Volition Dev Vs. Pre-Owned Games

[AsurasFinest]

Piracy =/= about who pays or who doesn't. Piracy can also involve money payments, but none go to the original creator.

Your seriously going to say piracy and buying used games are the same. That's what your seriously going to do?
I do not even know where to begin on how wrong you are. If people actually think this, you and they deserve all the crap corporations currently and are going to dump on you.

News flash, they are. Fact of the matter is your desire to buy a game used, or the purchase in itself, did not in anyway influence the original buyer to purchase the game new. The guy that bough the game brand new would have done so even without the used games market, he is the customer and would have been regardless.

In the end of the day when you buy a used game you do not contribute any money to the industry, even if the copy was at one point brand new.

pirates = used games buyers

Just wow.People actually think this.
I hesitate to use the word stupid, but I honestly can't think of any word more accurate and fitting for people that actually think this.
I guess buying a used car is piracy as well!!Same with buying a used book, movie or any other commodities that are passed around used.
Your logic is flawless and clearly not wrong on every single level.

You clearly have no knowledge about how the market works, what the market is and what your rights are as a consumer and how devs like Volition want to erode them. Since you clearly don't understand, stay out of all conversation regarding used game sales, since anything guys like you say only helps to hurt us as consumers.

 

[gyroscopeboy]

So what happens when the Nextbox or NextStation breaks? Do we lose all our games? Do we have to send the console away for weeks so they can transfer the games? What if the warranty has run out?

I really do not see any way that this will not just end up with piracy skyrocketing.

Exactly. I've never been bothered modding my xbox, because the draw of pirating games isn't enough. But if i can no longer play games i've PAID MONEY FOR, then the modding community will become HUGE.

 

[FoolKiller]

"People often don't understand the cost that goes into creating these huge experiences that we put on the shelves for only $60."

When was Saints Row only $60?

Say I want to play it for a month:
$60 - for the disc
$9 - tax on the game
$5 - Xbox LIVE
$50 - internet
`$40- 2400 points of DLC (so far)

So for me to play it for just one month, I need to shell out over $160.

Now lets be a bit more reasonable. Let's say I already have internet. This drops the cost to $110.

Now if we limit this to the game and DLC its still costs $100. The problem is, I need to pay for all the other things to be able to get the content. This game as well as many others are stripped down enough as it is.

If you want to know why I buy used, its because I'm trying to pay $60 for your ENTIRE game.

Oh... and this anti used console will automatically alienate the 40% who don't have Xbox LIVE because they would have to go online to register the game.

 

[T8B95]

Okay, let's look at some actual numbers here. Cold, hard, non-bitchy facts.

THQ owns Volition, right? Well, THQ released their most recent quarterly statement a few days ago. Guess what their total revenue was in the last fiscal quarter. Go on, guess.

For those of you who are curious, they made $305 million. Unless their costs are really that fucking astronomical, that's still a massive profit.

EDIT: Just looking at this, and apparently THQ intends to publish a sequel to Homefront late next year. Was it really that successful to warrant a sequel?

 

[Suave Charlie]

I have 3 consoles, two here at uni and one back home. Say I want to play saints in the living room would it then be tied to that console so if I wanted to play it in my room I'm fucked? Or what if my house mate who has his own console wants to borrow it? Would he have to do so in my room?

Hope this never happens and anyone that pushes for it can go fight a bear.

 

[Westaway]

I like sharing my games. I buy all of my games new, and rarely trade or share games, but it's nice when I do. I trade Reach for Halo 3 with my friend, and my friend borrowed Orange Box and Portal 2 for New Vegas for a month. I can live without it, but I'd rather br able to do it. And if I like a game enough I buy it.

 

[grigjd3]

Volition needs to understand that their games aren't good enough for me to buy them new if I can't resell them - that's a sales loss, period.

 

[Gmans uncle]

Oh god... I've said this before, I'm sayin' it again, used games ARE NECESSARY to preserve gaming's future. IE: in ten years, when no new copies of the game are available, and you can't play a used copy of the game, your game CEASES TO EXIST.
Seriously, we need to keep used games, they're all that we have to keep our games alive in the future.

Honestly, Durall...

 

[Something Amyss]

Having an opinion =/= panic.

No, but taking it as fact+condemning Microsoft=panic.

But you had a lovely strawman, there.

 

[jawakiller]

Fuck. That. Guy.

No seriously, there are few people in this industry I hate more than this guy right now.

Fuck that guy and fuck Microsoft. This will just give them more leeway to send out shitty games.

 

[Something Amyss]

Oh god... I've said this before, I'm sayin' it again, used games ARE NECESSARY to preserve gaming's future. IE: in ten years, when no new copies of the game are available, and you can't play a used copy of the game, your game CEASES TO EXIST.
Seriously, we need to keep used games, they're all that we have to keep our games alive in the future.

They don't want you to keep their games alive. Games have become a disposable medium to most devs, which is ironically one of the reasons used games became so popular in the first place.

They want cash now, not historical recognition.

