Poll: Do you buy pre-owned games?

[Tazzy da Devil]

Almost always. Unless I really want a new game that's come out, I always wait until the price has dropped to below $40 to buy a game. And always preowned.

 

[trooper6]

Yup. But not when its like $5 less than brand new. At that price I would rather buy it new.
I will buy used if its like $10-20 or if its something rare and hard to find.
But yeah, I got a whole fucktonne of PS2 games for like $5-10 each used.[footnote]Back when PS2 was in its prime.[/footnote]

I'm sort of with Cheshire the Cat here.

I used to buy used games quite a lot. But now I almost never do. Why? Because Gamestop charge a LOT for used games now. A new game is $60 and the used version is $55? I'm by the new one. So, I haven't bought hardly any used games since Gamestop started charging so much for them. Used games used to be about value and trying out unknown/risky things. I could get a game I wasn't so sure about for a not so bad price. If I ended up liking it, then I'd probably buy the sequel or another game by the same publisher/developer new. It would introduce me to new genres and might generally expand by gaming palate.

Nowadays, since used games are overpriced, I jut buy fewer used games--and then fewer new games as well. I don't buy as many games that I don't already know I'll like and I don't experiment as much. I mean, I'll experiment for $20, but I won't experiment for $60. So the increase in the price of used games, which results in me not buying as many used games (hardly any at all), also means I'm buying fewer new games.

I used to buy 1-2 new games and 1-3 used games every month. Nowadays, I'll buy 1 new game every 2-3 months and haven't bought a used game in over a year. Also, the lack of affordable used games means there is very little incentive for me to go to a brick and mortar shop...and Amazon ends up being an attractive alternative. Which I'm not too happy about. Though I found a non-Gamestop store...so I'll probably go there for my new games now.

But I think the used game market is bust for me now because Gamestop is just too greedy.

 

[BaronOfStuff]

As a PC gamer without any current-gen consoles, I can't really get many pre-owned games these days. It's getting harder and harder to find anything pre-owned now, unless it's for PS3/X360.

When I see old stuff though, I do pick up pre-owned games, but I insist on checking the disc's condition there and then in the store. There's no way I'm being shunted out of the door with a duff copy, not after all the fucking nonsense I went through to get it replaced last time it happened.

 

[Iron Mal]

If I had the disposable income to spare then I would gladly buy all of my games new.

However, most of the games I'm interested in getting are either too expenseive first hand or are ones that are hard to find (even if you're looking for second hand copies), the games industry may not like it but unfortuneately for a lot of people second hand games are an important source of games for them (not everyone can afford the £45 price tag that's attached to brand new titles).

I disagree with piracy but I can understand why it's such a popular option when so many games come out (many of which are very good and worth playing) yet they all have to cost so damn much.

 

[General BrEeZy]

i do used most of the times. the only games i'm buying brand-new copies of are the new releases that i'm super-stoked for and i've pre-ordered. mainly because i have money and a job now.

 

[Xanthious]

You are talking about a scenario that might happen as if it has happened. Please use an actual world example of piracy of books being an issue, rather than a made up one.

All I am saying is that you cannot compare the 2 types of medium. Do you know how many copies a game needs to sell to make a profit compared to a book. The cost of having a writer + proofreader (i am not sure how much work goes into writing a book, but I know its a lot less than a full development team) has an easier time making profit, while the publisher takes the real risk from production and distribution cost.

You also say "well books are cheaper" without knowing any real comparison. What if a book costs a 4th as much as a game but cost a 10th to produce? You have no comparisons, and we havn't even touched on the variable of libraries and potential markets.

You cant compare the 2.

Sure they are two different mediums, granted. However, both games and books are goods to be bought and sold nothing more. Video games are not special nor do they deserve special treatment because the people making them are unable to keep production costs from rising at an extraordinary rate. They are, at the end of the day, just another good to be bought and sold. No different than a hammer, a television, or a car.

If the game makers want to cite production costs as a reason they are so adversely affected by preowned sales then that is a problem that lies on their end not the consumers'. The consumer shouldn't be punished because they have a shitty business model. Rather than acting like entitled twats and claiming they have any right to the money generated by preowned sales (which they neither have a legal or moral claim for) they should focus on reducing production costs.

