COLLECTOR’S Editions have always been a contentious issue for gamers.
When a big game launches there is almost always an overpriced collector’s edition that comes alongside it.
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These will often contain things like a Steelbook, art book, and soundtrack for the game, but other extras seem excessive.
They go from the nice but useless such as pins, stickers, and game cases, to the outright baffling.
Whether that’s Resident Evil 6’s $1.3k full leather replica of Leon’s jacket, or Dark Souls 3’s figurines for £449, gamers have been paying a high price for that for a long time.
But there are growing trends with collector’s editions that show a disappointing pattern for consumers.
The first is the release of multiple collector’s editions, which confuses players, and pushes them to spend more.
Take the recent announcement of the Armored Core 6 collector’s editions which come in at £400, £200, and £60.
The only thing that the £400 edition has over the £200 one is a case to house your figurine, which makes the £200 one seem better value.
But it is still an extraordinary amount of money for some extra stickers and a figure that comes with your game.
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The next is games offering early access to players who pay extra for the standard edition.
Hogwarts Legacy gave you access three days early for £10, then Diablo 4 let you get in five days early but this time wanted £20.
Diablo 4 was specifically evil because it started a competition at the time of early access asking players to race to level 100.
The worst of all is the collector’s editions that don’t even include the game.
Mass Effect Andromeda’s collector’s edition might have come with a RC car but it did not come with Mass Effect Andromeda.
Starfield is doing the same with a premium edition upgrade that doesn’t even feature the game, just the extras.
It’s got to the point now where editions are being sold with “contains the game” as a selling point.
This is because it is no longer seen as expected, and instead feels like a bonus.
If it makes money, companies will keep doing this, but it seems that collector’s editions are getting less consumer friendly by the day.
Written by Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.
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