Rage Cuts Single-Player When You Buy It Used

[Rodrigo Girao]

Seriously, back in the mid-90s, it looked like id was poised for greatness. Every game was innovative, massive amounts were available free of charge, there was excellent mod support. What went wrong?

The creative people (John Romero, American McGee, Sandy Petersen, Tom Hall) left the company. What remains? A guy who can code awesome engines, and no one to build a good single-player campaign on it.

 

[wezzipooh]

Next time I want to buy a used Mercedes, I'll call official Mercedes dealership to ask them if they're gonna cut my brakes if I don't give them a piece of that action.

This is fuckin' stupid. Used games market should be no different than any other market for used stuff. This kind of behavior can only increase piracy. There should be a law against this.

I agree with this 100%. The game industry is the only industry that dares treat its customers with such contempt. I am sick and tired of it.

 

[Mannayz]

Soooo... this is starting to sound like... "Piracy is a problem! We're losing money! How do we solve this problem? With DRM and day-one DLC! That'll show 'em... Wait... why are we still losing money? What... nobody's buying our games anymore?"

Or, essentially, "used games and piracy are a problem, so we're going to cut levels and other stuff from those just to piss off our customers and may never buy our games again."

Okay, I usually buy games new or 'been around for awhile' new, so I really don't have a problem with it (I like games, so I support the devs). But still, putting crap like this in games pushes away potential customers.

PC gamers: "wait, how do you buy a used game?"

I also love this post.

 

[ProtonGuy]

Good when games hit $90 a pop, and the only way to use any content whatsoever is to buy it new, the industry will crash and all those greedy mother fuckers will have no one but themselves to blame. Seriously video games need to crash utterly and reboot like they did in the early 80's, I hate how everything is a 5 hour hack n' slash, or shooter, and all those faggoty artsy indie games.

 

[Thyunda]

I like how everybody is reading this and then throwing their keyboards on the ground in disgust. How dare a developer expect to make money off their own product?! This is extortion! If I want to exclusively support retailers who make money where developers don't, the developer should go out of their way to cater to me!

Come on. Drop the attitude. I don't see anything wrong with this. At all. At the end of the day, you're losing practically nothing. It's an add-on. Almost a DLC. You want to buy a game at a fraction of the cost, be grateful you're not even losing a fraction of the full game. You're just getting 100%, whereas the new-copy buyers are getting 110%.
You want the extras - bloody pay for them. Stop whining. It's pathetic.

I thought like that not too long ago. Then something hit me: only triple-AAA publishers are being dicks about this. You know, the ones who stand to make the most money. You don't see publishers like NIS and Atlus pulling this crap and they stand to benefit the most from a system like this because their sales are already going to be very low. Any profit for them is good. So this is just basic greed.

I don't see how it is greed if you're asking for a fair cut of the profits from something you devoted a lot of time and money to.
And the reason why only Triple-A publishers are doing this is because they're the only ones who can really stand to lose as much from making games. They have more money, they put more money in. If they start getting less money back, they'll be suffering bigger losses than a smaller company. A corporate giant can collapse faster than a corner shop once it gets hit.

Here is the thing: they were paid. Someone bought the game. Now they want to get paid a second time.

Really - it doesn't sound bad. You don't have to be online all the time, you just have to enter a series key once and that's that.

I'm going to say you people are whiners and leave it at that.

One problem: I don't have LIVE (I can't get it to work). So even if I buy it new, I still get locked out of content. I imagine that I'm not the only one. Fun.

No. They want to get paid for each customer that buys their game. Every time somebody buys a used copy, it's been chosen over a new copy. Therefore, the developer has lost out.

But, your second issue is a legitimate problem, and I won't try to argue with it. There needs to be a more convenient way of doing this.

 

[Doopliss64]

Okay... so what happens two generations down the road, when the game isn't available new? These areas just won't be accessible. Lost. Forever. Imagine going to the store to buy a used Gamecube game just to find that 2% of the game is permanently locked, with no way to access it AT ALL.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Next time I want to buy a used Mercedes, I'll call official Mercedes dealership to ask them if they're gonna cut my brakes if I don't give them a piece of that action.

This is fuckin' stupid. Used games market should be no different than any other market for used stuff. This kind of behavior can only increase piracy. There should be a law against this.

Hey! Don't give them any ideas!

 

[Asuka Soryu]

If you buy it used, you ain't supporting the developers, just like the pirates do. Don't see anything wrong with it, as long as this new little feature doesn't affect the legit buyers.

Of course, if no one bought used, used games salers wouldn't exist.

So people wouldn't be able to return their games to a place like Best Buy to get points to buy a game brand new for a lower price, so they can afford to buy it. So, a game they might've been able to get 10-20$ off by returning an old game, would vanish.

Wich could make the games price out of their price range, seeing a decline in sales for the new games, because people can't spend such on a game.

Then people will be really pissed if they buy a game, dislike it and can't even trade it in for anything or sale it.

So, in a way, those used game sales are allowing people to save the money they need to buy a game brand new.

Kinda funny, neh?

 

[Luke5515]

I haven't really had a problem with pass codes for multiplayer yet, but this was a game I was considering. This makes me angry. Sure, they may have the right to do this, yes their profits are being hurt by used games, but that doesn't make this move any less underhanded and just plain shitty. I hope the backlash will be enough for them to change this, but if not, I think I'll just avoid this game to spite them.

