GAME Adds DLC Warning Labels to Used Games

[Wolfiesden]

This is yet another sign and proof that society in general has degenerated into a sue happy litigation oriented abyss. I think its completely MORONIC to expect NEW GAME benefits from a USED GAME. Anyone who does needs a brain transplant. When you buy a used car do you expect a full manufacturer's warranty? If you do, again, check into a hospital for a brain transplant.

All these retailers need to do is put a sign by the register "Used games may not include all the content as new games. Individual games vary in used game content." Done. No need for stickers, employee time to apply them and shipping/printing costs to buy them. Consumer was warned at the register.

People need to stop suing because THEY are stupid, lawyers need to stop taking the cases from STUPID people. Pour hot coffee in your crotch, wow, it burns. No shit. Here's your sign. You bought a used game and didn't get all the content as a new game. No shit. Here's your sign.

 

[RooksEye]

I wish the place I worked at did this. You don't know how many times I've been yelled at by customers who buy a used copy of the game and it doesn't come with the DLC. I always tell them: The DLC card may or may not work. It depends on what the previous owner did.

 

[Daveman]

Good ol' GAME with your free rewards card that gives me ten percent of all store purchases back to me as store credit [/advertisement]. Still... it's not as good as Gamestation.

 

[Andy Chalk]

If people can't afford a $60 new game, they aren't going to buy it, DLC or no DLC.

Gamestop has something like 5 times greater profit margin on used games as they do new games, so whats stopping them from dropping the price of the used game another 5 or 10 bucks, allowing the customer to still get the game and the DLC at a lower cost than the new copy, and only hurting their profits a tiny bit.

They very well might. In fact, that point came up back when discussion about this first began: GameStop and the rest make enough on used games that they could afford to drop the price ten bucks, eat a few points of margin and still come out ahead.

But the biggest issue for publishers is with used copies of games that are still new; in the case of the moron who sued because he couldn't be bothered to read the package, he paid $54.99 for a used copy instead of $59.99 for a new one. That pretty much kills the argument about screwing people who can't afford to buy the game new, because if five bucks is going to make that much of a difference in your life then you shouldn't be buying ANY games.

 

[Sun Flash]

I work in GAME. And I am a proud employee.

*salutes franchise in front of of purple flag background while shedding a single tear of pride as the orchestra swells*

If it stops middle aged women ranting at me on behalf of their pissy little 13 year old, huzzah!

 

[Captain Pancake]

Ah, good ol' GAME. I forever love thou for your trade-in system that allowed me to trade in New Super Mario Bros. Wii and a couple other Wii games for enough credit to buy Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and have £14 worth of it remaining.

Yet I only got a tenner for trading in assassins creed 2...

 

[scnj]

I approve entirely of Project Ten Dollar, because I tend to buy my games new anyway. I'm not gonna ***** about free DLC.

 

[Wolfiesden]

In a car you wouldn't expect a warranty but you'd expect the car to be physically identical to a new one, this'd be like a new car having special wheel rims or a turbo that was removed before resale.

Apparently you are proving my point by your counter point No you wouldn't expect a new warranty and, I at least, don't expect a used car to be identical to a new one. They are USED, their owners drive them, wear them, and yes, remove things from them. Perhaps that owner used the "Free Oil Changes with a new car purchase" coupon too. You expect that to be valid for a used car too I suppose?

When I buy a used game, I expect that the prior owner probably registered and used the codes the new game had included and they are not going to be re-usable. I am usually right. If you expect new game benefits from a used game, maybe you shouldn't own a PC or console and should invest in a good deck of used cards from a pawn shop to play solitaire with. Hopefully all the cards are in the used deck.

 

[Fetzenfisch]

This is yet another sign and proof that society in general has degenerated into a sue happy litigation oriented abyss. I think its completely MORONIC to expect NEW GAME benefits from a USED GAME. Anyone who does needs a brain transplant. When you buy a used car do you expect a full manufacturer's warranty? If you do, again, check into a hospital for a brain transplant.

