Indeed, I feel 200% the same way. I mean, to each there own and all but I just dont see any benefit from parting with money any sooner than I absolutely have to without receiving some benefit in return that is worthwhile for parting with the money - compared against what else I can do with that money in the same timeframe, and even then - leaving it until the last possible day to do so. In other words, if there is actually some tangible benefit to pre-ordering that is actually worthwhile enough to bother (such as the case of saving 20% off on The Witcher 3, plus some other more minor goodies benefit of a map or something like that (I forget)), then under the right set of conditions I might do it, but 7 months early? No friggen way, there's no benefit to me 7 months early.

I pre-ordered TW3 like 1-2 days before release to get the pre-order benefit and pre-download because I knew for a fact that there were no questions about whether the game would be awesome or not and that I would want it, so waiting to buy it and paying more for it wouldn't make a huge amount of sense unless I wanted to hold off long enough for it to be put on sale at an equal or lower price. But to part with the money weeks/months or longer in advance just to sit and wait that amount of time and receive no immediate benefit as the money left my hands that was actually worthwhile to do for the offered benefit? No way I'll ever do that. I mean, I wouldn't have bought TW3 months in advance just for a map or artwork or the free NWN game or whatever (which I already owned).

I can't think of what it would take for a game company to get me to part with the full money to buy their game 6 months in advance and have to wait 6 months to receive it, even for a company I implicitly and explicitly trust like CDPR. I wouldn't even do that if they offered free sex to my door. :)

So I'll likely pre-order CP2077 if the conditions are right for me, but I'll do so 1-2 days before the game is released, not weeks or months in advance. If they offered the game for like 75% off if you bought it 2 months in advance then I'd consider that maybe, but that's not ever likely to happen either. :) Hell, if they announce tomorrow CP2077 to have a one day offer of 75% off the launch pricing tomorrow I might buy it, but we wont likely see any carrots on a stick like that from any game companies. :)

Yeah, not many games ever get me truly excited where I feel like I have to get it the day it comes out. Even The Witcher 3 which had me all fired up for, I was not originally planning to buy the day it came out nor pre-order. The decision to buy it a couple days in advance was an ideological one prompted by shady business practices of a competing company that when combined with my enthusiasm for the game plus my feelings about CDPR and GOG.com led me to feel compelled to give them my money. Other than that though, I have an infinite backlog and wishlist essentially that I have a lot of patience to wait weeks/months or even years to buy a game in general. As such few games will ever get me either fired up to buy them right away, or to have such faith and respect for a company to hand them my money as a reward for their hard efforts and consumer friendly practices. So far the list of companies has a single entry on it. :)

When I think back at various anticipated game releases over the years, both games I anticipated myself and those that were highly anticipated by the masses out there, the number of games that held up to the public's expectations and/or the hype surrounding the game are a small minority. Very few games seem to truly live up to the majority's expectations and the hype surrounding them to the point where all things being equal - if one were to pre-order every game they anticipate I believe they'll be let down far more often than they end up being happy about, that it is just a much safer bet to hold on to the money and wait not only until the verdict is out, but to generally wait at a bare minimum until the first major seasonal sale promotion that puts the game at anywhere from 10-30% off or more.

For example, I'll be surprised if No Man's Sky isn't not only discounted by 50% for the fall promo sale, but if it doesn't also see a base price drop by then as well. If not for the fall promo then certainly for the winter promo as it just isn't in any way even remotely a $67 game in terms of quality, gameplay or virtually any other sane metric. :)