The gaming industry needs to drop this entitled attitude. After a game is sold the first time they lose any and all claims to any future revenue that game may produce. They have already been paid. They don't get to be paid twice no more than the furniture maker does when someone buys or sells a used couch. Any transactions after the first are between two private parties and they, as I said previously, have no legal or moral claim to the revenue generated by those transactions.

The bottom line is they need to get over this hang up they have with preowned game sales and move on. No maker of goods in the history of goods being bought and sold has ever enjoyed protection from the second hand market and video games are not so special as to deserve this protection. No matter how they choose to spin their whining it boils down to nothing more than an inflated sense of entitlement and greed, nothing more.

 

[JPArbiter]

I really only buy Pre Owned if a game has been out for a while. it becomes a case of "hmmm I always wanted to try that."

Area 51 was a good example of that, I purchased it along with an original X Box recently (I needed the original X Box to play MechAssault again. I was jonesing bad!) and it was quite enjoyable.

 

[KarmaTheAlligator]

Considering my budget options, yes, I buy pre-owned if I can find them.

 

[Scarim Coral]

I tend to buy pre-owed games if they are games that were out for a while. E.g. when the DS was first release I didn't buy it straight away. When I finally did buy a D (to play Pokemon Diamond) there were plenty of pre-own games after the DS release for me to buy cheaply.

 

[Snoozer]

I did not talk about morality. You are projecting that. I am saying that the 2 mediums are different. Apples and oranges.

I didn't mean to put words in your mouth, sorry for that!
I think books are along with movies the most simular medium to video games. Two things, but not entirely different.
Books are comparable in the second hand use, movies in the money and investment situation.

 

[bladester1]

As a college graduate without a job, Hell yes I buy used...otherwise i'd never get to play any games...The game industry needs to return to making great games for the sake of making great games; not making games to make a profit. Yes they should make a profit for their work, but that should not be the sole and highest reason for making them.

 

[krychek57]

I'm the devil reborn it seems.
Most PC games I buy new and via Digital Distribution but in very limited quantities. My Console games I buy almost exclusively are used and at least year or so old. Very few do I buy new. I'll buy Madden new every third year, and I'm a sucker for Final Fantasy Games in nice crispy wrapping but that's about it. Gamestop buy 2 get one free.. Yes Please!

 

[liquidsolid]

Yeah I don't usually feel like shelling out $60 for a title that came out months ago. The price just takes too long to drop and when there are copies of the game that are $40 used I go right for it. I don't care so much about the industry loosing profit as I do about myself not loosing profit. I don't buy on principal, I buy on what is the best deal.

I was going to buy Assassins Creed: Brotherhood used when I could find it, but I ended up finding a sale on a new copy for $25. I went right for it.

Also, I usually buy PS2 games at gamestops. They are all used copies obviously.

 

[The-Epicly-Named-Man]

Honestly? Yeah, sometimes. I generally buy new, but there are just some titles I can't justify paying 40+ euro for.

 

[Mistermixmaster]

No. I did buy Call of Duty 3 on the Wii as a pre-owned game, money that would be better spent elsewhere. Not because the game isn't good, but because the copy I got was broken. I was allowed to check the disc before buying it (no scratches or anything that I could see, it seriously looked like it was in mint condition), so I bought it, started playing it and had a lot of fun... until I got to the last few missions. The controls would randomly lock up, which resulted in me spinning, while staring at the sky in the middle of the battlefield way too many times...

After that I have never bought a pre-owned game, nor will I ever buy one.

 

[Soxafloppin]

If I'm making a decent saving and I won't lose a portion of the game (Online etc) by doing so, then yea.

 

[Xanthious]

The thing is you cant compare the mediums because Used games sales does cut into profit margins at much higher rate than any other type of medium.

It might be a pricing problem. If it costs 40$ and you only have 30$ then its buying it used. It might be a production being to expensive. It might be the product it self having very long physical lifespan while a very short useful lifespan. Now the movie industry has the same problem you might argue, however they have large amounts of extra income from Cinema and TV that may push the "used marked" away from being a problem. Games do not have this luxury.

