Poll: Trading in your used games

[J Tyran]

There has been a lot of debate about used games lately along with rumours that the next gen Xbox wont play them, its easy to get the impression that publishers hate used games almost as much as piracy.

If publishers did find a way of nuking the used game market it could have all kinds of knock on effects. The most obvious one to me is they would reduce sales of brand new games if the used game market was killed off.

How many people go and buy a brand new game for full price because they know that they could trade it in when they finish it or if the game is rubbish? Games can be very expensive, a new AAA release can cost £40 or more. The cost of a single game would pay most gas and electric bills for two weeks. I would bet a lot of people who buy new games in the first place only do it because they know they can trade them in.

Getting at least half of the money back in cash or saving money on the next game you buy takes the sting out of it, if that was taken away people might not buy game so often in the first place. I added a poll to see how many people only buy a game at all because they know they can trade it in.

 

[Epona]

Also, if there were no used games, there would be fewer gamers. People who can't afford $60 everytime they want a different game would eventually find new hobbies. Another thing to consider many new games are sequels and many of the new copies sold are from fans who bought used copies of the previous games. For me, there is the God of War series. I would have never bought God of War III new if I hadn't been able to rent God of War and then went on to buy it and God of War II used. I also bought the PSP games, one was used and the other was new.

Further, I have traded in a lot of games to buy new games. I can't afford to buy everything new, out of pocket.

If Microsoft is really planning to do this, they are hurting themselves too.

 

[octafish]

I have a PC sooooo... Never! PC gaming isn't dying, there aren't less games being made, everything is pretty rosy. You will adapt.

 

[Suicida1 Midget]

I have typically bought new games that i had pretty good ideas that wouldnt suck. But then what about the old games i missed out on? Sure i can go and download one for like twenty. Or i can go to a gamestop and pay like five to fifthteen for it.

Then theres the family that knows you game, but send you the crappy movie rip offs/obscure and terrible games that you just dont want. Trade them in, get the next new shiney triple a title. Hell i just got rid of those and got copies of dmc 4, gears 1/2, halo wars, and mw3(dont spam the boohoos) off of those.

In my line of thinking if they are losing soo much cause of this, then why are people getting rid of em like they are. Possible cant be the mediocroe from metriod other m now? In other words dont make a hyped up game be just horrible, make us WANT to keep x game.

 

[BathorysGraveland]

Never. I only buy games that I like and enjoy, so I don't trade them away because I, you know, like them.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Never. I only buy games that I like and enjoy, so I don't trade them away because I, you know, like them.

This. I traded in a stack of NES games once[footnote]A family friend had a bunch of them that he was getting rid of; for some reason that included, like, four copies of Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt, and several of the worst sports games to ever grace the NES. There were also some real gems, though.[/footnote], and while most of them were duplicates and crappy sports games, I regret the fact that one of them was Spyhunter to this day. That was the first and only time I ever traded in a videogame; once a game winds up in my possession, it's there for life.

 

[theevilgenius60]

once a game winds up in my possession, it's there for life.

This is me all over. I don't trade in games. For one, you get too little value, what's the point? But mainly I just hold onto games because I know that, even if it's the shittiest game I own, if I trade it I'll immediately want to play it. My friends joke about my Xbox library, but they don't seem to be laughing when they want to borrow Alan Wake or Bioshock.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Very frequently, most games aren't worth the $60 and you don't know until you play them, and I sure as fuck don't intend to loose that kind of cash at a sub par game, not to mention all the shits and grins buys just to check out whats new.

But of course I don't go pissing my money away at a retailer, I put them on ebay and get most of the money back.

 

[War Penguin]

I almost never trade in my games. The only exception is that if I play them again and realize that they suck. The rest I keep. What if I want to play them again?

 

[ChildofGallifrey]

It would certainly kill a lot of my game purchasing. I like to collect older RPG titles, mostly ones from the PS1 and PS2 era, which obviously are not in print anymore. I rely on the sale of used games to find the products that I'm interested in. Hell, if it wasn't for companies like Atlus, I would get drastically fewer new titles every year.

 

[Random Fella]

Hardly ever
A new game costs around $100 NZD and when you trade it in it's maximum sellback to a store is like $20

 

[svenjl]

Is the wording of the question intentional? I don't buy a game new just to be able to trade it. I mean, I buy the games I want and trade some and keep some. I am going to trade GoW3 and MW3. I've had my brainless fun, now my attention will turn to about 4 RPGs on my to play list. Those should get me through to mid year. I've traded a ton of games but always wait until trade deals are on the table, like 50% extra value. Works a treat. Last year I got into an eBay phase where I sold a few games for great prices. In fact I made $10 on Dark Souls!

