WHY are used video games bad?

[MrMoustaffa]

What cracks me up is you never hear car companies complaining about used car sales, or Guitar companies complaining over used guitar sales, and construction companies arent complaining over selling "used" houses,why should games be different? You bought the game, it is yours to do whatever you want to with it. Play it, use it as a frisbee, or sell it yourself when you're done, its you property, so do whatever you want with it. Yes, companies claim that you are merely purchasing a "liscense" to use the software, but I dont think that policy will hold up much longer.

The problem is that game developers want that cash that they lose to used sales, so they've started including more DLC, or in the really annoying cases, locking roughly half the game unless you have a certain code, that only works once with a new copy (aka EA and locking out multiplayer until you buy an online pass)You have every right to buy used games, so don't let the developers complaining get you down. I've started buying a couple of new games from developers I really like so that they'll get the money, but I would say roughly 90% of my games are still bought used.

TL;DR, there are used markets for almost everything else you can imagine, so why on earth should games be excluded. Dont let it bother you and buy however you feel is the smartest way to buy.

 

[Sir Neox]

I think this is completly ridiculus, I mean i like to game a lot but the price of games currently is holding me back. im a full time A level student so I am only able to work part time during the week and most of my money goes on fuel for my car or insurance so used games are basically a heavan for me to be able to play lots of cheap good games. God i hate money grabbing people some times,

TL;DR I hate paying the 60 price tag for new games when there is more important thing i need

God i hate developers sometimes -_-

 

[Lucane]

Don't you think it is kind of odd that when we buy games, we are apparently supposed to worry about who is getting our money, but if you buy anything else you don't. I mean, if I buy a used car, nobody is going to make a big deal about Wayne Enterprises not getting any of my money even though they built it. Why is it different with games?

Just thinking about it now...
Maybe a majority of car makers also own a variety of used car dealerships to earn extra cash on used cars.

They over price originals to compensate?

They usually regain the cost to make them early on?

 

[Jzcaesar]

I think a difference between the used car argument and the used game is that, if you get a used car, you get a used car. It's not as good as a new car (most of the time) because it is more worn. If you get a used game, it's almost exactly the same as a new game, and hence, the used game market is more attractive than the use car market (and hence, more of an issue).

 

[PattyG]

The future is all downloads. I personally make a point to buy certain types of games new; that is, in smaller genres just so the studios know there is a market for games like Phoenix Wright that don't have the mainstream of whatever is the latest brown-colored gun game. Used game sales are part of the reason why new or more creative franchises have a very hard time getting off the ground and why there are now FIVE studios dedicated to COD. I don't think new/used is a good/bad thing, I think it's a case-by-case basis. If I'm buying GTA4, who cares? But Square will never make another Chrono game if Chrono Trigger doesn't make them some money. It's a business, people.

 

[PattyG]

I think a difference between the used car argument and the used game is that, if you get a used car, you get a used car. It's not as good as a new car (most of the time) because it is more worn. If you get a used game, it's almost exactly the same as a new game, and hence, the used game market is more attractive than the use car market (and hence, more of an issue).

Totally correct. Plus, very often the car makers are involved in the re-selling of their used vehicles. Nobody is selling Persona 4 back to Atlus so they can re-sell it and make money a second time.

 

[tzimize]

The simple problem the developers/publishers have is that every time one of thier games is preowned and bought again, they lose money because they dont get paid for the game being preowned, and the guy who bought it preowned now isnt going to buy a fresh one.

So yes, it is a money thing.

Good to know that all it is is companies being greedy. Thanks!

Either you are trolling or you have terrible economical knowledge. Let me paint you a picture.

What if all we had was digital games? People nowadays have a very big pile of contacts. If you could just borrow a copy after a buddy somewhere was finished with it...a worst case scenario would be that a company sold ONE copy, and then that copy went around the world since everyone knows someone...and it traveled around.

One copy sold...50 bucks for a game with millions of dollars worth of development. I guess you see how thats bad?

