Used Game Sales Hurting Publishers?
Does the purchase of used games hurt the gaming industry? Ask yourself that question, and perhaps five of your friends — you will more than likely get a mixed bag of answers. David Breban, a British programmer behind the open ended space-trading game ’Elite’ seems to think used games sales do in fact bugger the industry.
Braben’s reasoning behind his view adds a new twist when answering the question at hand:
"The shops are not giving us a way of distinguishing between pre-owned and new. So the shops are essentially defrauding the industry... We’ve got a lot of retailers eating our lunch and refusing to sell full-priced games. I’ve been in a shop where I’ve tried to buy a copy of a relatively recent game, and I’ve taken an empty box off the shelf and they’ve given me a pre-owned copy. That, I think, is disgraceful. Not holding stock of new games, substituting them with pre-owned games at the same or much the same price... That is really destroying the shelf-life of our games."
Most game shops we visit keep the ’pre-owned’ titles on a shelf clearly marked ’pre-owned’ or ’used’. If a retailer were to keep more ’used’ than ’new’ in stock, and this type of practice was widespread, then it would definitely be detrimental to the industry, to some degree.
Braben’s proposed solution to his dilemma is as follows:
"My argument is that for every game there are two versions. One is personal, not for resale and it’s made abundantly clear you can’t sell it. And it’s made available for something like GBP 25. And a resale and rental copy, which in film is actually about GBP 80."
Some people believe the reasoning behind the lowered availability of ‘new’ titles on the shelf is due to a number of apparent obvious factors, such as Digital Distribution. Digital distribution is becoming more and more popular by the day with companies jumping onboard with services such as Steam.
Quoting an employee of EB Games Canada we get the following response:
"There is nothing strange about the abundant availability of used titles in specialty stores such as EB, or other game shops. The specialty stores rely heavily on revenue from the sale of new releases or still popular titles. New or existing titles that sell in large numbers are going to be priority on the inventory control list when ordering stock, naturally.
The titles with large sales numbers generally do not render a very large return volume — used copies of big sellers are quite uncommon, equally however, titles with dropping or low sales numbers naturally show an increased volume of used copies. This is precisely where used titles can hurt the developers – if the title doesn’t come out of the game flaming, it’s going to be a small puff of steam with low numbers.
It all comes down to how receptive the target audience of the title is. If the title is good and attracts a lot of buyers, the buyers tend to buy new only — and if new is not available, they will wait until it is available through order, another store, order online, or go to Steam to get it if its available there."
Take it as you will, however, it appears that the sale of ‘used’ titles does actually hurt the industry - when it comes to stale titles or titles with low sales numbers out of the gate. One has to consider the flip-side though, if used game sales are hurting the industry — then digital distribution is hurting the retailers just as well — food for thought.
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Oh i want to cry them a river. I guess that homebuilders, car manufacturers, and book publishers will be next wanting a kickback for resale value?
If Asus and Seagate ever do that, I'll be broke paying them royalties. On parts I sell used to friends and people I know.
Besides, I guess $60 for a new game isn't enough profit for them? Jeez. What next? We'll get charged consumption tax on using the handle to flush a toilet? lol
For crissake...I understand piracy is hurting software makers. But, just implement required registration of a game to an individual. If that person sells it, then someone has to pay a $5 transfer fee that covers the call to ask the former owner to confirm the sale and changing ownership information in their system.
But don't go charging me for sales I haven't made yet to others, or may never make.
Has anyone factored in the state of the economy as to why used games are hurting the sale of brand new games? This is why I prefer to buy used games for Xbox 360. I'm surprised this article has no mentioned this...
Come to think of it, does this article apply to both console and PC games? I can imagine buying used console games since there's no CD key, but nobody would buy a used copy of World of Warcraft because the CD key could already been registered...
Pirating doesn't hurt them. If someone pirates they will always pirate. They will never pay money.
Trying to block the resale of a game would further hurt the game industry not help it.
Why don't developers focus on makeing a product that works first and has a good replay value instead of trying to nickle and dime or slap the hand that feeds them.
Good article....bad game dev's..lol
I think that if games were costing less that more new titles would be sold. I buy all of my games but I have to admit that when the prices reaches past $55 I tend to stall on buying them until the price comes down or I find a used copy that is in great shape. So yeah maybe I am hurting the game industry because I refuse to pay the higher price but if that price was lower to begin with I would buy it no questions asked.I also think the game dev's are hurting the local retailers by having digital downloads & the retailers have to do something to keep their stores running so in a sense the game dev's are trying to eat the retailers lunch as well just like the guy inthe article said the reatailers were doing to the game dev's so yeah its tit for tat kinda of thing.
