutted for DLC and needed a plethora of patches just to get working properly. Steam sales are when I buy most things.

The only game I think of that I want to buy on release in the coming future is Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.

1 or 2 games a year and I like to purchase as soon as it's out. So I pick up Call of Duty at midnight. Waiting for minecraft to come to xbox one that will be my next buy.

The only games that I tend to buy at release are those from Nintendo, mostly as they almost never go down in price. Other than that, I tend to buy games only when they've reduced in price, gone in a sale or are packaged in a compilation or gold version. I used to buy games on sale all the time, now it's about once every two weeks.

Recently, the only games I have bought close to release and for full price are some strategic and operational wargames, and Victoria II although that was a disaster.

I generally buy new games once per 6 months at my current rate, possibly a bit less. Don't know how you would count stuff like Crusader Kings DLC-expansions.

Why was Victoria II a disaster?

I remember the launch being really buggy and rebels being either unbearable or nonexistent, which swung wildly from patch to patch. Also, the economy crashed hard by the 1880s.

I love the game now, though, just wish I didn't have so much frustration with it at the beginning.

Ah yes, I remember Victoria II had some very rocky periods.

That reminds me, I bought Hearts of Iron III long ago but never really got round to playing it. I understand it's quite complex.

Diablo 3 last game I will ever preorder
Castlestory last game I will ever kickstart

Buy games once they go on sale several months down the line, no rush as I already have a huge backlog of games plus insane amount of F2P games on the PC.
Never preorder, no matter how reputable the development studio is, looking at Blizzard, D3 huge waste of time and money. Lesson learnt

I don't think I've ever pre-ordered, but I've bought a few early access at steam: Kerbal - good. Plague Inc - wait. Sunless Sea - looks promising but I haven't tested.

Some games I buy at full price, but most on sale. It depends what it is. Some deserve the full price, such as Witcher 3, but I won't pre-order it anyway.
I got Diablo 3 at full price too and thought it was good, not excellent but I don't feel cheated on it. Played it twice in coop, roughly the same as Diablo 2. Might get expansion, but on sale.


For how often.. I've got 68 games on my steam account, a few others outside. Joined Steam in 2010.. so 15 games/year?

New games? Maybe 2-3 a year. Things on sale? Probably a couple a month.

I usually buy games on sale at least a year after they come out, with occasional exceptions such as.. hmm.. the last one I spent over $15 on must have been Anno 2070, I think I spent over $50 on that a couple years ago. Two of my friends were into it and wanted to play multiplayer, WHICH NEVER EVEN ENDED UP HAPPENING. Screw those guys. edit: Oh wait, I bought Football Manager 2012 for $40 a while ago too. Not right after it came out I don't think though. Maybe a couple months after that?

These days I tend to stick to the summer and winter sales on steam, during which I might buy 1-5 games on an average day. Historically I tend to target really good deals for older games, but ever since I got my new gaming PC I've been picking up somewhat newer titles.. During the summer sale I picked up a lot of nice looking games for $5 - like Tomb Raider and Max Payne 3. I think the most expensive thing I bought was $7 and I have a crapload of new games to play.

Every once in a while there will be something good in a bundle, so I'll buy that, because my roommate keeps an eye on those .. and those I'll pay anywhere from $1 to $8 for one of those bundles, although usually they are $2-$4ish

I don't really buy the whole "need to have the latest games" thing. I have tons of games in my catalog that I haven't even played! I don't even want to buy new games in the next sale.. but I know that I will, because I'm a sucker for good deals. Why would I pay full price for a game?

If Sim Ant was ever remade and got good reviews, I would pay $60 for that the day it was out! Sim Earth? Sign me up! The new Civ space game that's coming out soon? If the reviews are good I might splurge on it right after it comes out. Anything else? You're going to have a very hard job convincing me to buy a game that just came out. It's going to have to be exceptionally good and be exceptionally well compatible with my interests. This sort of thing happens on average I would say every 1-3 years. It's essentially a question of how much I really want to play that game and not at all a question of how cool I think I would look to my friends if I own it. My friends don't enter into this at all, I am basing my game buying strategy around my needs and my needs only. And since I have 300+ games and I haven't played probably more than 200 of them, I'm kind of feeling like a king, if you know what I mean. I wanted games, I have games. A lot of them. I'm not really a materialist, I don't need them all. This is all about convenience and entertainment value for me and nothing else.

I used to get 1-2 games, every other quarter, when my bonus/incentive gets due. However, since I have a wooden PC, i have stopped buying them after CIV5-CK2-Eu4, all became bad investments.