Of course, I know thats not how it is now, but I'm just painting you a picture. This happens, in a smaller scale. And companies are losing money on it.

 

[thejackyl]

The only thing bad about used games is that the developers don't get their cut of the profit that they do from new games. That and if you buy from Gamestop, you're liable to get a copy that doesn't work and they refuse to refund you for it.

I tend to buy games new, over used when I want to support the developers. That and my bad experience with Gamestop's used games.

As for the guy who compared this to buying cars, cars take a LOT less money to produce than a single video game. Sometimes just shipping a car to a dealership is enough to make a decent profit, and a lot of other products are like this.

Hell, even movies don't have this problem and they have even higher production costs, AND they are cheaper to buy than a new game. At least most of the time. Than again, most of the money you pay for a ticket goes to the producers, theaters make more money from the concession stand, than they do from ticket sales.

This is all from what I've heard from people who work at different places. So take that into consideration.

 

[Professor James]

I need to know this. I buy used video games all the time. I have collections of old games from old systems, yet still I see developers getting mad about used video games and the fact that they're worse than piracy:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/110171-Fable-3-Dev-Used-Games-Sales-are-More-Problematic-Than-Piracy

Is it just because people are buying and re-buying old copies of games? Do the developers want part of that cash? Are they that greedy that they sold the game once, now they want to sell the game again and again and again? I remember hearing that some game developers are thinking of inputting serial codes for old games that need to be re-purchased every time the game is re-sold at a used game store. Oh yeah, there's no way that can backfire.

No, seriously. What's the deal? Is it just a money thing?

They're not bad it's just that when you buy used games the developers, publishers, etc. don't get any money.

 

[cookyy2k]

It's a strange phenomenon that when anyone mentions pre-owned games everyone says it's developers just been greedy but if anyone says piracy then the developers have a legitimate claim to that money. I'm not for piracy here but it would appear one person torrenting a game is equivalent to one person buying it preowned from a developer/invester stand point. Each gives the developer nothing and each is effectively preventing one sale of a new copy.

 

[jowo96]

It's cuts into the developers potential profits considerably if people are buying second hand because the money from the second hand sale obviously does not go to them

 

[wolf thing]

The simple problem the developers/publishers have is that every time one of thier games is preowned and bought again, they lose money because they dont get paid for the game being preowned, and the guy who bought it preowned now isnt going to buy a fresh one.

So yes, it is a money thing.

Good to know that all it is is companies being greedy. Thanks!

its not really greed they just wont to get payed for something they made and if you buy preonde you play there game but they dont get the money for it

 

[EllEzDee]

Oh boo fucking hoo, they charge £40 for their games, they make more than enough money. Perhaps if their games weren't so expensive, people wouldn't HAVE to buy them pre-owned.

 

[Physics Engine]

Greedy?

If people were using my product, of course I would hope that I actually saw the money from each person using it. That's not greedy, that's called wanting to be paid what you are owed.

Goods don't work that way. A painter who sells his painting in a gallery for $100,000.00 can do nothing when the person it was sold to sells it on for $1,000,000.00, the painter is not entitled to any of the profit made by the seller as it is no longer their painting. If the buyer wants to use their painting to line a birdcage, then so be it, they payed for it.

The issue here is that for a game to be sold as used, it must first have been sold as new, therefore the product has been payed for and the people who made the product gained their capitol. There is no wrongdoing, the people who were owed were payed already.

Publishers are payed when retailers buy the product from them to sell to us, the consumers. This is why sales numbers from publishers are qualified with "- units shipped" and not "- units sold". They get payed before the consumers money changes hands for the goods. Everything else is a bonus.

The used games market does not hurt anyone by existing, anyone who was payed to make the game already got payed to make it, anyone who was payed to publish the game was already payed to publish it and anyone payed to give out licensing fees to enable both the former to do their jobs got their licensing fees. The only ones left out in the cold in this system is the brick and mortar store who can't increase profit margins on the games they sell. How do they remain afloat? Used sales.

