I can relate to this, and feel the same way about hardware, like an iPad or PS4. That's why I almost exclusively buy from vendors that take returns regardless of the reason; like Amazon, Steam and Apple. Now the full product is the demo and I can't remember the last time I spent money on a product I didn't want to spend money on.

Pre-ordering was a way before digital distribution to ensure that you got the game on day 1.

I grew up in a tiny little town in Texas where the nearest, non-Walmart video game store was 45 minutes away - this is back in the tail end of the NES, the middle of the SNES, and the dawn of the PlayStation era.

The store I went to would often only get between five and ten copies (beyond what was pre-ordered) of a video game on launch day, with a typical waiting period of two to three weeks to get more copies.

I vividly remembering pre-ordering video games that sounded interesting, some for as few as $5 that could be transferred to another video game pre-order if I changed my mind. Back then (and still today for physical games in some stores), you could pay the balance when you pick up the game.

Today, aside from bullshit pre-order bonuses that the video games companies make exclusive to each retailer, there is very little reason to pre-order - Steam/Origin/GOG/Epic Game Store will not run out of copies - they can copy the bits an infinite number of times. In fact, in the case of some flops (looking at you, Fallout 76, with your nearly 50% price cut within a month of release), it makes no sense to pre-order.

The real mind-melter for me is Kickstarting games. Crowd funding is nice and helps projects that would otherwise not be funded, but why would you want to pay for a game that isn't even completely conceptualized yet?

> In all honesty I don't know how anyone can make 60$ purchases on games without seeing what it looks like.

It depends on the game, I'd say. While I'd like often playable demos, I try to document myself on what's available (videos - not trailers - and previews) and if it is interesting to me (but again, I don't really get most of the AAA games, although some of the ones I own may be classified as such).

Also, at least releases in Japan and in Asia have actual perks with preordering (and by actual perks I don't mean useless digital items), although that comes as an additional cost.

Some studios also are able to continue to make great (if not greatest) titles. I however think AAA games are generally too broad in scope and have a much greater probability to fail to keep their reputation and/or to live up to the expectation.