Are Used Games Killing New Games?

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Are Used Games Killing New Games?

According to Gamasutra [http://www.gamasutra.com/], the reason for the collapse of the game industry is coming from within.

According to the article, the main problem at the moment seems to be how to get enough money back out of the struggling economy whilst game pirates and re-sellers drain off precious resources.

Atari is taking the position that the used game sales are
'extremely painful' [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/87828-Atari-Is-Worried-Not-Worried-About-Used-Game-Sales], but has its own methods to get around it, such as online components, but it's difficult to see whether that will work.

Gamestop's CEO weighed in in support of resales [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/87678-GameStop-CEO-Says-Restricting-Used-Game-Sales-Is-Bad-For-Everyone]. So no change there then.

However, David Braben [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/86219-Pre-Owned-Games-Damaging-Single-Player-Development-Says-Braben], (Creator of ELITE [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_(computer_game)], and now head of Frontier Development) wasn't quite as enamored. "Five years ago, a great game would have sold for a longer period of time than for a bad game - which was essentially our incentive to make great games. But no longer. Now publishers and developers just see revenue the initial few weeks regardless of the game's quality and then gamers start buying used copies which generates money that goes into GameStop's pocket, nobody else's."

Do you think 2D Boy want to make another 'World of Goo' [www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/87450-World-of-Goo-Experiences-90-Percent-Piracy-Rate] with this hanging over them?

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[Miral]

That's just because of the retail shelving model -- lots of game releases per month plus about one shelf in the entire store containing games (at least in the stores I've been to recently) means that games don't live long before being tossed into the bargain bin.

Online releases (including both online retail shops selling boxed games and digital download shops) have much greater longevity, from what I've seen. (And considering World of Goo is one of the latter, your reference seems misplaced.)

 

[TsunamiWombat]

They could try adding incentives for new copies. Throw in cheap brickabraks, or things that improve the game experiance but aren't necessary. You know, the kind of shit usually reserved for special editions.

 

[CoverYourHead]

I feel like downloadable games are better for companies in this aspect.

Oh, and I hate pirates, seriously, what the heck guys?

 

[DeadlyYellow]

They could try adding incentives for new copies. Throw in cheap brickabraks, or things that improve the game experiance but aren't necessary. You know, the kind of shit usually reserved for special editions.

So DLC and patches(may or may not be necessary)?

I feel like downloadable games are better for companies in this aspect.

Oh, and I hate pirates, seriously, what the heck guys?

Love digital distribution.

As for me, if it's new then I buy new. Haven't been to a Gamestop in..... a yearish? I can't remember. Didn't care for the place since the EB buyout and lost what little was left with Zero Originality. If I want used, there's a locally owned game and movie shop with a decent selection (a lot of oldies too...SNES, Genesis, etc.) If it's out of print I turn to the internet for Amazon.com or Steam.

 

[Alex_P]

Second-hand bookstores haven't killed the publishing industry.

-- Alex

 

[Ray Huling]

What collapse of the gaming industry?

 

[Siuss]

They could try adding incentives for new copies. Throw in cheap brickabraks, or things that improve the game experiance but aren't necessary. You know, the kind of shit usually reserved for special editions.

Gears 2 did this, I bought it used and didn't get the flashback pack. Needless to say I have a sad.

 

[Pigeon_Grenade]

They could try adding incentives for new copies. Throw in cheap brickabraks, or things that improve the game experiance but aren't necessary. You know, the kind of shit usually reserved for special editions.

they should, but wont

 

[dcheppy]

Digital distribution helps.
So does DLC goodies for new copies.(gears map pack)
Also some games will be able to monetize the playing of the game, not just the intital sale.(WoW, micropayments)

 

[Tomany2]

i am having the feeling that there should be serial numbers on the games...
i mean i know there is already but like they do on computers where if you already used it, it cant be reused. Unless you go through the lengthy process of going to the site and removing it from their records.

Another problem i have noticed is the new Xbox 360 download feature where you can just download the game on to your hard drive and not even need to buy it.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

i am having the feeling that there should be serial numbers on the games...
i mean i know there is already but like they do on computers where if you already used it, it cant be reused. Unless you go through the lengthy process of going to the site and removing it from their records.

Another problem i have noticed is the new Xbox 360 download feature where you can just download the game on to your hard drive and not even need to buy it.

You need the actual disc to run the game though. Hard Driving just stores important data on the HD, the actual Exe is still on the disc.

 

[TheEggplant]

Here we go.
I'm going to take a hardline this time.
GROW UP PUBLISHERS!
The used market is a reality. Deal with it like professionals.
Hate Gamestop? Then call them out by name and stop providing them with exclusives.
DO NOT, however, tell me what I can do with a game I legally purchased.

 

[stompy]

These guys want their cake and want to eat it as well; they want more sales (not pre-owned), but will do nothing to address the issue. Try having a (positive) reason as to why I should buy new instead of pre-owned, and, well, then you'll get more sales.

 

[cobra_ky]

But MP3 already killed the record store. the difference is that digital media is much easier to copy and is lot more durable. (discs don't wear out in the same way books do.) that said, napster didn't hurt the artists, it hurt the record houses and the stores that specifically stocked CDs.

