The used game market, buy or sell?
We’ve talked about the used game market at length on the show. We’ve heard developers crying and publishers in a tizzy about how the used game market is destroying their bottom line. They’ve introduced things such as online passes to prevent used game sales and even begun restricting single player content to entice you to buy new.
But how much of this do you believe? If games were priced more reasonably, I’d be more inclined to buy new each time as would many I imagine would do the same. Wouldn’t you? The price of games these days isn’t attractive. Most people only spend that amount on “blockbuster” titles.
There’s an article around talking about the Heavy Rain developer losing a wad of cash from used games sales.
“I can take just one example of Heavy Rain,” Quantic Dream co-founder Guillaume de Fondaumiere told GamesIndustry.biz. “We basically sold to date approximately two million units. We know from the Trophy system that probably more than three million people bought this game and played it.
“On my small level it’s a million people playing my game without giving me one cent. And my calculation is, as Quantic Dream, I lost between €5 and €10 million worth of royalties because of second-hand gaming.”
“I’ve always said that games are probably too expensive, so there’s probably a right level here to find, and we need to discuss this all together and try to find a way to reconcile consumer expectations, retail expectations and also the expectations of the publisher and the developers to make this business a worthwhile business.”
What say you? Should games be cheaper? Do developers and publishers have a legitimate reason for implementing an online pass and DLC? Are we going to see the end of GameStop and other used game retailers soon?
September 12th, 2011 at 10:23 am
I think if many games were priced at $40 on release people would buy who otherwise would not if they are priced at $60
But maybe publishers/devs believe pricing a game at $60 is the price you pay to play it on release, whereas if you want to wait, you can pay the lower prices.
Look at books and CDs used market. Do those publishers b*tch about the used market? The music industry now has the digital market, where you can’t really sell your bought digital music. It’s probably why the videogame publishers are loving the download only model.
September 12th, 2011 at 5:39 pm
This is a hot topic and I’ve got something on my mind about this subject.
Thing is.. why aren’t they fighting this used game/rental industry in court then?
At the back of any case it reads prohibited to rent, maybe I’m just stupid for not understanding the context.
$60 for a license to play while the next guy pays, what, 10 bucks a rent/used copy?
*You know, don’t rob me from on disc content because you can’t handle your own market and expect me to pay an extra $30-50 to have my game complete while you’re letting these suckers destroy your bizz, I already paid $60, fool!*
Haha..
September 12th, 2011 at 9:19 pm
good point Vigor .. try it in court if it’s that evil
September 12th, 2011 at 10:52 pm
Publishers would give us the games for 50 dollars but I believe there is a fee to publish games for consoles that’s why the same pc game is 10 dollars cheaper
September 13th, 2011 at 9:48 am
At ~$50-$60 a pop, the game has got to have something going for it before I will buy it new release (i.e. a publisher I really trust like Bioware or Bethesda, or the game has something about it to really capture my interest, demo’s help a lot, I’d have probably steered clear of Arkham Asylum at first just because super hero/comic book movies have been traditionally bad, but the demo convinced me it was worth picking up new). There are just too many good games out there and I don’t make enough money to buy all of them I want brand new, so it’s used or a really diminished library where I miss out on a lot of great games for me.
September 13th, 2011 at 10:00 am
yeah the cost of games doesn’t necessarily scream “hey come buy me regardless” .. i agree, they HAVE to catch my interest and most don’t do a good enough job of that.
September 20th, 2011 at 12:04 pm
I wait in a lot of cases to pick up games after they’ve been out awhile. Sometimes even looking at used games. Its expensive to drop $180 or more for three new titles a year. Sometimes I get lucky and 1 or 2 on my list will come in as gifts from someone. That means I’m only droping $60 once during the year. So if the prices were a lot less, it would be easier to look at buying new for sure. Times are tough for everyone.