Silicon Knights Boss Says Used Games Drive Up Prices

[Flailing Escapist]

Silicon Knights sounds like a porno, just sayin'. How about this:

Shitty games -> More Used Games -> Less $$$

Good games -> Sell more new copies -> Makes fans/repeat buyers -> More $$$

Is something wrong with that? I can see where you're coming from but how about this: make good games (or good games for specific audience). That'll make long-term fans who will pay for new games at full price. Heck, if CoD can do it so can you!

 

[Savryc]

Well this is where I'd usually make a point of only buying Silicon Knights games used from now on but that's still more than the shit they churn out is worth.

 

[Riobux]

To be fair, Game just went into administration because they were selling used games and claiming they were new. So it's not exactly the fault of the consumer entirely.

 

[weirdee]

Bullshit.

The only thing that increases the cost of new videogames is greed. Plain, simple, cut, and dried.

When the medium does eventually go to digital distribution publishers will still charge $60+ dollars for their games. It won't matter. Piracy, Used Games, etc are just fall guys that these companies use to justify their greed and piss poor treatment of their customers.

Well actually if developers and publishers did get a cut from resales we might see the price come down again.

Though if they stayed the same, everything you said would be justified.

only a few sites have attempted to match valve's model, and the others, sony being the biggest violator, have kept prices at retail, if not HIGHER compared to physical copies of the game because those copies have fallen in price since release but nobody at the virtual store has been awake long enough to notice that they should have updated something

most of the justification for this is that sony has a captive audience (and doesn't like it when anybody even smells like they're going to tamper with their golden suckling teat) so they don't think they need to do anything special to keep their customers around when they know they can shake them for cash to feed their failing empire

 

[Kroxile]

Wow, thats a leve of pure and utter denial on a scale I've seldom seen in my life.

Before the availability of next generation hardware drove the prices down, Ps2 games cost you $60 new.

Lol, ad hominem makes you smart too, apparently.

I've purchased probably about 30 PS2 games in that era, each only cost me about 40 dollars + tax.

The most expensive game I bought last gen was probably Doom 3 CE for the original Xbox.

But you go right on ahead and keep thinking whatever you wanna think, bro. My receipts say otherwise.

 

[Andy Chalk]

My receipts say otherwise.

Can you quote some? I'd like to hear which games were so inexpensive a decade ago - assuming, of course, that we're talking about current (at the time) releases.

Because as I've said before, anyone who thinks games were cheaper 20 years ago wasn't buying games 20 years ago.

Here's another one to add to the list above:

Deus Ex, 2000: $57.99

Deus Ex: Human Revolution, 2011: $59.99

 

[grigjd3]

Um, yes, and developers would be smart to realize this, however, they often seem so stupid as to believe that the used market reduces the chance I will buy their games. Of course, if this discussion included anyone who had a basic idea of economics... Well, lets just say that most people won't rise to the occasion.

 

[Doom972]

If that's the case, then why do recent PC games cost $60 instead of $50?
One might say piracy, but that existed for a long time and the $50 price was fine.

I think publishers just need to lower their development budgets or stop being greedy and sell at a normal price, or they'll just have to wait for a Steam sale each time for me to buy their game.

 

[electric method]

Yikes, this coming from the same guy behind "Too Human". Honestly, I bought that paticular game used at gamestop for 5 bucks. Used was the only thing they had, not that I would have ever paid full price for that pile of garbage.

As to prices staying flat, in my advancing age I can vaguely recall paying over 50.00 for a good many PC games in the early and middle 90's. Others, I waited for sales on. I think where some are getting confused on pricing is the "shovelware" from earlier years. Back in the 80's and 90's lower prices generally indicated the game was going to be of poor quality or was a dev's first game. This is also true to some extent today. If I came across one of those games I would immediately pass it up. Why? Because they were of generally attrocious quality. The same holds semi-true today, but we are more likely to see full retail prices for horrible games. Too Human is a excellent example of this.

 

[Syzygy23]

Y'know, the LAST 3 generations of consoles we had apparently sold JUST FINE even with used game sales.

I don't remember anyone getting up in arms about used games when Halo: Combat Evolved was released on the first xbox. I can't seem to recall Capcom flipping a ***** that they would go broke if people bought Powerstone used.

Face it, used games weren't a problem before, and they aren't a problem now. These yahoos in the game development industry just want fatter paychecks.

 

[RevRaptor]

This is bull, its greed that is pushing up game price and destroying new game sales also dlc. I am now very much in the habit of ignoring new games and just waiting for the collectors pack that has all the dlc and costs way less. Why would I even consider paying 120 bucks per game plus whatever the dlc costs, when I can just wait a few months and get the whole lot for fifty bucks.

 

[Ickorus]

Prices are high because people buy used but people buy used because prices are high.

