We may not like 'em, grassroots campaigns try to convince people not to buy 'em, but pre-orders are going nowhere but up. In a recently released report on gaming trends in the US, Adobe (yes, the Photoshop company) found that pre-orders have experienced a 24 percent increase in volume from last year, and 33 percent increased revenue. This is happening despite a third of pre-orders resulting in "social emotions" that Adobe categorizes as "sadness."
Though 33 percent of those emotions upon pre-ordering were reported as negative, 47 percent were neutral or positive, ranging from "admiration" and "joy" to "anticipation" and "surprise." If those categorizations sound a bit arbitrary, keep in mind this is a study, not a survey; Adobe pulled data from various social networks such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, and subsequently analyzed the numbers.
Still, it's valuable information, and shows that while opinions on pre-order culture run the gamut, it's money that talks the loudest.
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Sam is a former News Editor here at GamesRadar. His expert words have appeared on many of the web's well-known gaming sites, including Joystiq, Penny Arcade, Destructoid, and G4 Media, among others. Sam has a serious soft spot for MOBAs, MMOs, and emo music. Forever a farm boy, forever a '90s kid.