Blockbuster Defends Used Games

[The Wooster]

Blockbuster Defends Used Games

Without the second-hand market, there's no way for specialized game stores to survive.

At least according to Blockbuster's UK boss, Gerry Butler, who explains that supermarkets - or superstores, if you prefer - are taking a loss on games in order to push smaller retailers out of the market.

"Supermarkets use games as potential loss-leaders, so specialists can't survive," he told MCV. [http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-05-11-blockbuster-when-the-market-was-growing-nobody-spoke-about-trade-in] "That's why there are less games shops than there were three years ago. Without pre-owned, those companies cannot survive."

That seems to ring true. The musty ran-by-a-terrifying-man-with-a-beard game shops of my youth have been superseded by Walmart's glass cases and glossy-eyed stafflings, the latter of which could probably watch a man get eaten by wolves with the same chilling, emotionless stare they maintain while packing your shopping bags.

"If you're a specialist you need certain margins to run your business," Butler continued. "When you are in a commoditised industry, those margins evaporate."

According to Butler, publishers and developers are using used games as a scapegoat to explain why some games aren't meeting sales expectations.

"When the market was growing, nobody spoke about trade-in. It didn't matter. Everyone was hitting their numbers," he said. "But as soon as someone starts missing the numbers, they are like: 'Well this trade-in is killing us. How do we stop it?'"



Permalink

 

[Vault101]

used games shouldn't be a problem....you dont cut it out for some arbitraity reason..you deal with it

 

[Tony2077]

well i see it this way without used games i wouldn't be able to play some of the games i do since finding them new is impossible. at least its a legal way to get them unlike torrents and such


edit: ah the good old bottom line they don't like it when you mess with that

 

[Worgen]

Wait, blockbusters are still around? and are able to make good points about things?

.... I'm scared, I need a hug.

 

[The Wooster]

Wait, blockbusters are still around? and are able to make good points about things?

.... I'm scared, I need a hug.

If anyone knows anything about being forced out of the market, it's Blockbuster.

 

[kouriichi]

I honestly agree with him. The minute numbers take a hit, they look for something to explain it. Modding systems and torrenting games have been around forever. Its nothing new. And pirating was never even considered a big issue until recent years, when everyone expects game to always sell a million copies on launch.

Games were just better 10 years ago. They were better 5 years ago. They didnt have to find something to blame, because games were worth buying.

People pirated Duke Nukem Forever? I wonder why.... Nah, it couldnt be that it was a massive letdown, and a complete betrayal of the original Duke Nukem games. Omg~ MW3 was download "illegally" by a lot of people? It couldnt be that its a copy paste of MW2! Noooooo~ that would be silly.

Im not saying good games dont come out. Im just saying diverse games that are worth purchasing dont come out enough. Imagine if every game were to be as unique as minecraft. New Jade Empire? I think it would sale amazingly. HD Remake of FF7 (just updated graphics, and only updated graphics)? Sales would be through the roof! A new Baldur's Gate in the Style of "Dark Alliance" games, or even just an HD update of the existing ones? My god! This is an untapped market!

If they are so worried about money, why dont they release a new HD update of games that sold well every month? Because in all truth, they arnt really worried about how much money is coming in, so much as having something to blame for bad sales when they set their expectations to high.

 

[Tony2077]

Wait, blockbusters are still around? and are able to make good points about things?

.... I'm scared, I need a hug.

If anyone knows anything about being forced out of the market, it's Blockbuster.

yep i'm still wondering how it died here in canada

 

[omicron1]

This is operating under the assumption that specialty game stores are necessary... supermarkets will serve, and if gamestop vanishes, they will take its place in the world with ease.

Why do we need GameStop anyway?

 

[Brett Bowling]

Without used games the whole video game industry would take a hit. All new games are to expensive for gambling. What I mean is if you come across a game you haven't heard of but you might like it. Maybes aren't worth $60 so I only try new series when they are at the preowned price. That way if they are garbage it dosn't reduce my overall faith in video games like buying a $60 train wreck would. That's why games like Mario and Call of Duty insist on reminding consumers of there unchanging titles. People won't go to a midnight launch of some game called Black Ops however, Call of Duty: Black Ops will get a better turnout since it has a trusted brand name. So when franchises come out that aren't recognizable people won't spend a heap of cash on something that could be crap. People will take a chance on a $17 game like I did with Dead Space. Now after loving Dead Space, when Dead Space 2 came out I bought it first day.
Ya hear that EA pre-owned games helped sell a fresh copy of Dead Space 2 and every Dead Space sequel that you release in the future!

 

[twistedheat15]

Wait, blockbusters are still around? and are able to make good points about things?

.... I'm scared, I need a hug.

If anyone knows anything about being forced out of the market, it's Blockbuster.

what the shit is that staring at me as your avatar, and please tell me it isn't real. I enjoy sleeping at night and suddenly picture it in my window.

 

[=y]

Wait, blockbusters are still around? and are able to make good points about things?

.... I'm scared, I need a hug.

*offers a hug*

I too had thought they had vanished off of the face of the Earth by now. Oh well, we'll hear about that sooner or later.

at least its a legal way to get them unlike torrents and such

Yup. Provide better service than the pirates or make better games and people want to pay for them new. 60 bucks a title isn't cheap if you're on a budget like mine.

