Heavy Rain Dev Says Pre-Owned Sales Cost it Millions

[Mr. Gency]

I've stopped caring about this topic long ago.

Though, I appreciate them giving us some numbers, as others likely said.

 

[Smooth Operator]

It's nice to see the mentally handicapped also get to work in the gaming industry, but for the love of god don't let them do public announcements.

 

[Phisi]

That does raise a very interesting point.It is the retailers that make all the profits from used game ales but they are digging the own grave. If what it speculated there becomes true then the only way retailers can survive without becoming download services is to halt the sale of used games. The more used games sold, the more losses the publisher makes, the more likely they are to stop making boxed copies. As a gamer who hates Gamestop (Don't we all) I find this kinda funny.

 

[devotedsniper]

In my opinion my only advice to the guy is if you wanted to make more sales you shouldn't have made the game exclusivly for one platform, thats about it really cause lets face it no ones going to go out and buy a second platform just for a single game unless there just throwing cash away or theres several games they want out there only available for that platform (but come on the majority of big titles that come out are on xbox, ps3 and pc).

 

[duchaked]

if it wasn't for preowned games (and rentals)...I'd probably game (less than?) half of what I do now

 

[Pink Gregory]

Or how about consistently releasing DLC on open-ended titles that are actually worth a damn, rather than token vanity products for people with too much disposable income?

 

[OniYouji]

Sigh...simple split of the profits. Say Heavy Rain is selling for $20 used and it's being sold in, like, Gamestop. Now, $6.33 goes to Gamestop, $6.33 goes to Quantic Dream and $6.34 goes to Sony Computer Entertainment. An even three-way split seems fine to me. And seeing as this is just using $20 as a price point, and it was just one copy, then imagine that magnified over the "millions" of used game sales for that one game, and the more standard price of used games for a while after release, $54.99...well, there you go. Everybody makes money, everybody wins! Unless Quantic Dream or Gamestop REALLY want that extra penny...

 

[StarCecil]

That does raise a very interesting point.It is the retailers that make all the profits from used game ales but they are digging the own grave. If what it speculated there becomes true then the only way retailers can survive without becoming download services is to halt the sale of used games. The more used games sold, the more losses the publisher makes, the more likely they are to stop making boxed copies. As a gamer who hates Gamestop (Don't we all) I find this kinda funny.

I think there's a bit of fallacy in the argument, though. This presupposes that all sales of a used version would have been sales of a new version. It's quite possible that a number of customers - especially for a game like Heavy Rain - would not have bought the game new at any price.

Case in point, I bought a game called Legendary for $15 that I never would have bought new. I hadn't even heard of it. And truth? I haven't played it since the day I bought it months ago.

 

[GamingAwesome1]

Alright, a little bit of mathematics here:

3 million people played the game.

Only 2 million played it new.

Therefore, 1 million played it used.

Therefore around 1 million people would likely have traded it in.

Therefore, half the people who bought the game new decided to trade it in for another game.

Your're right there's a problem there. Make a fucking game good enough that half the people who buy it don't want to sell it fucking on. Don't go bitching about what certain people 'owe' you when you quite clearly couldn't make a game that kept people's attention!

Gotta hand it to you, I hadn't even considered that before you pointed it out.

 

[Avalanche91]

Is it just me or is everyone and their dog attacking used-copy buyers?

It's like they realised that they couldn't beat the pirates, and just went to take on another, more beatable target.

 

[TheRocketeer]

I can buy used books. I can buy used movies. I can buy used cars. I can buy used clothes. I can buy used panties from vending machines. None of these industries are going through a global meltdown.

If pre-owned sales are killing your industry, your industry is too dumb to live. Find out how all the other rich old bastards are playing the game so well and steal their playbook. If blatantly-illegal price-fixing, a five-year planned-obscelescence cycle, robber baron wage slavery, and a hype mill and the kind of frothing, blind consumer loyalty any other industry would kill for are not enough to keep the coke dish half-full, you have a few things to teach the federal budget drafters about throwing money down a mineshaft.

 

[scar_47]

Sigh...simple split of the profits. Say Heavy Rain is selling for $20 used and it's being sold in, like, Gamestop. Now, $6.33 goes to Gamestop, $6.33 goes to Quantic Dream and $6.34 goes to Sony Computer Entertainment. An even three-way split seems fine to me. And seeing as this is just using $20 as a price point, and it was just one copy, then imagine that magnified over the "millions" of used game sales for that one game, and the more standard price of used games for a while after release, $54.99...well, there you go. Everybody makes money, everybody wins! Unless Quantic Dream or Gamestop REALLY want that extra penny...

Except your equally splitting profits while the amount put into the product is totally uneven, Quantic made the game and spent time and money on it, Sony is allowing the use of their console in addition to supporting updtes and dlc, game stop has literally done nothing so neither Quantic or Sony want them cutting into their profits, on the flip side Gamestop ponied up the cash and bought the game and thus are entitled to any profits from a sale why would they hand over money when their getting nothing out of it, saying they all deserve an equal share makes no sense.

 

[QuantumT]

I hate the language the developers all use. To hear them say it, you'd think someone broke into their office and robbed them at gunpoint of the money.

If only 2 million people bought it new, then that's exactly what you earned, two million sales. You don't somehow deserve to profit from the people who distinctly decided that the game wasn't worth buying new and that it wasn't worth holding on to when they were done.

 

[Vault101]

dont blame me..Im not the problem

trading is isnt too bad of a deal for the consumer, I wont be guilt tripped into not doing somthing thats perfectly legal

 

[fenrizz]

Then what about those that manufacture steel, paper, ink or plastic?
Do they get a cut of it too?

None of those represent intellectual property.

When I buy a book, I'm not interested in the paper it's printed on - I'm interested in the ideas printed on the pages. I'd pay more to send some of my money back to the author of those words, because that's who SHOULD be getting paid.

Same for games, movies, etc.

Cars... well, the design is sort of intellectual property. Since cars aren't "art" I'm less inclined, but YOU, sir, were the one who brought cars into it.

There is no intellectual property involved in steel, paper, ink, or plastic. Those are merely materials. So no, they are absolutely not the same thing.

A game (or a movie, or music) is NOT just a piece of metal and plastic. It's the code contained on that disk. Like the words on a page.

Fair point, I'll give you that.
I was merely trying to make a point.

But is intellectual property enough to allow the owners to be paid multiple times for the same product?
It's been sold once, and then became the property of the purchaser.
I believe that at this point the intellectual property holders are not owed a single cent if I choose to re-sell it.

And why should they?
They have already been paid, and I for once won't loose sleep if they don't get paid a second, third and fourth time for the same product.
A product they no longer own.

I guess I'd be willing to sell my no longer wanted games back to them, and buy used games from them.
But somehow I doubt they'd be willing to do that.

And when they won't, Gamestop and various other such stores, are more than happy to do so for them.

C'est la vie.