Today’s pressure to pre-order games, applied by both retailers and publishers alike, does very little to serve the consumer.

The main reason people choose to pre-order their games is because they’re under the impression there’s a chance stores will run out of copies, and they’ll miss out being one of the first to play the next big game. But with the present surge of digital releases, not to mention the fact that I’ve never run into a situation where all stores were sold out of a game I wanted to play, this happening just doesn’t seem to be a legitimate danger anymore.

The incessant need for us to be guaranteed something on release day, can be seen in any new product that has some hype behind it, and is present in almost all entertainment mediums. I think it speaks to the age we’re living in, we want what we want when we want it, and if it means shelling out full price for a product, despite knowing nothing about its quality, then so be it.

Almost all game retailers offer little incentives for pre-ordering certain games in the form of “pre-order bonuses,” which are often an item skin that looks marginally different, an exclusive weapon, a cheap toy, or game currency, all of which offer almost nothing in terms of in-game advantage. So if none of this stuff is of any benefit to gameplay, and the danger of not getting a copy is close to zero, then why are we still pre-ordering?

Some of this can be attributed to a fresh batch of you gamers every year that are desperate for the next big thing, and parents who are desperate to get it for them. But these aren’t the only demographics that often fall in to the pre-order trap. Developers put a significant amount of effort into marketing their products leading up to release (remember the Call of Duty energy drink?), namely because it guarantees the success of their game before anyone has a chance to give it bad press – and despite what some will have you believe, word of mouth still matters when it comes to video games.

As Jeff Gerstmann recently pointed out on the final Giant Bomb live show of 2014, last year’s Call of Duty Ghosts was by far the worst release in the series’ history, and received mixed reviews from fans and critics alike. Yet despite Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare being a far superior game (and an overdue step forward for the exhausted franchise), it isn’t selling nearly as well as Ghosts did.

The point is, publishers don’t want negative press, and if they can afford to secure pre-order numbers, it alleviates a lot of the stress and pressure of actually making a high-quality game – as you’ve probably guessed, this isn’t good for consumers.

The established pre-order model is valuable to both publishers and retailers. Recently the process has been taken to extreme lengths, a prime example being Uncharted 4, a game that doesn’t have an official release date and has only been seen played once publically. There’s no guarantee that it will even release in 2015.

Why is this available to pre-order already? Well, aside from giving the publishers a safety net, there are secondary incentives to consider, such as encouraging retailers to display more confidence in the game, which means better displays and placing in-store, and in turn more promotion to drive sales.

Does this serve the consumer in any way? Absolutely not. So whats the solution? Well its simple, just don’t pre-order. Waiting for the final product, paying attention to word of mouth, and checking the review scores all ensure that your money is well spent, and also encourages publishers to release a game they’re confident in.

By making developers work for your money, you’re exercising your greatest power as a consumer, and in turn, supporting a market that relies more heavily on quality and innovation, than deceptive marketing techniques.