Pachter: Sony's Jack Tretton "Totally Opposed to Blocking Used Games"

[The Wooster]

Pachter: Sony's Jack Tretton "Totally Opposed to Blocking Used Games"

The SCEA president calls blocking used games "anti-consumer."

According to market analyst, Michael Pachter, who recounted a meeting he had with Tretton at E3.

"He said, 'for the record, I'm totally opposed to blocking used games. I think it's great for the consumer that they can buy those. We have a customer that buys our console late in the cycle, pays less, is looking for value priced games, and I think it would be anti-consumer for us to do that'," Pachter [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_280/8315-The-Crystal-Ball-of-Michael-Pachter ] told GameTrailers.com [http://www.gametrailers.com/episode/bonusround/605?ch=1 ]

Tretton was responding to rumors that the as-of-yet unannounced successor to the PS3 - which, according to Kotaku, will be called the Orbis - won't support PS3 games and will block the use of used games. Similar claims [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/115490-Rumor-Next-Xbox-Will-Feature-Blu-ray-Anti-Used-Games-System ] have been made about whatever console will follow the Xbox 360.

Tretton's support of used games seems somewhat hollow, however, given that Sony is currently pushing the PSN Pass system, which requires second hand game owners to buy codes to use their games online. He did qualify his statements by adding that Japanese Sony executives may not see eye to eye with him on the matter.

Pachter himself was dismissive of the rumors about the PS4. "I think it will play used games," he said. "That is the dumbest rumor I've ever heard."

Judging by Pachter's previous predictions, that means there's a 60% chance the PS4 will block used games. Oh dear.

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[Tony2077]

i hope it turns out to be a rumor or they'll have to make every game they ever release have a digital version as well

 

[RaNDM G]

Holy crap. Someone from Sony actually gets it.

 

[Hattingston]

Judging by Pachter's previous predictions, that means there's a 60% chance the PS4 will block used games. Oh dear.

I loved this part. It's always hilarious when people pretend to take Patcher seriously.

 

[Baresark]

What he says is the absolute truth. It is anti-consumer. You know what is also anti-consumer? People who compare used games to pirated games.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

I remember having a fairly favorable opinion of Mr. Tretton before, but for the life of me, I can't remember why. As to Pachter, I'm willing to ignore his contribution to this, and just put him down as an anonymous source for Mr. Tretton's comment. It's better that way.

 

[The Wooster]

What he says is the absolute truth. It is anti-consumer. You know what is also anti-consumer? People who compare used games to pirated games.

Morally the two aren't even remotely similar. But from a business perspective? Used games are far worse than piracy.

 

[Baresark]

What he says is the absolute truth. It is anti-consumer. You know what is also anti-consumer? People who compare used games to pirated games.

Morally the two aren't even remotely similar. But from a business perspective? Used games are far worse than piracy.

I'll bite. Explain to me how, from a business perspective, used games are "far worse" than piracy.

I was more joking about the similarities. I know that they are morally, worlds apart. I would never endorse people getting something for free when others have to pay.

My captcha is: Have an inkling, weird and a bit eerie.

 

[The Wooster]

What he says is the absolute truth. It is anti-consumer. You know what is also anti-consumer? People who compare used games to pirated games.

Morally the two aren't even remotely similar. But from a business perspective? Used games are far worse than piracy.

I'll bite. Explain to me how, from a business perspective, used games are "far worse" than piracy.

I was more joking about the similarities. I know that they are morally, worlds apart. I would never endorse people getting something for free when others have to pay.

Well when someone pirates a game, you can't prove that they would buy the game if they had the money. So that's technically not a lost sale. Whereas if someone buys a second hand copy of your game, the net effect is still the same, you get no money from that sale, but you have evidence that person was willing to buy the game, so that's a lost sale.

 

[Jmp_man]

Judging by Pachter's previous predictions, that means there's a 60% chance the PS4 will block used games. Oh dear.

At least it's better than 100%.

Also, I'm just glad that some higher-up says that blocking used games is bad, and even if he doesn't believe it himself it's a step forward... in a way. If the next Playstation DOES block used games though I say we all send this dude an e-mail linking to this article.

