56% of American Gamers Don't Buy Games

[TheDooD]

snip

I didn't say they need to give me a damn thing. It's just they need not to ***** when I choose to buy their game used when it was too damn expensive for me to buy it new. If Publishers want people to buy new they need to sell cheap and stop treating those that buy used, rent, and or share games like they stole money out their pockets.

Just for curiosities sake what price do you think a Triple A title should go at you know with the mulit-year development and total costs being over 500million dollars?

It's not my fault somebody else has HORRIBLE money management skills, to burn through 500 million there better be a fucking rocket going up in the air when the game is launched as well. Hell with a good 5 million an indie company can make some badass that's if they need that much. Movies have been made with less, cars cost less. So why in the fuck does a AAA need to cost SO much fucking money for just 5 or so hours of Single player content, maybe multiplayer and hopefully DLC. You tell how, why do they really need 500 MILLION to get the job done and they STILL manage to make a overall average product.

 

[Vrach]

And yet people will come here and say that used sales don't cause the publisher any reason to worry...

And yet the gaming industry is the one raking in more profits than the movie industry.

 

[orangeban]

As a dirty hippie communist ect. ect. I tend to have little pity for companies. Make money in your market, that's the job of all companies. Why should I get upset that the rules aren't totally in the favour of the companies, and are in fact partly in favour of the consumer?

 

[Chelsea O'shea]

i buy all collectors edition,if that tells you anything at all about where i stand on the sale of used games.

 

[Pandabearparade]

And yet people will come here and say that used sales don't cause the publisher any reason to worry...

Mo

The customer doesn't owe the publisher or the dev anything. Why should they care about their profit, especially since so many these days seem perfectly happy to screw them?

Can someone help me out here as my sarcasm detector is broken.

Why would that be sarcasm? It's a perfectly reasonable statement. And one I heartily agree with.

This.

Most publishers aren't doing gamers any favors these days, so I hope they don't expect me to care if they start slipping into bankruptcy.

 

[Ariseishirou]

I know this isn't going to be a popular opinion on the Escapist, but this is why I loved the idea of CoD Elite.

I mean if you know you're going to get all of the DLC, this is an at-launch bundle at a discount plus a ton of extras.

Even better with the Hardened edition: a regular limited edition with steel case, artbook, soundtrack, toys usually costs around $70-$75 anyway, and this comes with an Elite subscription with all (likely) four DLC map packs at $15 a pop, plus first access to storyline movies and whatnot, all for $99 (a $130 value). If you'd bought Fallout 3 at launch then bought all of the DLC at full price when they came out, you'd be paying more than that.

And of course you can still buy the game for the regular $60 and opt-in for DLC as you see fit, and still have the full game and great experience.

*ducks rotting vegetables*

 

[Richardplex]

I don't understand the whole "insane prices" argument. I'm looking at Assassin's Creed Revelations on Steam of £29.99, and this copy of Ratchet & Clank 2 for £34.99. And I've already known my games to be about £34.99. So it isn't something that happened this generaton, the old games cost just as much.

 

[Yopaz]

And yet people will come here and say that used sales don't cause the publisher any reason to worry...

Mo

The customer doesn't owe the publisher or the dev anything. Why should they care about their profit, especially since so many these days seem perfectly happy to screw them?

Can someone help me out here as my sarcasm detector is broken.

Why would that be sarcasm? It's a perfectly reasonable statement. And one I heartily agree with.

This.

Most publishers aren't doing gamers any favors these days, so I hope they don't expect me to care if they start slipping into bankruptcy.

So you wont care if all publishers/developers slip into bankruptcy?
Now get this. I am not saying used sales should be banned. We got this thing called free market and that's why publishers can rack up their huge piles of money. The retailers undercut them using the same thing and rack up huge piles of money. However when publishers give out DLC free with new copies they should be allowed to because of... you guessed it. Free market.

 

[violinist1129]

Yeah...but...what about books, and movies. They don't whine like this. Or at least as much. I'm really sick of the whole subject.

This. If publishing, Cinema and Cars don't make such stupid claims then I don't understand why games complain so much. I mean it is not like these players don't buy the games or that the publishers get no money in this system. For every used game their was once a new game!

Movies have theater time long before DVD sales begin. Cars don't turn over in days like games do. You will never find a used car at a store one week after the model was released. Similarly, you can't even buy movies until months after their theater release.

 

[theultimateend]

And yet people will come here and say that used sales don't cause the publisher any reason to worry...

This statement is incredibly short sighted.

Or thin sighted, whatever it would be called.

This issue isn't that simple. If they got rid of used sales the amount of sales wouldn't jump by 56%.

The used product industry is fueled by a consumer market that cannot afford a luxury at the full asking price.

There is a used market for everything outside of food. Only one of those industries is accusing that market of crippling them.

Video Game publishers and Developers are making products outside of their budget and charging more than consumers are willing to pay. It is entirely their fault. Nobody forced any of them to take on the expensive arms race of graphics. Had they not done so they'd still be making large and relatively cheap games.

So you wont care if all publishers/developers slip into bankruptcy?

