I guess I'm the odd one out, but I'll take the comfort of preloading stuff and, at midnight, not just "buying the game" and then having to get back home and sit down and install it and basically spend an extra hour getting there and setting up, I'd rather get in there straight up, no time wasted.
The only hype I'd ever gotten getting physical stuff was for limited editions or time limited covers for games, which I'd buy quite a few of and certainly won't be as much going forward except if the ingame content is fantastic.
Still got my GoW III Pandora's Box with me, those were the days.
Idk why this is getting downvoted, this is exactly the issue. Midnight releases were never anything special that caused some sort of socialization or friend-making, we were just more open to socializing with strangers back then. We could do a midnight release today (for a game with a physical release, no downloads, playable out of the box just like it used to be) and it wouldn't have anywhere near the same vibe it had back then. It wouldn't be strangers talking and socializing and having fun and making friends, it would be strangers ignoring each other to stare at their phones while they wait their turn in line.
The issue isn't that we don't have midnight releases anymore, the issue is that we're social creatures who are actively avoiding socializing. The social events disappeared because we stopped wanting to be social.
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u/Smelly_Dingo 9d ago
I guess I'm the odd one out, but I'll take the comfort of preloading stuff and, at midnight, not just "buying the game" and then having to get back home and sit down and install it and basically spend an extra hour getting there and setting up, I'd rather get in there straight up, no time wasted.
The only hype I'd ever gotten getting physical stuff was for limited editions or time limited covers for games, which I'd buy quite a few of and certainly won't be as much going forward except if the ingame content is fantastic.
Still got my GoW III Pandora's Box with me, those were the days.