Used Game Sales are a "Bigger Problem Than Piracy"

[SimuLord]

The whole thing reeks of irrelevance to those of us who buy games on Steam or other digital distribution platforms. Although I'd even go so far as to argue that overall game quality is improved by the restriction of the secondary market because if your attitude as a consumer is "you pays yer money, ya takes yer chances"...and especially if it's your own money at stake, you'll take a much longer and much harder look at your purchases to avoid getting burned.

Only time I buy a clunker these days is if I pay under ten bucks for it as part of a big Steam sale, but publishers now have to work MUCH harder to earn my money if they want fifty bucks out of me.

If I could just buy/sell/trade at will, I'd probably play more crap. And I'd only be hurting myself.

 

[The Hungry Samurai]

Again IMHO when games developers make more money it will either A. keep them satisfied thus preventing the price of games from going up. or B. Give the developers more budget to work with on more innovative future projects.

The rest of your post made a lot of sense, but I'm afraid I have to take this bit and play a game I call "How are you wrong".

When people start making a lot (or even a decent amount) of money off something good, or even something lazy that appeals to dumb kids, they start working on ways to make more money with the same amount (or even less) effort.

Look at the Call of Duty series or all the WW2 games? 1 successful game in a series or medium spawns millions of sequels, ripoffs, and copycats. Why? They made money off it the first time so they try it again. Bad ideas or copycats games should make less money while innovating games make more money (in a perfect world that is).

This isn't limited to the games industry. Disney made a fuckload of cash off Even Stevens (which was actually really good) and they tried to make more money by copying it. Thus spawned Lizzie Mguire, Teen Angel, You Wish, Hannah Montanna, That So Raven. But I'm starting to ramble, so back on topic I go.

If developers want to combat Trading, they simply need their games to improve. Good games rarely get traded in. I bouth Warrior Within a few years ago, and really liked it. Sure, I beat it in a week or so, but I just put it on my shelf. Every couple of months, I pick it up and play it again. Then again, you can't trade in PC games, so go figure.

But in order to see better games, developers don't need more revenue, they need a defeciet. This means that their consumer base is demanding that their games improve. And developers and publishers will need to comply.

I will grant you that that one line is a bit of optimistic and idealistic fluff for the most part. That's the way the big corporate cookie crumbles, but you can't deny that there would be companies out there who would take that influx of profit and put it to good use. One thing that's great about the gaming market is that a struggling independent game designer with the proper innovation, can stand shelf to shelf with a big time capitalist designers and still hold there own usually.

As for your comment on good games not being traded as often, I tend to disagree. You and I are among a rare breed of gaming hoarders who can't bear to part with their favorites (I still keep my copies of Final Fantasy 1-13 all together on my gaming shelf right next to my GTA series) However, it's really not uncommon for people to go through games like toilet paper, get their achievements or whatnot and go and sell it as fast as possible because only the good, popular, newish games even come close to being valuable enough to sell and make a dent in their next purchase.

There's no shame in how selling a game back to the store seriously cuts it's value.

 

[Con Carne]

The sad thing is, if their sales don't get any better. The price of a new game for instance on a PS3 will go up, from 59.99 USD(Which I think is already too high.) to 62.99-69.99 USD.

 

[The Hungry Samurai]

So you're saying that stealing a product is better than buying it second hand because in both instances the makers don't get a cut? It's stealing. Think about that.

Everything is sold used. Cars, houses, household appliances. It's a fact of life. If people are this eager to trade in their games after a week or so then it's the game's fault and not the person that's selling it. Who cares if the developers aren't making as much money as they could?

Imagine if there weren't used sales. If people didn't have the oppertunity to regain part of their money if they thought the game sucked. What then? Renting would increase. People would take even less chances with purchases and rent everything, thus rendering most game sales obsolete. I'm doing that. Why aren't movie companies complaning about used movie sales? Because most people that buy a movie will likely buy it for their collection. If they only want to check it out, they'll rent it, give it a go and then return it. The same will happen with games unless they start to have more replay value.