In the long run, used game sales aren't going to hurt developers as much as publishers. Publishers will take a hit, the big budgets may dry up, and developers may not make as much in royalties for a while, but consumers will still want new games to play. I know a lot of people who make a point of financially supporting their favorite media by buying their products new, and as more and more companies move towards things like digital content delivery and online play, new revenue streams will develop while reducing production costs and broadening the market.

EDIT: i took too long writing this and everyone made my points for me

 

[Tomany2]

i am having the feeling that there should be serial numbers on the games...
i mean i know there is already but like they do on computers where if you already used it, it cant be reused. Unless you go through the lengthy process of going to the site and removing it from their records.

Another problem i have noticed is the new Xbox 360 download feature where you can just download the game on to your hard drive and not even need to buy it.

You need the actual disc to run the game though. Hard Driving just stores important data on the HD, the actual Exe is still on the disc.

Oh Okay i just heard from a friend because my Xbox is currently being reapired!

 

[Shade Jackrabbit]

Currently the reason I buy second-hand is because I think a lot of games are overpriced. I've only played a few games I would be willing to spend 50 or 60 dollars on and ironically I got Half-Life 2 for free and American McGee's Alice second-hand for 2 dollars.

In support of first-hand though, you do get very nice box/cover art which is sometimes missing in second-hand purchases. I think though to really make first-hand a viable option they should bring down the prices of their games.

 

[MosDes]

I think though to really make first-hand a viable option they should bring down the prices of their games.

I respect that game companies need the money to pay their employees and to fund servers and stuff, but I assume they never look into the majority of the population that plays games.

How many people do you know that can afford as many as 3 or 4 new $50-60 releases per day to week? How many people do you know would spend that kind of money on credit and slowly pay it off?

I am one of those people in an already failing economy who never could afford everything new. Heck, I buy most of my stuff used (games, furniture, music, clothing; yeah thrift stores are awesome) and I still have a really tight budget. I'm sure most of the other gamers in the world are in a similar position. Not to mention, I don't think I've ever really seen someone who could easily afford those expensive new releases actually play games on a regular basis, they are usually out to get your money.

 

[ZakuII]

Like the previous poster stated, lots of sources have been cited as various industry killers but they survived. However,

"Five years ago, a great game would have sold for a longer period of time than for a bad game - which was essentially our incentive to make great games. But no longer.

this implies a reason much closer to home when it comes to the recent supposed death of the gaming industry. The majority of publishers are producing crap. Crap with a £40 price tag. If a game is actually good, enough people will buy it firsthand to make it worthwhile making in the first place. Isn't that the reason the industry isn't dead already?

I don't buy into the fairytale that people don't continually buy a great game over a period of time these days. If it's so great, why are second hand copies even available? As for piracy, that's always existed, but we only seem to be hearing excessive whining about it recently. Why? In my opinion, not because people have unanimously decided to never pay retail again, but because of industry resignation to produce crap with a hefty price tag that precedes this whole debacle.

Sure, it must be very temping to look at figures of piracy and used sales for your game and go "Look at these figures! If the million pirates and resellers had bought the game for £40 we'd have £40,000,000! Those total and utter SHITS!" But that money never exisited. If they couldn't get it for free or cheaply, they likely would just skip it altogether. Not all of them, but i'd bet on a majority. If suddenly we were all offered free/cheap ice cream now during winter, what would happen? The whole country would be eating ice cream because it's free or to a lesser extent cheap. That doesn't mean everyone was winding their merry way to buy ice cream at full price before they realised they could aquire it freely/cheaply. The people that could afford it and regularly consumed it would mostly go on buying it as they always had. Unless the quality was questionable. Would you buy ice cream full price when it regularly got less chocolatey? Would you feel like you had a justification to rip off the makers, who were ripping you off with inferior ingredients and taste?

I'm dead against being able to 'steal' another persons creative property, but the ironic thing about piracy and the resale market is that they're shafting a lot of publishing companies far more than the developers that work for those companies. The dev's wouldn't be seeing much of the extra revenue that comes with launch sales at all regardless, having signed their souls away to aquire inital funding. The publishing company would be making money hand over bastard fist however. As far as independant developers go, they in theory get utterly shafted by piracy, but do independant developers even exist anymore? Ones that don't mostly make cheapo 2D games where they break even after 100 or so sales?

If piracy and used sales takes down the major publishers, so what? That doesn't mean the death of the gaming industry by any stretch of the imagination. Just the gaming industry as it exists now. Who's to say that's not even a good thing? Developers get less and less creative freedom recently. Innovative and interesting games are often scrapped by publishers for fear of not being exploitable enough, with a double digit sequal followup series. We've all seen the evidence of games being rushed out the door before they were ready, and who makes that descion? Publishers mostly. Not developers. Why do they get away with it? Because of the ridiculous amount of money they have as a safety net. If an independant developer rushed a game out the door in a greedy effort they'd have their reputation tarnished and have extreme difficultly aquiring the funds to ever get a second chance. That, in a nutshell, would be 'essentially their incentive to make great games'. Their jobs.

If it was exessive money developers were after rather than a creative job, i hate to be the one to point out to them that developing games isn't one of the most lucrative choices.

We all know the industry is hurting, but trying to destroy elements of life you don't like is about as sensible as trying to turn back the tide. It would be nice if they could channel their abundant crying/whining energy into some constructive/creative ways to get on with their lives. Either make do, or quit.