I personaly do not see anything wrong with buying pre-owned games I buy most of my console titles that way because I refuse to pay $70 to $80 for a console game that I most likely will only play three times. So I feel sorry for the game dev's no way a lot of them have shunned the PC game industry because of the lame excuse of pirating or the PC version would have to be so dumbed down because PC's can't handle it so nope no pity here for them.
First off, someone has to reveal what a $60 game at BestBuy actually cost BestBuy. The profit to the manufacturer HAS to be less than $60. And when a game goes on sale, who eats the difference?
I don't REALLY want to wait forever for the first-sale cost to come down to a decent deal (GameStop seems to think $5 off for used is a good deal MONTHS after release, which isn't decent) but I have to so manufacturers get their profits, or I go used. Only loser first-sale games go cheap quickly, and cheap is no real incentive there...
I don't think anyone should be able to re-sell any game. They should be licenced for one person.
I buy 8 to 16 games a year. Mostly new, a few used. When I bothered to sell used that money was always used to what ...??? BUY NEW GAMES ..... If I was attached to the game I never sold it.
So how am I supposed to buy a game that's out of print if I can't buy used?
this is completely retarded. i mean, how many legit buyers are they attempting to turn into pirates here?
I'm not strictly for or against re-sale of games, it's pretty easy to see the lost revenue argument from the game dev though.
A lot of games these days are designed around consumption (i.e. play once and move on), if a used game got sold 5 times, then the dev would only ever see the first sale but 5 people consumed the game.
I don't think it's a huge issue, or that the users are doing anything wrong either though.
If the publisher/dev wants to work around the issue they should do it like steam, and register the game against an account... None of this limited installs rubbish!
I have to think the main issue (as some have illuded to) is that people aren't keeping the games they buy. If game developers made more games people wanted to keep playing, people wouldn't sell them as often. If someone buys a game, plays it, and thinks its crap, why shouldn't they get some of their money back (in the form of re-sale). No publisher is ever going to offer a "Our Game Sucks" refund.
It depends on what you think the publishers are selling, the game or the experience. If people are paying for the experience, then they should pay by the user (not the copy), but then at the same time, the publishers would be liable for bad or undesireable experiences, so instead the publishers sell by copy, then bitch about it. Typical.
Finally the cat is out of the bag. Indirectly SW "producers" acknowledge that the whole piracy protection bullshit is not about illegal copying (which it never prevented) but actually about usage control, to milk as much as possible from the paying customers. All this is possible because they only "sell" a license for using the SW and actually are (trying to) keep(ing) full control about it's usage.
It's all about greed and "selling" the same piece of crap all over again and again.
Let's turn it around.
Why are games so exclusive? Why can't everyone get a good amount of games. What if I want to buy an old PS1 or 2 and don't have games for it?
How many times did you not have a kid in the neighborhood or a cousin who got your old console and had a lot of fun, while you are not experiencing the same joy anymore.
That's right. The greedy game companies who can make bad games and get away with it, want more. They don't care they make crap. They don't care after 5 times you are so sick and tired of it. After a month you don't want to play the game ever again. They want more money.
The game industry, just like the movie and music industry needs to rethink their market strategy. Pay how much it's worth, not how much you can squeeze out of it. If a game is for a month, let us pay 20 for it, if it's worth for years 50 isn't a bad price. And before suits go decide how long we play games, that won't work either. But the market isn't working.
By pushing used games out of the way, less people will buy your game, as they won't pay 50+ dollars for a week of pleasure. And people will just pirate more. That's right. The companies are again promoting piracy. They make it impossible for players to have fun and money that's worth it.
What game manufacturers have made clear is I'm not buying a game, I'm buying the right (aka license) to install and play a game. However, like any other product, that license is MINE to keep or sell. Once I've purchased the license, it is no longer the manufacturer's concern. Their concern should be creating a product I want to keep and play again, not sell.
Lol, first piracy not used games. What nnext aliens?
lol first piracy now* used games. Does anyone else have a screwed up comment box in firefox?
I wish you guys would do an article on how stores like eb games gouges the consumer on used games. I bought a $10 used game and took it back the next week and they only offered $1.00 for it. If you sell them a used new release they will sell it for about 5$ off retail but only give you about 40% of retail on the average. Mabye I just had a bad expereince withthese guys but I buy most of my used games in pawn shops now.