 

[InsanityRequiem]

Well when someone pirates a game, you can't prove that they would buy the game if they had the money. So that's technically not a lost sale. Whereas if someone buys a second hand copy of your game, the net effect is still the same, you get no money from that sale, but you have evidence that person was willing to buy the game, so that's a lost sale.

Even then, one can quantify it all depending on the time a person buys used. Two weeks to a month after the game came out? Definitely a lost sale on part of the consumer not wanting new. Say it's a couple years down the line, the game is no longer made new, then it's more a lost sale on the market. Then we can have the used buyers because of the disc breaking/lost/sold back, so it's a technical lost sale in that regards.

For my opinion, if Jack Tretton's words are actually what he thinks, then we definitely need some more of him in the industry. At least to tone down the used game hate stuff.

 

[Amnestic]

Judging by Pachter's previous predictions, that means there's a 60% chance the PS4 will block used games. Oh dear.

At least it's better than 100%.

Also, I'm just glad that some higher-up says that blocking used games is bad, and even if he doesn't believe it himself it's a step forward... in a way. If the next Playstation DOES block used games though I say we all send this dude an e-mail linking to this article.

Slightly better than half your 'predictions' being right isn't a good thing for a 'market analyst'. It's barely better than guessing wildly. We shouldn't reward people for guessing wildly. We have the denizens of the internet for that.

 

[harvz]

yes, it is anti-consumer, horribly, but what other option is there? When I go to a retail store and take a new game to the counter, I will be asked "Did you want the pre-owned? It's $5 cheaper, identical in every way and, because you have that card that we gave to you for free, will give you benefits and a further discount which buying new will not". so with that active denial of new sales, there are no real options other then keep with the online passes (also, incredibly anti-consumer) or move to an online only console (will cause issues as many people simple don't have the downloads/bandwidth to get the game reasonably not to mention that competitors like steam will not be on these consoles so everyone will be paying launch prices for the first year of release).

I would love for used games to continue to sell, I am at university studying game development and thus have no money, but with GameStop/EB Games getting 100% of the profit on used games and constantly screwing developers/publishers over, I ask again, what other option is there?

 

[The Wooster]

What he says is the absolute truth. It is anti-consumer. You know what is also anti-consumer? People who compare used games to pirated games.

Morally the two aren't even remotely similar. But from a business perspective? Used games are far worse than piracy.

I'll bite. Explain to me how, from a business perspective, used games are "far worse" than piracy.

I was more joking about the similarities. I know that they are morally, worlds apart. I would never endorse people getting something for free when others have to pay.

Well when someone pirates a game, you can't prove that they would buy the game if they had the money. So that's technically not a lost sale. Whereas if someone buys a second hand copy of your game, the net effect is still the same, you get no money from that sale, but you have evidence that person was willing to buy the game, so that's a lost sale.

You're assuming they would buy the game at its full price. How do you know they're not buying the game because of the lower price tag? How many sales are lost because prices are too high or pricing models are outdated?

I would tend to agree, but Gamestop and their ilk are making a killing by undercutting used sales by as little as $5. That five bucks is enough to make customers buy used. If companies dropped the price of games, then Gamestop would just undercut that price.

 

[mb16]

Why do games need special treatment? If you buy a car, house, furniture, etc... second hand you don't have to pay the company which made it. So why should you for games especially if its offline only.

 

[shemoanscazrex3]

What he says is the absolute truth. It is anti-consumer. You know what is also anti-consumer? People who compare used games to pirated games.

Morally the two aren't even remotely similar. But from a business perspective? Used games are far worse than piracy.

I disagree because lets say I buy Modern Warfare 3 used, I trade it in and get BlOps 2 new on release day. Yeah I didn't buy that one game new but I used that to buy your other game new. A wise CEO once told me, yeah this product of ours will cannibalize sales of our other product but its either us or someone else. Also factor in that if you pirate a game you can't use online services while used you can. So I may didn't buy your game new but I bought the DLC. Now if I pirate, I'll just pirate the DLC because I can't even get on XBL or PSN with a pirated system. Now if you look at it from a near-sighted publisher perspective well I guess they are one in the same.

 

[shemoanscazrex3]

Well remembering how Sega failed with the Saturn, I know that what he says has little president over the bigwigs in Japan. Now I do hope he is right or else I might have to trade in my "gamer card" or stick with my PS3. Man this current gen leaves me disappointed