Obsidian Hopes "Digital Distribution Stabs the Used Game Market in the Heart"

[The Wooster]

Obsidian Hopes "Digital Distribution Stabs the Used Game Market in the Heart"

Obsidian Entertainment co-founder Chris Avellone really, really hates the used game market. He hates it so much he hopes it gets stabbed in the heart. Harsh.

In the same interview in which he claimed modern RPG advances were undermining the genre [http://new.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/114720-Fallout-New-Vegas-Dev-Recent-RPG-Advances-Undermine-the-Genre], Avellone also took a pot-shot at the used game market. When asked how he felt about digital distribution services such as Steam, GoG and Origin, Avellone was initially all sunflowers and rainbows.

"I love digital distribution," he said. "For one thing, being environmentally conscious, I really appreciate that we're not making more boxes and shipping them and creating all that waste. It's better just to download the game through Steam and not have to have all that packaging. One of the things I enjoyed with Fallout: New Vegas was that digital distribution of the DLC made things more flexible in terms of getting the content done. You didn't have to worry about production times for discs, and so you could take an extra week if you needed that to get things right."

Then things got a bit grim.

"Of course, one of the greatest things about digital distribution is what it does to reduce the used game market," he said. "I hope digital distribution stabs the used game market in the heart."

Used sales seem to have replaced piracy as the average developer's boogeyman of choice these days. Though obviously they have little in common from an ethical perspective, the end result is very similar; the publisher is cut out of the sales loop. Many publishers are using online passes, which restrict access to multiplayer content for users who buy second hand, but that's seen as a heavy-handed response by some. Digital distribution avoids the issue altogether, with the exception of Green Man Gaming, there is no market for used digital games.

According to Avellone, Obsidian is looking into digitally distributing its own games. "Our eventual hope is that we can stockpile enough resources to release our own titles digitally. Smaller games can be very satisfying projects to work on, and it would be great to do that. But it's going to take time for us to get there; we want to make sure we do it right."

Source: IndustryGamers [http://www.industrygamers.com/news/chris-avellone-obsidians-chief-rpg-designer/]

Permalink

 

[omicron1]

I hope Obsidian's digital distribution model stabs all the money they would've spent on retail profits and physical objects off the digital price.

But I guess that would be just silly, now wouldn't it?

 

[Gmans uncle]

Honestly why are devs getting so mad about the used games model? When someone buys your product they have the right to sell it again, that's called capitalism.

 

[supersheep13]

i don't see the problem with preowned games being sold.
we do it with everything else so why not games?

 

[Vault101]

yeah? well I hate digital distribution

so THERE!!

 

[omicron1]

i don't see the problem with preowned games being sold.
we do it with everything else so why not games?

Real answer (that they won't just come out and say): "We're trying to expand our profit base to avoid the "make a mega-hit or die" situation we've found ourselves in as publishers; to put it bluntly, we need more money."

Sad corollary to this: If people have to pay full price and can't trade in old games for new ones, fewer games will be bought. Any potential gains seen by the publishers will be minor and not enough to stave off disaster.

 

[Darius Brogan]

In order for the game to be classified as 'Used' it has to have been 'Purchased' first.

So even if ten million people buy a used game, the devs still sold ten million copies of a game that was most likely priced at roughly $50-75.

That's a huge amount of cash.

 

[Paladin Anderson]

Honestly why are devs getting so mad about the used games model? When someone buys your product they have the right to sell it again, that's called capitalism.

Capitalism is only good when it's in favor of the companies. When it's in the favor of the customers companies throw a fit.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

You know, if Steam continues to have ridiculous sales, I'd be inclined to agree with Avellone on this one.

 

[Bobbity]

I despise piracy, but it's a bit despicable when they want to prevent us from selling our own property. Not that it's not perfectly reasonable to sell games digitally, but if that's the motivation behind it, then screw that guy.

 

[Revnak_v1legacy]

This is why we can't have nice things Obsidian. People make dumb statements like this. The used games market is not the great enemy of gaming. People will always be willing to pay full price for games they love and in the end everyone is better off for it existing. The great Jim Sterling has already explained all this.

 

[Therumancer]

I hope Obsidian's digital distribution model stabs all the money they would've spent on retail profits and physical objects off the digital price.

But I guess that would be just silly, now wouldn't it?

Pretty much my thoughts on the subject. You'll notice digitally purchused games cost the same as their physical counterparts, and oftentimes more if you look at the console distribution services.

