Expansion Packs
Following release, a lot of developers add extra content to maintain the interest of players. This can be anything from paid expansion packs, to free updates. As with anything, these typically take a while to put together, except stupid Day 1 DLC.
Those who purchase the game on launch and finish it pretty quickly have to wait several months before they can get hold of an expansion that they have been dying to play. Whereas those who wait 6 months to a year can pick up the extra content from the get go, and jump into it straight away.
The Sims franchise is a fantastic example of this. The Sims 2 and The Sims 3 took four years to reach the amount of content they now boast, meaning the players who waited until the final expansion could play the titles in their entirety. However those who have recently purchased The Sims 4 will spend the next few years being drip-fed with new expansion packs every few months.
Less Bugs
There will always be bugs that make it through to the final release. These are discovered by the hundreds, thousands, and millions of players who each have their own unique play style. As issues are unearthed, they are fixed to provide a smoother experience in the future.
This means that those who pick up a game, such as Assassin’s Creed: Unity, six months down the line will benefit from all the patches released since launch, even if it is a port.
Cheaper Prices, Sweet Sales, Great Giveaways
So a game has been out six months. In that time, the developers have fixed bugs identified by the player base and added some content via free updates and expansion packs. Despite the extra work put in by the developers, you can most likely grab the game at a cheaper price. Hell, if you wait long enough they might even give it to you for free.
Take the The Sims 2 Complete Collection for example. Not long after EA announced that they would be ending support for the game, they gave it away completely free. This offer only lasted a week, but everyone who entered in the product code has the game forever. Even Dragon Age Origins received the same treatment leading up to Dragon Age Inquisision‘s release.
Mods
This is a big seller for most PC releases as there is always a ton of features that people would love to see in the games they enjoy, some of the genuine improvement variety and others out of sheer hilarity. From simply replacing peoples faces with Nicolas Cage to the alteration of specific mechanics, the possibilities are endless.
A great example of this is Skyrim, one of the biggest games out there with extensive mod support. More than 3 years have passed since it arrived on PC, and mods are still being released. Perkus Maximus is one of these, which was released on Nexus in November of last year.
As with any game release, you will want to wait a while for the good mods to be polished and released into the wild. Downloading a mod early is like playing an early access game (or Assassin’s Creed: Unity on launch). There could be game-breaking bugs. As well as this, some mods require you to start a save from scratch. So unless you are happy to abandon a 100+ hour save, or miss out on a bunch of mods that put some games to shame, play through your back-list and be patient.
Good things come to those who wait.
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