All these retailers need to do is put a sign by the register "Used games may not include all the content as new games. Individual games vary in used game content." Done. No need for stickers, employee time to apply them and shipping/printing costs to buy them. Consumer was warned at the register.

People need to stop suing because THEY are stupid, lawyers need to stop taking the cases from STUPID people. Pour hot coffee in your crotch, wow, it burns. No shit. Here's your sign. You bought a used game and didn't get all the content as a new game. No shit. Here's your sign.

Xept that we are not talking about something like a car or second hand clothing. But a Medium.
The whole policy is the same as if you bought a DVD without the bonus content printed on the Case, A Book with missing Chapters, or an Music Album without Tracks 2,5 and 12.
Just another money-making trap so that you got to buy the DLC which should have been in the game in the first place, but EA decided that its cleverer to sell a 75% Game earlier in developement and then SELLING Patches of 5% bits.

 

[UnravThreads]

I approve entirely of Project Ten Dollar, because I tend to buy my games new anyway. I'm not gonna ***** about free DLC.

Me too, but that stems mainly from being a PC gamer.

I think this is a good move. If it's well sign posted, people will not be able to plead ignorance as easily. As for the "$55 Used $60 New", GAME tends to be quite good for pre-owned prices. They're not always great, but it's better than what I've heard about Gamestop. BUT you have to check the game cases of new ones first, because rarely a used game can cost more than a new one.

 

[SomeBoredGuy]

Ah, good ol' GAME. I forever love thou for your trade-in system that allowed me to trade in New Super Mario Bros. Wii and a couple other Wii games for enough credit to buy Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and have £14 worth of it remaining.

Yet I only got a tenner for trading in assassins creed 2...

A result of the Wii (unfortunately) being more popular. Shame really, although NSMB Wii only counted for some of the money.

 

[Therumancer]

The labels are a good thing. I mentioned in the article on Gamestop when it was covered here that this is what they should have done automatically.

Truthfully there are laws involving fine print and such, and honestly when your putting an asterix on a statement and explaining it elsewhere I get especially wary. Not everyone follows the internet on gaming, and it is possible to label packaging deceptively. Having bought a new copy, and known the details on everything ahead of time, I can't comment on how much I would have picked up if I was going purely by the box. Truthfully I do tend to side with the consumer in cases like this. Honestly it always seems like "someone was too stupid to read the package/fine print Lulz" as long as it's not you. When your on the receiving end and feel like you got screwed/taken advantage of it's something else.


Speaking for myself though, I wouldn't have gone to a lawsuit immediatly. I would have tried to resolve things with the retailer, and then if that failed gone to the BBB (Better Business Bureau) and Attorney General's office before then. That was if I *DID* go so far as a lawsuit I can add weight to my case by showing the measures I tried first. Truthfully though while a private organization, chances are your going to get satisfaction if you can get the BBB on your side. Most businesses would rather refund a product/take a return or whatever irregardless of their policies than risk the kind of bad press/problems the BBB can cause by putting the word out of them (so to speak).

For all my criticisms of the industry I tend not to be a big fan of lawsuits, that being a "last resort" type measure. I personally think what gamers need is to try and organize some kind of consumer advocacy, or get existing organizations to pay more attention to the gaming industry as a whole.

Simply the fact that we're having problems with the way packages are marked for things like this is a sign there is a problem. The thing is that while the industry itself has organizations there is nobody public or private keeping an eye on the industry for the consumers... and it's becoming a very big business. The kinds of things we're seeing here are similar to things other industries did when they had no watchdogs, and exactly why things like the BBB/Consumer Reports/whatever came into being.

 

[Jaded Scribe]

I think it's a good idea to warn them, though I'm surprised the GameStop customer didn't get any DLC with thier used game (My PS3 version of DA:O was bought used, and I got the Stone Prisoner/Blood Dragon Armor DLC code insert with it. I wasn't expecting it, but I figured that maybe GameStop had some kind of deal with the manufacturers.)

The DLC idea makes sense from the perspective of the game companies. It means that a used copy would have to sell (assuming a $60 retail price for the new) for $45 for the customer to break even, making it more likely that game companies will get to see their retail sales.