 

[shrekfan246]

March to the Snip

http://www.gamefront.com/solving-the-sixty-dollar-situation/

Just wanted to quote this:

"Yes, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will sell very well at $60 and consumers will consider it a worthy purchase, but imagine the statement that could be made if Bethesda nutted up and charged $40, or even the $20 price point that Howard himself thinks is financially viable. Imagine what that would do for the industry. It would be unprecedented, and it would scare the shit out of rival companies. It would be a competitive move the likes of which we'd never seen, and it would change the way we look at game prices. But of course, Bethesda isn't the solution to the problem, it's a part of it. There's no way the company could even entertain the idea of "degrading" itself to such humiliating lows. It's far too illustrious for that. So we have yet another company that complains about prices while asserting that it doesn't need to fix the problem itself."

Just imagine, especially with the hype surrounding Skyrim and the Elder Scrolls as a whole, how many copies it would sell if it were retailed at $40 USD.

 

[DaHero]

It's called Steam Sale...for next year?

 

[Asuka Soryu]

Okay... so what happens two generations down the road, when the game isn't available new? These areas just won't be accessible. Lost. Forever. Imagine going to the store to buy a used Gamecube game just to find that 2% of the game is permanently locked, with no way to access it AT ALL.

The companies will then re-release the game on some download site for more then you'd be willing to pay for an old game, because you couldn't get the full version anywhere else.

 

[Slayer_2]

I'm only 17, and even I recall fondly the times that when you buy a game, you get that game, unimportant parts and all.

What is this?

Pretty much this. I'm only 19, and I remember fondly Quake 2/4 and Unreal 2004. Damn, back then it was a serial code and maybe disk-in-drive system. Ugh, I sound old reminiscing about the good old days. I was never a huge fan of Rage, but now I'm definitely not buying it, if only to make a point.

 

[MegaManOfNumbers]

Eh, I'll just buy it off of Steam then, it'll be cheap AND have all the content; so FUCK YOU id!

 

[Doopliss64]

In 20 years that content will be lost forever.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

I like how everybody is reading this and then throwing their keyboards on the ground in disgust. How dare a developer expect to make money off their own product?! This is extortion! If I want to exclusively support retailers who make money where developers don't, the developer should go out of their way to cater to me!

Come on. Drop the attitude. I don't see anything wrong with this. At all. At the end of the day, you're losing practically nothing. It's an add-on. Almost a DLC. You want to buy a game at a fraction of the cost, be grateful you're not even losing a fraction of the full game. You're just getting 100%, whereas the new-copy buyers are getting 110%.
You want the extras - bloody pay for them. Stop whining. It's pathetic.

I thought like that not too long ago. Then something hit me: only triple-AAA publishers are being dicks about this. You know, the ones who stand to make the most money. You don't see publishers like NIS and Atlus pulling this crap and they stand to benefit the most from a system like this because their sales are already going to be very low. Any profit for them is good. So this is just basic greed.

I don't see how it is greed if you're asking for a fair cut of the profits from something you devoted a lot of time and money to.
And the reason why only Triple-A publishers are doing this is because they're the only ones who can really stand to lose as much from making games. They have more money, they put more money in. If they start getting less money back, they'll be suffering bigger losses than a smaller company. A corporate giant can collapse faster than a corner shop once it gets hit.

Here is the thing: they were paid. Someone bought the game. Now they want to get paid a second time.

Really - it doesn't sound bad. You don't have to be online all the time, you just have to enter a series key once and that's that.

I'm going to say you people are whiners and leave it at that.

One problem: I don't have LIVE (I can't get it to work). So even if I buy it new, I still get locked out of content. I imagine that I'm not the only one. Fun.

No. They want to get paid for each customer that buys their game. Every time somebody buys a used copy, it's been chosen over a new copy. Therefore, the developer has lost out.

But, your second issue is a legitimate problem, and I won't try to argue with it. There needs to be a more convenient way of doing this.

I don't see their problem. Used things are bought all of the time. What makes their product special? And it is faulty to assume that "used game sale=one lost sale". There are people who wouldn't have ever bought it new anyway. But say they trade in a game and a used copy is sitting there and they have store credit. And it can be annoying. I couldn't activate Shale in DA:O or Kasumi and Zaheed in ME2 because I couldn't get online to activate the codes that I paid for.

 

[Joseph Alexander]

so? I'm sorry but its by far the best form of DRM to date.
as i see it its ok, i mean its not even downloaded its just unlocked.
so its:you:"yo hi i bought your game here is the code[X]" network:" ok here now its unlocked... bring a nose clip"
where it could be: you:"yo hi i bought your game here is the code[X]" network:" ok let me load this crap over the terribly crappy network and then take anywhere from 10min to an hour unloading it and setting it up"
frankly I'd rather have this then any other after all your not giving id any money when you buy used, so why should you get the whole game?

 

[Lionsfan]

Well I was considering buying the game, it's not been a must have for me, but now that I've seen this shit I can safely say fuck that

 

[Riptide1]

wow all this is is glorified dlc. Why are people getting so pissed? Its a side mission that you have miss out on if you don't buy it new, that's only used in any other game that uses dlc

 

[MegaManOfNumbers]

EDIT: Sorry, double post, stupid internet! >.<