 

[Tony2077]

Wait, blockbusters are still around? and are able to make good points about things?

.... I'm scared, I need a hug.

*offers a hug*

I too had thought they had vanished off of the face of the Earth by now. Oh well, we'll hear about that sooner or later.

at least its a legal way to get them unlike torrents and such

Yup. Provide better service than the pirates or make better games and people want to pay for them new. 60 bucks a title isn't cheap if you're on a budget like mine.

its not cheap but looking at gas and food makes it not seem as bad

 

[=y]

its not cheap but looking at gas and food makes it not seem as bad

The problem is games are not essential to my life like gasoline or food is. An unfortunate truth but if I can't drive out to work I make no money and of course ya need to eat.

 

[ivc392]

I suddenly feel bad for that GameBoy Color cartridges I "forgot" to return...oh, any way...

He makes a good point.

Whats sinking the industry are not trade-ins or used games. The total lack of creativity and innovation most publisher have, not to mention the almost psychotic level of fear towards any type of change or risk, is what running this industry.

Lager publishers are basic demanding that every developer must create the same WW3/BT3 clone over and over. Re-releasing them under old-school franchises with the unrealistic expectation that 20+ gamers that grew up with the original titles would suddenly rush into Walt-Mart and buy a crappy FPS. Then blaming the low release sales on used-games and piracy.

Everybody is then shocked when a indie title like Minecraft suddenly bashes through the door like a enraged pixelated zombie, or when DoubleFine asks for support for a quirky little adventure game and end up with a total $3.3 million budget.

Screw EA and Activision. Screw online passes and day 1 DLC. Screw inflated IGN and Metacritic scores...

Im going to play some pokemon blue now...

 

[Tony2077]

its not cheap but looking at gas and food makes it not seem as bad

The problem is games are not essential to my life like gasoline or food is. An unfortunate truth but if I can't drive out to work I make no money and of course ya need to eat.

i know but it still doesn't seem as bad

 

[ritchards]

Next thing: "Places offering our games for $1 less than full price are making us lose all the numbers! Oh noes!"

 

[FoolKiller]

Wait, blockbusters are still around? and are able to make good points about things?

.... I'm scared, I need a hug.

If anyone knows anything about being forced out of the market, it's Blockbuster.

yep i'm still wondering how it died here in canada

Simple. They were overpriced for rentals, both games and movies. Also, the games rentals went away with free demos online (which I still don't trust) and things like Netflix did in the movie rentals.

They also didn't have any one knowledgeable on hand when they were getting into used games in 2004. I was buying up $1 to $5 used games at places like EB because Blockbuster wanted stock and were giving away new copies of games like GTA: San Andreas for trading in any four (non-identical titles) used games. They weren't even interested in the condition of said games. In total, I picked up 13 copies of GTA across the city at various Blockbusters and spent less $100 dollars on it.

Don't worry... Rogers Videos are vanishing too. Then we'll have nothing left.

Companies don't realize how their early adoption sales are funded by used games. If you're clever, you can turn a 60 dollar new game into a 30 dollar new game which in turn becomes a ten dollar used game. So for 60 dollars I get to play three games. Granted, the publisher of the ten dollar game never sees a dime from me but the 30 dollar purchase was a sale based on a trade in. And I've seen many people flip three or four games for a new release.

And lets not even get into Walmart being the devil. They didn't have any special bonuses to give for the release of Batman: Arkham City so they just gave away free copies of Arkham Asylum with it. How is any small store supposed to compete with that?

 

[Tony2077]

Wait, blockbusters are still around? and are able to make good points about things?

.... I'm scared, I need a hug.

If anyone knows anything about being forced out of the market, it's Blockbuster.

yep i'm still wondering how it died here in canada

Simple. They were overpriced for rentals, both games and movies. Also, the games rentals went away with free demos online (which I still don't trust) and things like Netflix did in the movie rentals.

They also didn't have any one knowledgeable on hand when they were getting into used games in 2004. I was buying up $1 to $5 used games at places like EB because Blockbuster wanted stock and were giving away new copies of games like GTA: San Andreas for trading in any four (non-identical titles) used games. They weren't even interested in the condition of said games. In total, I picked up 13 copies of GTA across the city at various Blockbusters and spent less $100 dollars on it.

Don't worry... Rogers Videos are vanishing too. Then we'll have nothing left.

Companies don't realize how their early adoption sales are funded by used games. If you're clever, you can turn a 60 dollar new game into a 30 dollar new game which in turn becomes a ten dollar used game. So for 60 dollars I get to play three games. Granted, the publisher of the ten dollar game never sees a dime from me but the 30 dollar purchase was a sale based on a trade in. And I've seen many people flip three or four games for a new release.

And lets not even get into Walmart being the devil. They didn't have any special bonuses to give for the release of Batman: Arkham City so they just gave away free copies of Arkham Asylum with it. How is any small store supposed to compete with that?

why should i not worry i liked blockbuster it give me a way to get games without buying them used or full price. you forget the usa part of the chain screwed the Canadian part over as well