But, buying used is better for the consumer. Even a $5 discount adds up (for $60 games, it's buy 13 for the price of 12). It also makes game replacement a lot more affordable if a disk gets scratched.

What I think would be the best for everyone is to cut into retailers' profits a bit and have them pay $X to the game companies and in return get extra codes to provide their customers in used games.

 

[Notthatbright]

I know I'm asking for a flamewar about this, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to share my thoughts.

Let me start by saying I love my used game collection. For the price of 2 new games I can get 10 used ones which are every bit as good if not better than the current gen items. I have a lot vested in the used game market, even though I'd never sell any of my games back to Gamestop.

I have come to terms with not getting the complete game like people who buy new. That's fine. (Of course I think we could argue all day about Day 1 DLC being part of the complete game, but my thoughts are if it is complete by the time the game comes out, it could have been included.)

My problem is the obvious, and already prevalent extension of this. "Direct download". No more needing to go to the store, no more needing to load multiple disks! Just download it right to your system. And just give up your ability to share, or sell the game after you've finished. Sometimes its even cheaper than normal, to persuade you to give up that ability.

I'm just wondering when every game is going to come with a registration code, so we can all give away our ability to trade or sell or even buy used copies. God forbid you forget your username and login.

And of course, the pushback. I don't condone stealing. Nor piracy. Not really a big fan of copyright infringement either. But the companies keep giving us excuses. They wont win.

 

[Brandon237]

Well its not all that shocking to me that a game store cares about its customers more than the game companies. Nothing new at all ..

My local stores that sell games are all very polite and at Musica I've had staff help me for up to half an hour on technical problems with my games. But I'm sure EA sees us as cows that give money when they pull the udders of DLC rip-off on us.

DLC shouldn't exist.fullstop. It is another awful scheme to get a bit of buck for a lot of flak. If EA were smart they would be kind to us out of self-preservation. Surely their sales of old games don't make much anyway?

a little note to game companies: If I'm buying second hand, I have still paid a good bit for it, I often can't get old games mint. Being 15 I don't have a credit card either. I'm also not going to rather buy mint than second hand for DLC So your money grabbing is useless anyway.

I would like to introduce albert (my shotgun) to the devil (head of the EA financing department)
Couldn't they just put all the DLC into the game from scratch or did they just want to release the game early?

EDIT: Maybe we are really the bad ones, not the game companies for pressuring them to release games sooner *Shrieks of hysterical laughter*

 

[Russian_Assassin]

Ah yes. Us Brits think ahead. Glad you came here Calumon?

Calumon: Your tea isn't as good as Jeri makes it in Japan.

Either you are schizophrenic or have a strange sense of humor. I'm watching you...!

What was the topic about? Ah DLCs. The labels are actually a very good idea, since not everyone owns a pc and knows about the deals that come with these games. Although there are certain sites that let you acquire the dlc for free... but I guess Bioware, at least, deserves better than piracy.

 

[coil]

Actually this entire idea is silly, EA has enough money to keep it stable anyway, why squeeze a extra £10 out of us?

They're not squeezing you, they're squeezing the merchants. Publishers/developers don't make a dime off of used sales - it's 100% profit to the merchant. Gamestop makes maybe $10 (if that) on a new game. But on a used game, they pay you $20 and turn around and sell it for $55... they're making $35, and they keep every penny.

The merchant is undermining the publisher to enrich itself - I don't see anything wrong with the publisher providing a counter-incentive to buy the game new. Hopefully, merchants' reaction will be to drop the price of a used game by ~$10. So instead of paying $55 for a used game, now you're paying $45 and $10 for the included DLC. Gamestop gets $25 instead of $35, and the publisher still manages to get $10 for the sale in the form of the DLC purchase.

And hey, if the DLC doesn't interest you, you pay only $45 - you've just SAVED $10, all thanks to the publisher.

This won't kill the used games industry... it might contract it a little, and it'll certainly drop prices. But it's a win for consumers and a win for the industry making the games, and I'm all for that.