As I was putting together a bargain guide for Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection, it ended up becoming less of a price list and more of a rant about the importance of preordering certain games. The common advice with video games is to “never preorder” because once they have your money, they don’t care how the game turns out. Plus, it’s often worth waiting because launch prices usually drop quickly. And if you’re preordering digitally, good luck getting your money back unless the game pulls a Concorde and gets withdrawn from sale.

But for every game that rhymes with Battlefield (perhaps the most famous example), it’s becoming clearer that some games really do need to be preordered. This is especially true with Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 titles (hear me out) that are at risk of disappearing before they’re even released, or later being replaced with a code-in-a-box or Game Key Card.

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is set for a physical release in December, with a digital launch expected earlier (though we don’t know exactly when). I’m flagging it now because it’s one of the rare third-party Switch 2 games actually shipping on a cartridge — and we’ve already seen some decent discounts.

If we waited until December to publish a bargain guide and to tell people about it, those discounts would almost certainly be gone — or worse, the game might not even be available to preorder anymore. Physical shipments keep getting smaller, especially for niche or older titles. Donkey Kong Bananza isn’t going to sell out any time soon, but smaller games from smaller distributors can disappear from online stores before release. Often EB Games or JB will only get the copies they have preordered, there’s no “spares”. 

And if that’s going to happen to anything, it’ll be a compilation of Mortal Kombat games that are nearly 30 years old. But this isn’t just about one game — it’s part of a broader trend as the industry shifts away from physical releases entirely.

This also, mostly doesn’t apply to anything that’s a Game Key Card, or a code-in-box already. Because aside from a nice case, they’re already a digital product. Also, original Switch game cards are still plentiful now, but as we move further into the life of the Switch 2, expect them to dry up too.

So, don’t rush out and preorder everything. Most first-party Nintendo games will be around until the heat death of the universe. But for smaller games, niche titles, remakes, and remasters? It might be worth dropping a tenner on a preorder — or reserving a copy with a retailer that doesn’t require prepayment.

It will only get worse.