GameStop Interested in Selling Used DLC

[Esmeralda Portillo]

GameStop Interested in Selling Used DLC

GameStop is open to working with companies to find a way to buy, sell, and trade used downloadable content.

GameStop has done its best to evolve with the rest of the game industry, with gamers 20 percent more for their trade-ins [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/117243-GameStop-Joins-With-Valve-For-Retail-Digital]. Another one of those initiatives may someday include selling used downloadble content.

At this year's GameStop Expo, Ars Technica spoke with two GameStop executives that expressed the company's interest in finding solutions to the used digital market.

Executive Vice President Mike Hogan confirmed that the selling of used DLC is something GameStop is interested in pursuing."It would require a partnership between retailers and publishers, but absolutely, it could go that way." He then goes on to explain that there are already instances of this happening in the community, such as World of Warcraft players transferring third-party items among each other. "There's no fundamental or technological reason why that couldn't happen [on other platforms]. If the consumer wants it, and it provides value, then we believe it will happen over time. The consumer will speak for that."

"The possibilities are endless as to how we could leverage our buy/sell/trade model and continue to give our customers what they want," says Jason Cochran, the Senior VP of Pre-owned Business. "[There's] potential to continue working with our vendor partners, publishers, and even developers on what that would mean to play in that space - how we'd continue to keep the value of digital content as tangible for our consumers, so they can continue to stay in the game, enjoy more gameplay, and actually buy more titles and more IP."

Microsoft provided a statement to Ars Technica about the possibilities of GameStop's idea: "When a game is digitally purchased, the license for that game is associated with the user that purchased it. There is currently no means for that user to relinquish the license and sell or give it to another user or intermediary." Thus, there is currently no information for them to share on the "potential of trading and reselling DLC at this time."

Source: Ars Technica [http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/09/gamestop-execs-very-bullish-on-reselling-consoles-used-dlc/]



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[Jadak]

lol, obviously free money would be of interest to Gamestop, but there is no reason at all for companies to get on board with something like that when they could just as easily handle transfers of digital content internally without giving GameStop a cut.

 

[epicdwarf]

Buying, selling, and trading used virtual games and DLC? This is something I can get behind. Sure, you probably won't get a a lot of money for trading in a downloadable, but at least the option is available.

 

[Sanunes]

With my experience with GameStop I rather just Microsoft, Sony, and Valve figure something out that they work as a intermediary between two users and takes a cut of the transaction. I refuse to use GameStop because of their business practices and how their employees (at least the one I used to shop at) treated their customers.

 

[balladbird]

Yeah, it's possible I'm speaking from ignorance, but I'm not sure how gamestop would expect to get a cut from this kind of transaction. If devs themselves wanted to offer a service where they buy and sell used DLC, it seems like they'd deal directly with the console/steam companies. Involving a 3rd party seems unnecessary to my layman eyes.

that said, it IS a service I'd be interested in, may be the only way I'd ever consider buying purely aesthetic DLC. XD

 

[Hairless Mammoth]

Eww, I don't wanna buy some guy's used horse armor pack.

That aside, I doubt people want to trade in what cost them $15 (and still does when new) and get maybe $5 for it while GS sells it for $10 or more. If one whats to trade in a full game, with no intention of buying it out of the bargain bin a year or two later or getting a copy from a friend, then they might as well sell all the related DLC they bought if they had the option. But, surely publishers will either go with their own system of trading DLC (so they get the big cuts) or offer some stupid "exclusive" bonus, paid for by other deals with GS, if done through GS's "super duper money wringer" service.

 

[gigastar]

What im failing to see with that proposal is how the publishers benefit.

If the failed crackdown on the used games market is any indication, then publishers saw almost no money from thier games being resold, so why the hell would they open the door for what they essentially put behind an extra paywall to be resold as well?

 

[Elfgore]

What's making me laugh is how I could foresee publishers countering the used-DLC trade. By taking parts out of DLC, which you ether have to buy new or pay five dollars for. "Pay more money to receive extra content in your extra content!"

 

[Erttheking]

You know, if they do find a way, it could be the start of second hand digital products. Only Gamestop would benefit at first, but could they keep a monopoly on it forever?

 

[Sanunes]

You know, if they do find a way, it could be the start of second hand digital products. Only Gamestop would benefit at first, but could they keep a monopoly on it forever?

I would think they would try by signing "exclusive" deals, like how some pre-order content is exclusive or even some variations of a game is exclusive to them, for there are several collector's editions of games that have been sold exclusively through GameStop.

 

[Lyiat]

DLC is basically how other companies fight systems like Gamestop. Why the hell would they offer to help Gamestop sell it?

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

It's digital content! The only way to sell it as used is to remove it from everywhere except Gamestop. Basically to give Gamestop exclusive rights to sell DLC. Which is as anti-consumer as it gets.

 

[kael013]

OK, this may seem like a silly question but how do you sell used data? Wouldn't GameStop have to dig through all the seller's hard drives to ensure the data he was selling was the only copy? And what happens when it turns out it isn't? For example, you have a copy of a DLC .exe that you forgot about? Do you allow GameStop to erase that data from your property?

