That was back when pre-ordering meant something. The stores got limited quantities shipped to them and if you wanted a popular game near launch day you had to preorder. Even then we did not have to pay full price for the game, most stores charged you $5 for the initial order and you paid the balance on pickup. Plus you could get a refund if you found out the game sucked before you picked it up, just tell them you did not want the order and they gave your $5 back.
Back then Beta testing was not something you paid for the "privilege" to do. You had to apply for Beta testing and where expected to fulfill the testing requests the company sent you. If you actually did the work you where rewarded with a free copy of the game. Today you pay to beta test, have your feedback ignored and your reward is a few extra days access for the full price of a game before it really was close to being out.
Not everything from the old days was worse than today in gaming.
This is very true - tbf, I was like 10yo when that game came out so had no idea how it was done, just enjoyed playing the games.
I’m hoping the industry learns something from the old days and it seems like at least Larian is trying. Here’s hoping we get a new hot fix soon because I’m waiting to get into act 3 ^^