All publishers wouldn't, only the bad ones, Free Market (as you said).

If a company can't survive without shady practices they aren't functioning properly. There is nothing stopping companies from making good games on the cheap.

 

[Aeonknight]

I like how people act like a 20$ price difference in used and new game sales is enough of a factor that will actively determine whether or not your children get fed tonight.

"So sorry Timmy, we would've had Hamburger Helper, but I just had to have Skyrim on Launch day."

Seriously? If you can afford a luxury item like a gaming console/PC to begin with, then that price difference is not going to break you. Stop acting like it will.

 

[zerobudgetgamer]

I can't help but wonder what these figures were like during the PS1/2 ages, before DLC existed. I don't know about other people, but I bought at least 90% of my games used, from a local game store no less. Also, pretty much EVERY series that I hold near and dear to my heart now - Suikoden, Final Fantasy, Harvest Moon, etc. - came from borrowing it from a friend, and the rest all came from buying my first game in the series Used.

I suppose that just means I'm a bad gamer who's almost never given any real money to the developers for their excellent games, but I couldn't have been the minority back then, and the gaming industry was able to not only survive, but thrive, so I still say the current industry is coveting their bottom line a little too much.

 

[4173]

Because in most other cases there is either a longer delay before the product can be purchased used (consumer electronics, traditional used book stores), a much larger difference in prices (used and new cars) or a greater risk of loss of quality (cars, furniture, clothes).

Since there is also a longer delay before each normal non-resale purchase, the argument for longer delay before a resale is void. What matters is the resale percentage (aka. how huge a percentage of the sales that are re-sales compared to real sales). My guess is that the percentage doesn't vary much (at least not that much) between industries.

I don't think the longer delay can be assumed. If you have a blender, you probably don't have much use for another one (of similar quality and capabilities). Whereas with video games, while you can only play one at a time, they aren't subject to diminishing returns nearly as quickly. It circles back to quality and price as well. If one only buys a toaster once every 5 years one may be more willing to spend extra on quality. That doesn't hold true for games.*(excepting those with online passes/dlc that have a higher combined cost.)

Your other argument about much larger price differences all depends on time of sale. A car resold a year after it's been purchased is still going to fit a hefty price, while a car sold 5 years after purchase is going for a very low price. Games that aren't limited by registration, account-binding and serials etc. (aka. most console games) aren't much different.

You're right that it does relate to time, but I think price separation remains its own factor as well. The cheaper the item, the harder it is to be priced out of buying new (e.x. if I wanted a car, I literally could not afford to buy one new at the moment. If I want a game, it may be more prudent or economical to buy it used, but I have enough money to have a choice). And absolutely this happens with video games as well, but not as often I suspect. Or to flip it, used games are more likely to be competing with new games for one's money than new and used cars compete (and even if new and used cars are competing, it's even more unlikely they are the same model year).

Your argument about loss of quality is valid, but mostly only for console games. PC games are more or less either DLC-bound these days (like Arkham City buyers only getting Catwoman if they purchase the real deal. Other games are following trend).

True. And I think most outlets have become much better as far as quality control on used games, but I'm old enough to remember when buying used games was much more of a gamble. Because of the invention of CD keys, the PC used game market has always been hamstrung and died in infancy.

I'd be lying if i weren't admitting to there being SOME disparity between the normal industry or other industries, especially for console games, but it's not that huge.

The current disparity may not be huge, but publishers are in a much better(worse) position to push back at(lose money to) used game sales. Countries with a shared border are more likely to fight a war than countries that don't share a border.


*Excepting those with online passes/dlc that make a new copy cheaper than used + downloads.

edit: Somehow I always manage to do this, debate a topic that is only on the periphery of the issue. Inventing the atomic bomb doesn't necessarily mean it should be used. But it is much harder for the Cold War to happen if everyone is still relying on manpower and massive invasions.

 

[Something Amyss]

And yet people will come here and say that used sales don't cause the publisher any reason to worry...

Considering they're still charting record profits and record-breaking sales, I wonder why anyone would say that.

 

[AdumbroDeus]

This story outright glosses over a number of important effects and outright lies. Read the actual report.


There are no controls in the original data for parents who buy games for kids. Even in my household, this metric would give us a 29% rate of people who play games but don't pay for games, because the two youngest don't have a reliable income yet and any games they own were purchased by our parents. The rest of us all purchase and play games. When you consider games are a common babysitting tool these days by parents (who often don't play them at all and therefore aren't counted in the data), I'm surprised that this percentage isn't significantly higher. Edit: I'm noting how much this would skew things, not saying that swapping between friends and console piracy doesn't occur.


Then you have the fact that they lied about the 85% who regularly purchase pre-owned games are from the same population. It includes Mac and PC gamers as well.



Overall poor scholarship, and the fact that only 23% of total game budget is spent on pre-owned games with the rest being spent on new and DLC tells me that business is still quite good for the developers. This should've been highlighted in the report instead of buried.

 

[Atheist.]

I base whether I buy the game new or used depending on if I support the publisher. Activision and EA games? I'll buy those used. Atlus games? New.