Okay, let's look at some actual numbers here. Cold, hard, non-bitchy facts.

THQ owns Volition, right? Well, THQ released their most recent quarterly statement a few days ago. Guess what their total revenue was in the last fiscal quarter. Go on, guess.

For those of you who are curious, they made $305 million. Unless their costs are really that fucking astronomical, that's still a massive profit.

EDIT: Just looking at this, and apparently THQ intends to publish a sequel to Homefront late next year. Was it really that successful to warrant a sequel?

Also from the report:

With third quarter shipments of approximately 3.6 million units (life to date 3.8 million units), Saints Row: The Third is the largest owned-IP launch in THQ's history. The company currently expects to ship between five and six million units over the life of this title.

Volition's game is their largest non-licensed franchise, it had sold almost 4 million at that point, etc.

Speaking of franchises, since that's where companies think the money is, I think a Homefront sequel was an inevitability. They invest a lot in these franchises. Not a game, but I'm still surprised they didn't run with the second Avtara: TLA movie despite fan complaints about the first. They kinda went all in on that being a multimedia franchise, so I expected them to claw at it.

 

[gphjr14]

Congrats Volition I bought SR3 brand new; however after reading this I'll be sure to get your next game (if I even get it) used, and I mean $40 or less used off half.com or ebay.

Times are bad enough without people nickel and diming consumers. Seriously get the fuck over yourself Volition.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Yeah, on one hand, it eliminates arbitrage. Good for the publisher/developer. Bad for consumers.

On the other...it kind of allows for more complacency. And it makes me ask: If Used Games disappear, will we see the end of nonsensical schemes like Day 1 DLC?

Of course we won't. Because they already know people are willing to pay more for less (In general, DLC has a worse Cost:Content ratio than core games, and since the games turn profits on each copy sold, it can't be called a loss-leader strategy).

And then there's that whole issue of the gaming industry effectively marketing goods as products, but then trying to force customers into legal bindings that treat them like services...they're double-dipping into two kinds of goods and legalities here, which makes for no end of confusion.

Oh god... I've said this before, I'm sayin' it again, used games ARE NECESSARY to preserve gaming's future. IE: in ten years, when no new copies of the game are available, and you can't play a used copy of the game, your game CEASES TO EXIST.

Actually, they'd prefer that in the long run. It means that gamers would be FORCED to move on and buy into the latest sequel, even if it were a note-for-note copy.
It solves the problem of publishing remakes and/or mediocrity: Why compete with YOURSELF when you don't have to?

 

[thejackyl]

I wouldn't really mind this IF...

There was a MASSIVE price drop in new games. Like down to $30 new, instead of $60. And if price drops started about a week after launch, even for high selling games. And if the games are saved a la Steam (for free too), so if the console dies, you still have your games.

However, I don't really see this whole thing happening. And if it does, I can guarantee 90% of owners of the new consoles will jailbreak them. I know I would.

CAPTCHA: Pay Pvesndo. Who is Pvesndo and why should I pay him?

 

[falcon1985]

Dear Volition. Shut the fuck up and make Freespace 3 already.

 

[Link Kadeshi]

This just in, GM just announced that they are going to start implementing a single sales device in their new cars. Each person will now have to use a single use retina scanner to register their retina scans to their new GM cars. This will prevent used car sales. GM has long been researching a remedy for what they call "a system as bad as grand theft auto." This system will stop car lending, as that is clearly a loss in revenue, as well as selling a car to anyone else. Immediately following this announcement, GM's stock price plummeted.

 

[Something Amyss]

Congrats Volition I bought SR3 brand new; however after reading this I'll be sure to get your next game (if I even get it) used, and I mean $40 or less used off half.com or ebay.

Times are bad enough without people nickel and diming consumers. Seriously get the fuck over yourself Volition.

After SR3, I'm not sure they're worth supporting anymore.

Or playing, even if only used. Though that's just me.

 

[Syzygy23]

Wow, this guy is a real piece of shit.

The Xbox, gamecube, and PS2 made profits just FINE alongside used games. These guys are just getting greedy, so they can go fuck themselves.

 

[JRCOBRA]

Congrats Volition you have now joined the ranks of companys I will no longer buy from such as Codemasters, Ubisoft, Infinity Ward, Project Aces, Techland, and some others.

Any company dumb enough to make a console that would do this deserves to go bankrupt. I'm looking forward to the video gaming crash part 2.

 

[Lunar Templar]

i have but a simple question ...

who is this delusional asshole and HOW did he get away from his padded cell?

for real

also, for on topic-ness:

IF the next gen consoles pull this shit, there is no maybe about getting one, i will not be getting one. i already do the 'enter a code to play a game' on the PC. i see no reason to throw money at a new console that would effectively be forcing me to do the same, not to mention, making all the games i >.> er ... used to have ... >.> (all my consoles save the PS2 got pawned) would be totally unplayable, and I'm not paying Sony or Microsoft AGAIN, FOR GAMES I ALREADY OWN.

so and i mean this from the very bottom of my heart.

Jameson Durall, go.fuck.your.self