Designer: Don't Worry About Used Sales, Just Make Good Games

[Autofaux]

Oh, wow. Why didn't anybody think of this? It's almost as if that is the whole point of starting a project.

First Mark Lamia, now this guy. It has everything to do with consumer behaviour, sure, but its as much the consumer's fault as it is one retailer in particular. GameStop passes off price gouging for used games as a good deal, and regular people don't care to see that they are getting ripped off. 55 dollars is not that much better than 60.

In an effort to make a return against the losses caused by GameStop and its used game empire, Project Ten Dollar is becoming more popular. Quality is next to irrelevant with GameStop's price gouging now ingrained into how the industry operates, and I believe more independent developers should adopt Project Ten Dollar. Publishers take it on the chin, but independent developers that also publish their own games stand to lose a lot of money because of the used games market.

Let's combat social engineering with a flimsy solution. Sounds like something my government would come up with.

 

[XerxesQados]

The problem isn't replay value (which is what Hood's referring to, not quality), it's the fact that new games are really, really, really, really expensive.

Not every game needs to have 50 hours of extraneous crap to do. There is a place in this world for linear, 5 hour single-player games with a polished story arc. If publishers demand that all games have infinite replay value, it will either limit the variety of games that can be made, or waste the developer's time tacking on some lackluster extras.

Just lower the price of games. Sixty dollars is ridiculous.

Furthermore, a $20 price tag for the base game would have the side benefit of making 47 day-one DLC packs feel a bit less shameless.

 

[oppp7]

What I don't get is the fact that used games have been going on for... how many years now? And suddenly they're a huge problem.

Good to see someone's trying to make better games.

 

[Ranooth]

Or just make a PC game that uses Steam . .

 

[linkzeldi]

Way to go designer dude. . .!

 

[StriderShinryu]

Should developers always be trying to make great games? Yes. Will that solve the issue of used games? Not in the slightest.

 

[Therumancer]

Actually this is a "new" revelation given the current attitudes of the industry.

Understand that the game industry is massively corperate right now, it isn't what it used to be. It's out to make the most profits it can, as quickly as it can. Simply having a good game that makes more money than it cost to produce is not enough.

To the corperate mentality they generally do not want people to have many games that can remain entertaining for hundreds or even thousands of hours, because if people are content with the games that they have, they aren't going to be running out to buy more games. The more games they can shovel out, the more money they can make.

This is a driving force (though not the sole one) behind the proliferation of shooters (heavily promoted by the industry and reviewers and such they buy), and the gradual decline of large RPG games and such. As long term gamers can point out, games are getting shorter and shorter, and more linear as time goes on. Game companies will tout replayability as a feature, but in reality it's a liability to their bottom line, which is why it's usually a token effort and most people wind up complaining that the depth companies typically claim (all these desicians and options that change things radically) are a lie.

What's more the whole DLC gimmick depends on a minimalist approach to game development. A game company wants to put the least amount of content into a game as they can, so they can sell pieces of it later as DLC. Right now you have people developing the DLC and deciding how they are going to market it right alongside the games as well.

The claims in that article represent an epiphany for the modern gaming industry. Remember what is common sense to us, is not common sense to them. Stripping down the games, or simply producing relatively short ones leads to people finishing those games, and then trading them in at a fairly prodigious rate.

Of course it can also be pointed out that despite being right about this, it also isn't the whole story. The strategy they are using about shoveling out short/linear games and DLC came about because it works. The big question is of course going to be whether going after the used game market by producing longer term games is going to net them more profits than sucking it up and continueing down this road. We'll probably see things change a bit if this idea comes on, but I can guarantee the gaming industry won't be looking towards what the customers are going to want, but the best balance between they extremes they can find from their own financial perspective. I wouldn't put it past them to find a "perfect" compromise in their minds that is a nightmare to us consumers.

At any rate, as consumers we'd like to think the attitude of making long, and worthwhile games that people wouldn't want to trade was their standard attitude. Once upon a time the industry was simply out to make *a* profit and wanted to give consumers the best possible deal for their money as the industry could and make a profit itself. Today that isn't the case anymore, and it hasn't been for a long time. Today it's all about *monster* profits, projected growth, and getting every single dime they can out of the user base.

 

[Racthoh]

Hurray for good games. I have three Diablo II battle chests and the no doubt thousands of hours myself and my two brothers put into the game were well worth it.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

Good advice, that's what Troika did!

It's a shame they could never make a game that people wanted at release.

 

[BlackWidower]

YES! You see, that's how the free market works. You want to crush an industry, you don't do it by guilting people away from it, or lobbying the government to legislate against it, you do it by giving the consumers no reason to want the industry to exist. If you don't want people to buy used games, you need to give people a reason to stop getting rid of their games.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

At least someone in the industry has a functioning brain.

 

[Mcupobob]

Whoa, whoa. Someone in the game induster wants to make games with lasting appeal because he thinks fighting against the used game induster is futile by whining and sueing?

This guy is either the second coming of jesus or the anti-christ.

 

[Georgie_Leech]

Alternatively, add different kinds of content to the game that makes us want to experiment. I'm sure this will have been mentioned by the time our computer gets around to actually sending this (dang it Dad! Never get old Vista as an "upgrade"), but user-created content tends to dramatically extend the lifetime of a game. Give us room for creativity, and we last for ages. Mods are a huge reason of why games like Half-Life 2, despite being released years ago, are still beloved by the community. Heck, I played Nuts 'n' Bolts far longer than the actual missions because a friend kept coming up with design challenges for me to finish. I'm especially fond of my high speed fuel-less vehicle.

Bottom line, let us tinker, and we'll love the games for years beyond the normal expiration date.

 

[Trucken]

So Hood's idea to reduce the used game market is to make great games that people would never want to part with at all. Sounds great in theory, but isn't that what all game designers have been doing since the industry began? I'm not sure that this is some big new revelation, or if focusing on making good games isn't what most developers already do.

Considering some of the shit that actually gets released these days this might not be the case. It should be though.

 

[MasterV]

Oh my....wait wait....you mean...an industry person actually has...COMMON SENSE?!?!?!? Why is he the first one to say this kind of thing?

 

[Twilight_guy]

Yes because developers have been trying to make mediocre and bad games this whole time. I can't imagine a single person who would honestly say "I'm going to make an only okay game today". It's not the kind of field that lends itself to people just working for the paycheck. Companies could try harder I guess but I think that every game ever starts out as a great idea and dies along the way so its really not possible to just say "try harder" its more complex then that.