I want to make that distinction because when people compare games then you draw false conclusion. Making copies is a none issue (to you use your example) for hammers so therefore copying is ok in other mediums. We both know that is not true. To claim they aren't being paid for their work is simply a lie. They have been paid, with the initial sale. To want a portion of second hand sales is to want something they have neither a moral or legal claim to.

If 1/3 of the sales of Heavy Rain (if the developer is to believed) were used, that is a pretty large amount of profit lost for the developer (even if a used sale doesn't necessarily mean a sale lost). How much does that amount of lost profit mean to the developer? What if it was the tipping point between success and failure for the project? Is it a wonder that developer wants to get a cut of this?

Its not surprising to me that games because of their very nature is moving towards a contract/ticket style of setup to safeguard themselves.

To keep it short thou. Yes it your goods. You can do with them what you want. But you should be asking yourself what effect it will have rather than if you are allowed to. Selling old furniture isn't having an effect on the furniture industry, but used games have an effect on the gaming industry.

No no no no no! Your entire argument boils do to "But games are special". Games are NOT special! Any problem they are facing is totally on their end and has nothing to do with preowned sales. If they can't turn a profit with the amount of new titles they are selling then that is their problem, not the consumers. It doesn't matter that the movie industry can fall back on ticket prices or anything else for that matter. The video game industry still deserves no special treatment when it comes to preowned sales. They'd like to think they do, but they do not.

First off, if there are to be preowned sales that means someone has to buy the game new, meaning they already got paid for that copy. Any other transactions that happen with that copy are of no consequence to the developer or publisher. They don't get to be paid multiple times for the same product. Show me another maker and seller of goods that gets paid beyond the initial sale. There isn't one and video games don't deserve to be the first.

Secondly, lets look at the case of Heavy Rain. Ok it sold 2 million new copies. Another 1 million copies have been bought on the second hand market. That means they have gotten paid for 2 million copies. If they aren't turning a profit off the money (over 100 millon dollars) they bring in from that then there is a serious problem that couldn't hope to be fixed by eliminating used sales. They either need to look at producing fewer physical copies to reduce the amount of copies they have wasting away in some warehouse or lower production costs.

Thirdly, to try and claim people should care that buying used it hurting the industry is simply insane. It shouldn't fall on the consumers to make up for the producer's inability to fiscally manage their product. Every other industry makes due with used sales without whining and crying like a spoiled baby so why can't the game industry. Again, any problem that may be caused by used games (and I doubt there is one that isn't wrought from greed) is totally at the fault of the game maker and the consumer should never be looked towards to fix it.

Finally and most importantly the simple truth is what I've been hammering away the entire time, games as a good to be bought and sold are not special. Any other issue as to why they are claiming to be hurt by second hand sales means fuck all. They are nothing more than another good to be bought and sold. If every other maker of goods in the history of goods being bought and sold has been able to live with preowned sales there is no reason games can't do the same. They simply don't want to. They have grown far too greedy and far too entitled and would rather whine and cry than try to adapt.

 

[RemuValtrez]

I rarely buy preowned games. I just like the idea of buying something brand new, and having the fun task of taking off all 3 taped parts on the cover without messing it up. Also, I just like knowing that the disk won't be messed up. Only buy preowned if it's a really old game that I can't find anymore for a not so ridiculous price.

 

[esperandote]

Hell yes, all the time, unless it's my favorite game ever and I cant wait to play it.

 

[Michael Hirst]

Yes, always if I can get the game significantly cheaper and I resent the implication that I'm to blame for the industry going wrong because this is a legal option and as a consumer it only makes sense for me to pay less when the option is given, if I seriously want a game badly I'll get it new when it comes out like Metal Gear Solid 4 or Deus Ex Human Revolution but unless I'm in great anticipation for a game I'll wait a while and get a cheap pre owned copy.

We live in a capitalist society where money is king, anyone who tries to bring morals into games sales is ridiculous, at best I have meagre amoutns of money and can't afford ot be picky about "supporting the devs" besides we know that publishers take a huge poriton of the money anyway

On the Flip side I frequently use Steam to buy games but guess what THOSE ARE AT A GOOD PRICE THAT I CAN AFFORD and a greater proportion of the money does reach the people who actually made the game.

EDIT: Also even though I'm not exactly well off with money I don't stoop to piracy as an excuse I still buy my games one way or another.