The difference between a used car and a used game is that it takes about a year for a car manufacturer to make a new model of car. A person who buys a new car usually owns it for at least a year before putting it back on the market.

It takes a game developer about a year to make a new game, and a person who buys a new game and resells it usually does so within the first 3 months of purchasing the game.

With the car by the time it starts to commonly appear on the market used, the manufacturer has already made the profits it intended to make off of that car, and has moved onto the next product. With a game the used copy is directly cutting into the initial profits it was expected to make as a new game. The game essentially has to compete with itself.

 

[The Hungry Samurai]

The sad thing is, if their sales don't get any better. The price of a new game for instance on a PS3 will go up, from 59.99 USD(Which I think is already too high.) to 62.99-69.99 USD.

I totally agree, the sad thing is, this will also cause the prices of used games to go up, without causing the amount of money gamers get for selling their games to go up.

 

[Veylon]

While I'm sure borrowing/renting/trading hurts the gaming companies' bottom lines...

I'm having a hard time comprehending the very notion that a company can look at borrowing, trading, and renting - activities practiced since before the dawn of civilization - as some terrible new blight that they have the right to complain about, even put an end to if they can. What?

Can you imagine the head of Ford or Random Books or GE taking such a public stand? People would raise eyebrows, wonder how this fellow has navigated life thus far without encountering this base fact of the economy. But we're supposed to take this guy seriously? Why?

 

[Jfswift]

I think offereing DLC to anyone possessing the game is a better (and more profitable) solution than trying to cheat players into buying games new. I'm really at a point now where I may start boycotting games.

 

[RootBrewski]

The way I see it there are a few strategies publisher's could try in order to reduce used game sales/Piracy. First quality of the game, if a game is good and had replayability, such as good multiplayer support, this will help gamers keep their games. Continued support of a game after release is another way to keep people to keep their games.

I think the larger Publishers could also try cutting out and the middle man and allowing us to buy directly from them, this would probably lower the price of games, and mentioned earlier allowing us to trade used games back to the publisher would be a win-win situation.

Valve has done all of these things, and is doing extremely well with their sales, and whilst mostly a PC developer, their model is probably worth a try for other companies who develop for consoles.

The sad thing is, if their sales don't get any better. The price of a new game for instance on a PS3 will go up, from 59.99 USD(Which I think is already too high.) to 62.99-69.99 USD.

Yeah we already pay that much in Canada at the moment, I'd hate to see it get any higher.

 

[blalien]

I refuse to pay more than $2 per hour of gameplay. It used to be $1 per hour, but games have gotten more expensive since then so I had to lower my standards. That's why, although I loved the God of War games, I bought the first two used and rented the third one. I feel bad about it, but they should have made the games longer. Not to mention it's the only way to buy PS2, Gamecube, and GBA games.

The sad thing is, if their sales don't get any better. The price of a new game for instance on a PS3 will go up, from 59.99 USD(Which I think is already too high.) to 62.99-69.99 USD.

Then Sony fails at economy. You lower your prices when demand is low, not raise them. This is why the airlines are doing so miserably.

 

[nonl33t m4st3r]

To which I say: that's capitalism. If I can wait to get a lower price from someone else, then I will. Either lower your prices, give me a reason to buy it new, or cater to people who will buy it at full, new price.

 

[Jfswift]

On Topic: I don't understand how someone not paying for a game at all is worse than someone who pays for it then trades it in. To, me some money is better than no money. I mean aren't there used movie stores? Blockbuster sells used movies, and you don't see Movie companies getting all in a huff.

Yea, but how many people turn around and trade in movies, which cost between 10-20 dollars versus games that run much higher.

 

[Cousin_IT]

Movies, music & books all survive with thriving second-hand markets. Game devs/publishers just have to live with it &, rather than ***** & moan about how bad people are for trading in second hand games, do like EA & give non-penalizing incentives to buy new.

