Ad watchdog looking at No Man's Sky (Gaming)

by CruelLEGACEY , Toronto, Wednesday, September 28, 2016, 13:55 (3076 days ago) @ Cody Miller

I don't know why marketing begins so early. Do you really sell more games if you advertise 18 months out vs 4? Marketing tie ins might have to be arranged sooner, but those can be done without announcing or explaining your game to the public.

It's about securing the sale as early as possible. Game preorders have been around long enough now that publishers can get a sense of what their total sales are going to be based on the number of preorders. So it helps publishers and developers with financial forecasting and stuff like that. Plus, there's the fact that if a customer decides that they want to buy a game, they are less likely to cancel a preorder than they are to just change their mind about picking it up on launch day. There's a "the money has already been spent, so I may as well get it" mentality that comes into play here. It's the same reason that I get a deposit from any customer that wants me to special order something for them. When I take a deposit, the customer will come in and pick up their order when it arrives almost every single time, with the rare cancellation. But if I order something for a customer and I don't take a deposit, the odds are closer to 70/30 in favor of them not coming in to pick it up.