I meant to say Game stopinstead of eb games . I think they are the same company anyway.
Lots of good comments here. The developer knows nothing about how an economy works. Used game sales can't be prevented save for making it illegal which won't happen.
The question the game developer has to ask himself is why would someone take the risk of getting scratched CDs/DVDs or serial keys registered to the previous owner? The reason is largely price and then availability (like in the case of an out of print game). If the market for used games is comparable to new games then that tells me that games are overpriced from the consumer point of view. Another solution is to either lower the price if the profit margin allows this or reduce the cost structure. In plain terms: sell cheap but sell a lot or sell a little but make a lot (per sale). As a consumer I take the first of those
What the industry has to focus on is growing the market so more people, not necessarily a larger percent, buy games first hand. Better quality games, more flexibility to the user (e.g. less DRM, no CD checks), more replay value, after-launch content release (like Mass Effect) are examples of this. Basically adding more value to the game.
I have worked at Gamestop for 9 years now and trust me when I Say that they HURT the gaming industry. All that money is kept by the greedy executives. Just look at the past records to see how much profit was for Gamestop, you'll see they are making the money and not the developers.
What isnt taking into account is that these retail stores by X ammount of copies at close to full price, all the time. If the publishers were to lower that price 2 months after the game is out, they would probably make more money. The more used games you purchase the more you are killing your precious video game industry, you cheap skate!
and 120 dollars for two games is redic. if theywant more sales lower the price. after all the game costs about $.03 for the cd andprobably another 12 per copy to publish, advertise, etc.
yeah some very good comments here. Some have referred to those that buy used games as cheap skates or whatever. I for one buy most of my games new as I like to be the first to insert that dvd into my PC. But as I said if the games like on the consoles come out at $65 to $75 then yes I will look in places like block buster for that game for my 360 or PS3 & pay $40 for it after a few months of release.
I also as really getting tired of this new idea game dev's are doing by releasing game in episodes where you get maybe 3 to 4 hours game play then that's it your done then you have to wait for 1 to 2 years for the next release of yet another 3 to 4 hours of play time & you still pay $40 to $50 for that 3 hours of enjoyment. They need to stop doing that & just release the full game already & stop gouging our pockets even more. I am all for paying for a good game myself & detest pirating as that does really hurt the industry but some times I have to wonder if the games were better maybe more people would be willing to pay for them or better yet release then with lower prices.
I have farcry 2 paid full retail had ot since it was released & have not been able to play it because securom says I have software installed that has to be uninstalled before I can play it. Now who are they to decide what I can have on my system this is my system after all & no I do not have any of the listed software programs they have black listed so after 15 emails to then without response back from either securom or the game dev I am totally sickened by their lack of response to a legit complaint I have with them or any action on their part to help fix it. Yes I could use a cracked EXE & most likely will do that but at this point it is a matter of princble for me to not have to do that I will never buy a game new from ubisoft again or one with securom on it again just because they Pissed me off..lol
Sorry for the rant
I've read every comment thus far and am surprised that the comments have been so simplistic of the problem.
No games are not produced for $.15 unless you are selling astronomical amounts. The supply chain alone accounts for at least as much.
When buying a license you are subject to the terms of the agreement. You should not be allowed to resell the license, could you sell your driver's license?
A developer (and publisher for that matter) are entitled to a percentage for every sale of a product. Especially in the economy which is seeing development studio's closing in increasing numbers.
People's expectation of a game is unrealistic. People will pay $80 for a 2 hour sporting event, $50 for a 2-3 hour dinner, $12 for a movie (no treats), $100 and upwards for a concert and people have a hard time with $60 for 10 to 25 hours? My history in gaming goes back to Wizardry 1 with 100's of gaming hours.. so I understand this argument, but times are changing.
Episodic gaming is a good idea in theory, however would make much more sense if the episodes were developed simultaneously with the core game so installments would be fast and furious and offer more, in a timely manner.
Software DRM is horrible.
Game keys should be tied to accounts and activated. Simultaneous versions of one account should not be allowed to be played concurrently. 12 million WoW accounts log in daily, internet access isn't an excuse anymore. At the very least a limited number of non- internet accesses could be available, and require internet connectivity periodically.
Lastly to the person quoted from EB Canada, who are you fooling 'popular games don't end up in increased amounts on the resale shelves?' Have they never stepped into one of their own stores and looked at the shelves?