 

[Danpascooch]

Used Game Sales are a "Bigger Problem Than Piracy"


"Arguably the bigger problem on consoles now is the trading in of games,"

I don't mean to be rude, but I can't even really consider this article news.

I mean, if they were talking about PC games I would be shocked, but come on, how much pirating happens on consoles? Certainly not enough to be anywhere NEAR the hit Devs take from used game sales.

Basically, if this was about PC games, it would be shocking, but since it's about console games, it's more of a "Ducks like water" or "shooting yourself in the face could be harmful" type of thing, it's so obvious that nobody bothered to mention it.

 

[pneuma08]

Sharing should be illegal because it affects the bottom line. How DARE more than one person enjoy the product! Everyone should pay the same entry price because millions were invested in it for the sole fact to get more millions back.

 

[Captain Blackout]

I'm sure this has been said buuuttt....

Anti-piracy, drm, etc. is really anti-second hand game sales. Fuck you, I bought it, I'll re-sell it. As since you fools (industry penny pinchers) refuse to admit your crap, I'm still happy as a clam to be a ******.

 

[Gralian]

Second hand games have become such an integrated part of the consumer market that it'll never change. People will continue to trade games, even if shops abide by some sort of agreement with the corporations and refuse to stock used games, people will trade privately and independently. Frankly, the shops need the custom from second hand game sales to keep their businesses afloat. Not everyone has £40 to blow on a game every time and even if ten people buy a £10 game each who would have previously bought nothing due to expense, that's another £100 in the kitty for the store.

The only way people can be convinced to buy new games is if corporations lower the prices earlier in order to keep up with the market. For example, they could say that after a fortnight, the price of a new game *must* drop by £10 or so, then after a month, by another £5, and that becomes the fixed price. The fanboys and impatient folk will pay the early expensive cost while the ones who can't afford it will be able to wait and buy it later. Alternatively, the DLC idea implemented by games like Bad Company 2 and Mass Effect 2 are a very clever, if sneaky, method of incentive. And that's the key point. It's incentive, not consequence. That's what speaks to players.

 

[fletch_talon]

Here's the problem. Games aren't like other goods.
Provided the disk hasn't been damaged, a used game doesn't differ from a new one.
Furniture and clothing come with the knowledge that someone else has sat on or worn them and so their second hand value drops and people have a reason to buy it new. With games, there is no incentive to buy new (until recent projects by companies like EA) because the used game will often play every bit as well as the new one, and if it doesn't they come with a warranty.

I love how the people complain about how expensive new games are, but then praise the companies that offer a 2-5 dollar discount for one that's used, often after offering the original owner a quarter of the price for trading it in.

 

[Aegwadar]

Gah! I don't understand the hate... Its a BUSINESS people. Welcome to Capitalism! If the only way for new, cool, bad ass games to be produced is by allowing these producers to earn money; well, then I'm sure you can figure the rest out.

EA has managed to figure a good deal with the incentive program, I.E. VIP code in BF:BC2. Allowing VIP's to download future DLCs. That in mind was my deciding factor in buying new over used.

This is all excluding the principle factors of linear, non-multiplayer, games; which seem destined for the used market.

End story: It's a business making games, they want to make money. Therefore, the only way were ever gonna get new, solid games is to..

*drum roll*

BUY new games...

...or else start playing freeware.

 

[Starke]

So Piracy is 90% of all lost game sales, and Used Games are bigger... That's at least 180% of sales...

Did these people ever take math at school?

Piracy is 90% of the PC market. On the Consoles its in the 10-20% range. (Don't quote me on that second number, that's my recollection, I haven't looked at the numbers in the last two years.)

 

[TehCookie]

If I could find new PS2 games in the $5 bargain bin I would buy them. I never buy current games because they are too expensive, and I can wait even if it does leave me behind on the gaming trends.