 

[Charvale]

Only reason why I said "Never" was because all of my games were stolen.

 

[Nurb]

I'm a little pissed off companies have managed to get some gamers to believe trading in games and used games are something negative in the last 2 years actually. It shouldn't be a matter of debate in the first place because the issue was settled 25 years ago, that used movies, music and games were perfectly within consumers' rights and the industries obviously had no trouble making vast profits in that time.

That sort of thing from companies, and their greed is why I've stopped buying new games altogether (non-indie) and going strictly used games to support the used game market and voting with my dollar that the big gaming publishers and their developers are no longer worth supporting.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

That sort of thing from companies, and their greed is why I've stopped buying new games altogether (non-indie) and going strictly used games to support the used game market and voting with my dollar that the big gaming publishers and their developers are no longer worth supporting.

But do you think console gaming is worth supporting?

What a lot of people don't seem to realise (not saying if you do or not) that gaming consoles are so cheap because the manufacturers sell them bellow cost. It takes years (around 3-5) for various economic factors to allow them to start making a profit directly off console sales. Until that time, the manufacturers recoup their losses (let alone making an actual profit) by charging licencing fees to publishers who want to release a game on their console, a cost which is passed down to the consumer (aka the 'console tax'). Classic Loss-Leader sales model.

So, for example, you release the PlayBoxU... and take a loss of US$150 per unit sold... and in the first year you sell... 30 million units... that's US$4.5billion you've lost and to break even you the consumers to buy (recouping at roughly US$10/game sold) 450,000,000 games in the same period... or 15 new games per console... at US$60 a pop... and this is all in the first year of the console's release. (numbers are guesstimates and WAGs)

Fuck the publishers pissing and moaning, this is the real "threat" that the continuing growth of the used game market poses. Of course, what it all actually means is open to interpretation,

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

I am just a PC gamer but all my video games are new. Sometimes I wait for price drops or buy during sales but I am always the first owner of every game I buy.

 

[Soxafloppin]

I don't trade them in, I sell them online (I've actually made profit on a few instances, after having my fun with the game) and use that money to buy new games.

when you sell the game online your selling to another gamer who wants to play the game, effectively cutting out GAME or whatever and no one is ripped off!

 

[Sandjube]

I trade them in very little, since even my retail games are steam based, and that would be like, fraud or something. I dunno I'm a cat I can't read.

POINT BEING, they wouldn't be able to play them and that would be unfair.

That is of course if they would even accept them, which they of course wouldn't.

 

[Nurb]

That sort of thing from companies, and their greed is why I've stopped buying new games altogether (non-indie) and going strictly used games to support the used game market and voting with my dollar that the big gaming publishers and their developers are no longer worth supporting.

But do you think console gaming is worth supporting?

What a lot of people don't seem to realise (not saying if you do or not) that gaming consoles are so cheap because the manufacturers sell them bellow cost. It takes years (around 3-5) for various economic factors to allow them to start making a profit directly off console sales. Until that time, the manufacturers recoup their losses (let alone making an actual profit) by charging licencing fees to publishers who want to release a game on their console, a cost which is passed down to the consumer (aka the 'console tax'). Classic Loss-Leader sales model.

So, for example, you release the PlayBoxU... and take a loss of US$150 per unit sold... and in the first year you sell... 30 million units... that's US$4.5billion you've lost and to break even you the consumers to buy (recouping at roughly US$10/game sold) 450,000,000 games in the same period... or 15 new games per console... at US$60 a pop... and this is all in the first year of the console's release. (numbers are guesstimates and WAGs)

Fuck the publishers pissing and moaning, this is the real "threat" that the continuing growth of the used game market poses. Of course, what it all actually means is open to interpretation,

The console market has exploded in that same 25 years despite the BIGGER used game market then than there is now and there was always that issues of selling consoles cheaper, that's why they sell accessories for two or three times what they're worth in retail to make up for it. Gaming has existed longer than 5 or 6 years, and profits have gone up and up. If consoles are in danger, it's because of the conduct of the publisher, treatement of customers and manipulation of the market to limit choice.

 

[Tanis]

Never.

If I want a new game, I get it new.
I keep my games.