Given that the high asking price is justified by the abillity to recoup part of that expense through trade ins, one would expect them to lower the prices if they wanted to cut down on used game trade ins, but at the end of the day they aren't REALLY concerned about the principle of the thing but how to make as much money as possible and there is no point in going after used games if they don't make any more money in the process of doing so.

Personally I'd ask Chris what he thinks the differance is between supporting a product between one user and several. I mean the bottom line is they sell the unit, it's on the market, they are supposed to support it for as long as it's in use. In the end does it matter if the same guy plays it regularly for 10 years or so or multiple people do? It's still one product that they have been paid for.

What's more with the high prices, I don't think the gaming industry realizes a lot of people who buy games used do so because they can't afford the full retail price, especially when your looking at how game developers increasingly demand leaps of faith on the part of buyers. This is especially a problem when you look at how many utter turds the industry polishes up and carries to market with slick advertising. Nowadays you can't even trust a playable demo or gameplay footage to be an accurate depiction of what they game is going to be like.

In short, the industry has gotten so greedy that I think it's lost touch with reality, this goes for both publishers and developers. Given the explosive growth of gaming into a multi-billion dollar industry I have a hard time taking any of these guys seriously when they want to cut out used games, or dampen consumer rights, so they can make even more money. I mean when is any amount of profit enough? Why can't anyone just be content and stop constantly reaching. When billions of dollars in profits are being raked in do they really need to squeeze for more? I'm a believer in capitalism, but there is such a thing as simply getting too greedy. When guys like Bobby Kotick have their own private jets and personal stewardesses (a sex scandal involving that was floating around the gaming news once upon a time), do you REALLY think they somehow need yet more money? Executives being able to afford a private jets isn't enough of a profit from a gaming company? WTF more does he want? Do Activision and EA executives want their own private islands? Does Bobby Kotick want a man made Volcano sculpted to look like his head with his own personal doom fortress inside of it? When is enough enough?

 

[Heart of Darkness]

Another developer pegs the used game market as the second coming of Satan, more news at eleven.

Here's an idea: if they're really that strapped for cash, why don't they just scale back the cost of actually developing games? Sure, it might mean they put out a few smaller titles instead of big blockbuster ones, but smaller games mean smaller risks.

 

[emeraldrafael]

I honestly hope developers lose money on digital distribution and it all goes the way of the origin thing so there's a slap upside every retard's head that doesnt understand that a used game has already brought them money of a full game and this is the market that almost every form of media has and follows.

 

[ccggenius12]

Hey Obsidian, I know how you can kill the used games market, and end piracy once and for all. Give all of your games away for free! It completely invalidates any reason for acquiring used or pirating, therefore all the profits at that price point belong to you! I don't see any holes in my logic, so it must be true! EXCLAMATION MARKS!!!!!!111

 

[omicron1]

Schtuff!

Please see my other post as well. It takes a slightly different tact.
Basically, there are no safe companies any more. (Except possibly Valve!) Budgets are such that developers are riding the razor-edge of success or failure with every project. They have grown beyond the average income for a new game - grown to the point where to break even requires being the big kid on the block, and smaller fish are simply squeezed out of the pool.

And don't think the publishers are exempt from this either. For all the megabucks EA and Activision seem to be making, they too are at risk - hedging their bets against future bad years, investing in new developers, and playing the marketing arms race all require dedication.

Yes, the CEOs make bank. But keep in mind that they're a commodity, bought and sold for the policies they implement. It's another arms race - whoever has the most experienced business mind, capable of fomenting the craftiest stratagem, may well take all. And so companies pay their CEOs well - not because they do the equivalent work, but because they can't afford to lose them to a business paying a little bit more.

 

[Baresark]

Give me a break. I buy all of my PC games digitally, and I wouldn't harp on any company for going digital. But I hate people who whine about used games. Get over it. It's not as caustic as you would all like us to believe.

Here is another piece of advice, don't make shit games. If you make shit games and insist on trying to get $50-$60 for them, you are gonna fail. There have been lots of games that I have waited for the price to fall on. Most recently, I bought Dungeon Siege 3 on an Amazon sale and registered it to my Steam account. I also purchased several other titles that were not worth the $60 companies wanted for cheaper, but not used. I picked up Dragon Age 2 a few months back for $20 and Crysis 2 for about as much from Amazon digital. Those games were never worth $60. But I bought new copies when the price came down. The lesson is: don't sell your games for too much and you will do much better.

 

[Worgen]

You can go as digital as you want, just give up making full price for your games, I have allot of games on my steam but only like 3 of them were bought for full price and 2 of those are from valve, the rest are all on sales for cheap as hell.