I can already see a way to exploit this:
1. Buy a game with tons of DLC
2. Pirate all the DLC from torrent sites
3. Sell that data to GameStop as "used DLC"
4. Re-download the DLC from the torrent
5. PROFIT! Enjoy full game and free $$$

NOTE: I'm not condoning that exploit, just pointing it out. Please don't report me or anything.

 

[BeerTent]

I kinda feel like we already have this with Steam, to a degree.

I've traded in a few TF2 items for Spiral Knights energy a few times. Made a pretty penny off of it. Then again, that's just with in-game items. I'll give you my Perfect Snowball for a Brass Beast. What about a Mod Calibrator (Not to be confused with a Calibrator mod!) for a jar of pee? Fuck it. I'll keep my Strange Home-Wrecker and my Obsidian Edge!

Honestly, I'm leaning toward the fact that this isn't going to happen. The aforementioned trading system on Steam hasn't taken off at all, and although developers bent over backwards for GameStop in the past, I feel that developers are adamant about control of their precious DLC.

 

[seditary]

Being able to trade digital content is great in theory but you don't want it facilitated through GameStop.

And what exactly is 'used' about DLC? GameStop pushes through used games because it gets all the money from that. Working with publishers to resell DLC gets GameStop some money they weren't getting before while reducing the money publishers get AND they also have to make it work.

Why exactly would any publisher or developer do this? There's nothing but bad in the deal for them.

 

[Jeroenr]

OK, this may seem like a silly question but how do you sell used data? Wouldn't GameStop have to dig through all the seller's hard drives to ensure the data he was selling was the only copy? And what happens when it turns out it isn't? For example, you have a copy of a DLC .exe that you forgot about? Do you allow GameStop to erase that data from your property?

I can already see a way to exploit this:
1. Buy a game with tons of DLC
2. Pirate all the DLC from torrent sites
3. Sell that data to GameStop as "used DLC"
4. Re-download the DLC from the torrent
5. PROFIT! Enjoy full game and free $$$

NOTE: I'm not condoning that exploit, just pointing it out. Please don't report me or anything.

It's not that you own the Bits in the .exe of the DLC/Game.
The game is bound/restricted to you PSN, XBL or Steam account.(or other platform of your choosing)

So basically you have to detach the game from your account, and put it in a pool of detached games(trade-in store) or attach it to another account.

But like Seditary is saying:

Being able to trade digital content is great in theory but you don't want it facilitated through GameStop.

And what exactly is 'used' about DLC? GameStop pushes through used games because it gets all the money from that. Working with publishers to resell DLC gets GameStop some money they weren't getting before while reducing the money publishers get AND they also have to make it work.

Why exactly would any publisher or developer do this? There's nothing but bad in the deal for them.

The only way i can seen this even remotely working is that you can trade directly with others.
best way would be "a game for a game trade" or if money is involved a small service fee.
But expect your account to get hacked if money gets involved.



But selling new DLC shouldn't be to difficult though.
Plenty online store's doing just that.

 

[kael013]

It's not that you own the Bits in the .exe of the DLC/Game.
The game is bound/restricted to you PSN, XBL or Steam account.(or other platform of your choosing)

So basically you have to detach the game from your account, and put it in a pool of detached games(trade-in store) or attach it to another account.

OK that makes more sense. I was just making the mistake of thinking of games as a whole product instead of a service a platform provides.

Still, for the PC it'd be pretty easy to trick the platform, few platforms have DRM that's more advanced than the "account sign-in" form.

 

[Jeroenr]

It's not that you own the Bits in the .exe of the DLC/Game.
The game is bound/restricted to you PSN, XBL or Steam account.(or other platform of your choosing)

So basically you have to detach the game from your account, and put it in a pool of detached games(trade-in store) or attach it to another account.

OK that makes more sense. I was just making the mistake of thinking of games as a whole product instead of a service a platform provides.

Still, for the PC it'd be pretty easy to trick the platform, few platforms have DRM that's more advanced than the "account sign-in" form.

That we can see any way.
But i wouldn't be messing with my steam account though.
Getting cough is about the same as leaving your wallet at a burglary.
And would result in the disabling of the entire account.(would be painful)

 

[FPLOON]

Wait... Don't they mean "refurbished" DLC? How can something digital still be considered "used" in the same vain as a physical copy?

That seems to be the only thing that's confusing me the most about all this... and not the fact of what publishers who originally made the DLC in the first place would do with something like this does happen in a third-party manner... or how the pricing of said DLC would go down in the first place, especially those that were either originally free or costed no more than a dollar...

 

[Mezahmay]

So GameStop wants to help devs decide what parts of the game to sell off as DLC, they do offer more for used game trade-ins now, and then they announce this. Oh yeah, I'm sure publishers and developers will line up to restructure their DLC so it can be traded into a physical store and resold for no additional return on investment.