Should you? Famous StarCraft II caster and YouTuber TotalBiscuit deals with this subject here: Youtu.be I _highly_ recommend people to watch the video, this guy knows what he is talking about.
Whats my own opinion? (Note, I did not watch the video yet, typing this as it buffers)
I would like to say that preordering is a downright silly idea. Why would you pay for something you have no clue what so ever what it is? Seriously guys, a few trailers does not show what the game is like. Is that extra pre-order skin/gun/etc worth throwing 50-60€ at a product you have NO idea what quality it will be like? It's insanity.
What do you think?
No, I think if you pre-order somenthing you have to be sure you won´t waste your money so giving 50-60 € in a pre-order is like meh... On the other hand, I´m looking forward to buying a game called StarForge it´s about sandbox First´n´ third person shooter focusing on surviving and crafting infinite amount of weapons, it is about less than 20€ now and I think it´s fine.
What do you think? it´s always fair to get a preorder?
No, there is no point in preordering. Order it after release, after you checked the internet so the game isnt broken/full of bugs/has some nasty DRM/etc.
TotalBiscuit is a good man :)... He makes a good point, however if you look at it from the other side, it is a GREAT marketing (manipulative) tool and many can't resist the hype.
Indeed. It is a very ugly way of marketing your game. It's like the company fears their game is too bad that it wont sell without the hype...? Hmm.
You guys working on Tiberian Genesis should really follow some of TBs advice. I would hate it if you fell into the MMOFPS-hole!