Designer: Don't Worry About Used Sales, Just Make Good Games
- Thread starter Greg Tito
- Start date
Well, the problem isn't so much used game sales, it's that gaming has, more or less, broken into the mainstream market. Now we have people who may not know as much about the industry going to stores like Gamestop to buy the games they see advertised on TV. They see two prices, they see the new game at $60, and the used at $50. You could bet money that they'd take the used game every time. It was never much of a problem before now because not quite as many people played games, so they weren't losing as many potential customers to used sales. Now that gaming has essentially become mainstream, while their bottom line might not be getting hurt by the used market, there is still a lot of potential sales they are missing out on, and they just simply want that money in their pockets instead of Gamestop's.oppp7 said:
Lol, mods. Hey that's great, for PC games. Oh snap! PC games don't have a used market. And you can forget about console mods. Then publishers couldn't sell their precious DLC, because nobody would buy what they could make in a week by fiddling around with some mod tools. Of course, you could make the mod tools less powerful (simple level editors like Halo's Forge and Little Big Planet's core), but then they're not really mod tools, and don't create as much replayability.The Rogue Wolf said:
The problem here is not used sales, which is what PTD is targeting, the problem is that GS has a monopoly. No matter what you're doing, you don't screw the customers. Used sales got you down? Suck it up and play your cards conservatively, or you go bold and get competitive (like Take Two games) carving out a chunk of the used market for yourself. This creates competition, which forces innovation, and is better for the consumer. The Invisible Hand strikes again.Autofaux said:
I would side with my local Gamestop over a publisher any day.psrdirector said:
This is pretty much what I was thinking. Thank god for this guy, though I wish it wasn't an F1 racing game he was the designer of. I don't like them. Oh well, you take what you can get I suppose!vanthebaron said:
Yes, because making games are really easy.
His comments are idiotic, especially for someone working in the damn industry.
People will still buy games owned no matter what, sooner or later someone is going to sale that game no matter how good it is. Hell MGS4, Halo 3, God of War 3, Killzone 2, and even Mario games all get traded in sooner or later.
His comments are idiotic, especially for someone working in the damn industry.
People will still buy games owned no matter what, sooner or later someone is going to sale that game no matter how good it is. Hell MGS4, Halo 3, God of War 3, Killzone 2, and even Mario games all get traded in sooner or later.
Yes, because friendliness and excellent customer service don't count for anything, amirite? I have only ever been screwed by Gamestop once, and the guy who did it was a newbie and I trashed him in the survey, so it's all good. Every other time it's been smooth sailing. They're great people who are willing to help me scour the shelves and bins for that rare gem I'm looking for, they never try to sell me BS extras like I'm some rube, and they even tried to work the system so I could get a game that was only available at a GS two counties over (they seriously fought tooth & nail, but the other store's manager was a stubborn jerk).psrdirector said:
Wow, I'm baffled by the stupidity of this statement! (O_O)Greg Tito said:
No Greg, you see, only a small fraction of game developers do that, everyone else puts out 200 units of mass produced garbage for one good game.
Shit. WHERE'S MY GODDAMN TOTEM?!strum4h said:
On topic: Aren't game companies supposed to make great games anyway? Isn't that how they get rich?
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Hang on. Is Dynasty Warriors still going?
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In that case, that's definitelty advice that game companies should take.
Gamestop never gave us DRM that "phones home" every time you start the game. Publishers and Devs on the other hand...well, 'nuff said.psrdirector said:
Also Gamestop is a godsend to broke college students. Yes I actually like the used game market, maybe it's because I haven't had a bad experience at any Gamestop stores yet. That and they don't treat me like a criminal, which is more than I can say for some developers and publishers.
Gamestop sponsored the Independent Games Developer Contest; your argument is invalid.psrdirector said:
Also how dare a retail store take my money in exchange for a good. Not like that's the whole fucking point of a store or anything. In any event your arguments are silly because they're based around the binary concept that the industry and/or gamestop is either entirely good or entirely bad, rather than the obvious shades of grey that both are.