From the standpoint of a guy who buys his games almost exclusively through digital distribution i'd have to say it's probably the high prices that kicked things off.

 

[Thyunda]

And as used game sales continue to push new game prices up, I buy more used games to make up for the fact I can no longer afford new ones.
Some people just shouldn't even start talking about economics.

Besides. Today's new release is next week's used bargain.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Guess they are feeling butthurt from their Too Human failure, the trilogy that never was. If you make a sucky game then no one will buy it, make something amazing and people will buy it. Make another Blood Omen game.

 

[FoolKiller]

My receipts say otherwise.

Can you quote some? I'd like to hear which games were so inexpensive a decade ago - assuming, of course, that we're talking about current (at the time) releases.

Because as I've said before, anyone who thinks games were cheaper 20 years ago wasn't buying games 20 years ago.

Here's another one to add to the list above:

Deus Ex, 2000: $57.99

Deus Ex: Human Revolution, 2011: $59.99

I'm from Canada. I'll start with that because the differences between US/CDN dollar has fluctuated over the past 20 years, but I myself have been buying console games for 23 years.

NES
Super Mario Bros. 3 - $79.99
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - $59.99
Adventure Island - $69.99
The Legend of Zelda - $69.99

SNES
NHL 94, 95, 96 - $69.99
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - $69.99

N64
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - $89.99 if you were lucky ($99.99 otherwise)
Super Mario 64 - $89.99

PlayStation
Final Fantasy VII - $69.99

PlayStation 2
Final Fantasy X - $69.99
Grand Theft Auto III - $74.99

GameCube
The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker - $59.99
Super Mario Sunshine - $59.99

Xbox 360/PS3
Final Fantasy XIII - $59.99

Wii
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword - $59.99

So no. Anyone who bought games 20 years ago should not be complaining that they are too expensive now. The only caveat to this is the extra content, DLC locked away or otherwise, that makes the whole experience cost a lot more.

In fact, it tends to end up around where 60 or 70 dollars 20 years ago would have ended up with inflation. Neat.

Personally I just wait for GoTYE (yes, I'm one of those) but I like to get everything in one go and as Jim Sterling said, we are being trained for it. I have more than one console so I'm not a fan of DLC. I would rather drop 100 dollars on a game knowing I had all the content on one or two discs than 60 and then having to continually purchase DLC locked to a console.

As for the discussion on the used market giving a share to devs... I think that should happen when they chip in for the cost of buying back the games. If a store pays 30 for a used game and sells it for 40 and the dev wants 1 dollar (10%) of the cut, then the dev should pay towards any losses that a game has.

I recently saw a copy go into a local store and the customer got $35 trade credit for Syndicate two days after release. It's been on the shelf ever since at $45. And I think it will continue to stay there. There is a good chance that it won't sell until it drops below $30. The publisher won't take a hit like they have to with price protection if a new game doesn't sell.

As for the rest of the arguments: I now buy used for many reasons.

EA, Capcom and the like I tend to not like their nickel and dime business practices and the server shutdowns so I deliberately won't buy their games new. Nor will I get their DLC.

Some others I buy and am pleasantly surprised with. There are no real ways to try out games anymore as rentals have all but vanished. I don't rely on reviews because other peoples opinions are not my own. And I don't rely on a demo which is a best foot forward scenario which is just clever advertising. I can't trust that.

 

[tangoprime]

I remember about 15 years ago trying a new SNES game out by renting it for $5, then if I liked it, buying it for $69.99. Even without adjusting for inflation, game prices have come DOWN in the last 20 years. That's just console games, PC games used to be nuts expensive, does anyeone remember buying Daggerfall? Good God.

This is just another butthurt developer who's pissed that they make shitty games that end up all sitting on used shelves because they suck and people don't want to keep them. I'm not sure why companies like the EA monster would even be concerned with used games, as crap like Madden and NCAA that comes out every year are always bought in huge number new the day they come out using proceeds from the dollar or two of trade in credit from last year's madden/ncaa. In cases like these, the used re-sale market is HELPING them make sales.

Also, as mentioned, does anybody REALLY think when everything goes digital distribution and gets all DRM encrusted to the gills that prices will drop? Hell no, it'll be at that point that EA, Sony, et al realize they have a captive audience, JUST HAVE A LOOK AT ORIGIN EXCLUSIVES. Checkmate.

Devs should start making products worth the asking price (and which work correctly), and making COMPLETE products that won't have content made before release ransomed off right at or directly after release before whining about people getting rid of them, or people pirating them.

Also, while touching on that point, though it's been beaten to death, does anybody remember how last generation we had cheat codes for games, but this gen games never have them anymore, since, y'know, they can just sell in-game items/exp/money/points for real money now and idiots actually buy into it letting them know this practice is OK? *sigh*