real (my passion for gaming has slowly atrophied from childhood as capitalism has taken hold, while passion for creating anything more than a busted cash-grab has long gone)

Nowadays buying games at release is doing yourself a disservice. You pay way more for way less than someone 6+ months later who gets it on sale with fixes already done

This seems pretty relevant

Don’t buy AAA games at release, and instead try out popular indie titles. They’re usually a quarter of the price and some of them have become my favourite games of all time. Indie games have small teams of passionate devs who have total creative control.

AAA games will typically release a “game of the year” edition a year or so after release with twice the amount of content the original game had for half the price.

There are hundreds of awesome games available. If all you’re doing is buying the few AAA bug ridden and money grabbing games that come out each year you’re doing yourself a huge disservice.

Don’t buy at release, be a patient gamer. Comes with benefits too.

Not playing Ubisoft games as a rule helps. Also works with EA, Activision Blizzard, and all mobile games.