This anti-used games initiative is greed plain and simple. If the publishers can't find a way to make money off the people who bought used (DLC works fine if you've got enough of it to make it worthwhile) and adapt to a marketplace that seems to have survived fine in it's current state for nigh on 30 years then move over and let someone who can in there to figure it out. Crying about it on the internet does not help their cause. Mainly because they don't have a leg to stand on... and if they keep this up, no stores to sell their wares through.

 

[Rienimportant]

Of course it's a money thing. Greedy bastards. My apologies for that outburst of aggression, It's just that all the games I buy are pre-owned.

So why do you only buy pre-owned? Because it's a money thing and you're greedy? Oh wait no, it's obviously because you don't want to feed the moneybags that the developers are obviously stashing away and you're a righteous customer. Duh. My apologies for that outburst of trolling.

But really, my apologies. I should just take it out, but I'd rather leave it in there. It may be rude, but I feel it has a point. I do agree that used games are a fine thing to sell, I think that the whole idea of gamers only buying a license to use the software is such a bunch of bs, but really you can't just blame it on developers. I don't pirate games, but I have friends who say that they pirate games because wait for it...oh yeah. They feel that the developers and publishers are just overcharging for their titles. Which they probably are. Because they spend too much on ads and hype and then too many people pirate the game so they don't make as much as they planned so they raise the prices on the next release and try to stop used game sales because they feel that they're part of the reason that they get gouged when they release a new game, leading to more consumers bitching and then refusing to buy games and continuation.

TL;DR- Vicious cycle of consumers demanding more for less leading to devs following tried and true methods leading to consumers complaining about lame games so they either pirate it or buy it used for cheap because obviously it sucks too much to pay full price leading to publishers and devs trying to limit opportunity for said piracy or used sales, and see top of cycle for continuation.

 

[Keava]

Maybe those developers/publishers could take a look at [font color="red"]literally any other industry[/font] and see how deal with this extremely common and legitimate phenomenon.

Show me.
Show me any other industry that is similar to video games that deals with such problems.
Film? They make money of cinema screenings and later profit shares when the movies get displayed in TV networks, not so much from DVD sales. Music? Loads of money in music industry comes from gigs and profit shares each time the song is played in media. Physical goods (cars, toasters, etc.)? Quantity limited by production, in case of those you buy actual product, not a copyright license to enjoy it.
Games only earn money when they sell, no sales no money.

 

[MikailCaboose]

Greedy?

If people were using my product, of course I would hope that I actually saw the money from each person using it. That's not greedy, that's called wanting to be paid what you are owed.

Put it this way. Anytime ANYTHING is on the market, there will always be a market for used versions. The only reason why Video game companies get the attention is because they are new and know how to scream the loudest.

 

[ItsAChiaotzu]

Greedy?

If people were using my product, of course I would hope that I actually saw the money from each person using it. That's not greedy, that's called wanting to be paid what you are owed.

Agreed, and I don't think it's stupid for game companies that might be going under on the back of loads of used game sales to be slightly peeved. Attributing it to "greedy" game developers is incredibly myopic, considering that without them, you wouldn't have the game in the first place.

 

[cookyy2k]

Oh boo fucking hoo, they charge £40 for their games, they make more than enough money. Perhaps if their games weren't so expensive, people wouldn't HAVE to buy them pre-owned.

Perhapse if games weren't so expencive to make then they wouldn't have to charge that much. I know let's scale back graphics and we don't really need moral choice options, and whats with all these character customisations nowendays... You see where this is going? I personly would be fine with all this but many people would be off moaning that their cheapo games are just that.

 

[Dragonforce525]

I don't really mind buying pre owned games as I've yet to hear an argument that guilts me into buying their products for full price, whenever someone says "if you don't buy it full price the people who make the game get no money" I immediately picture Scrooge McDuck swimming around in his money pool. It's just a shame all AAA games aren't made by 1 person because that's how the music industry got me to feel guilty for illegally downloading music, they have the advantage of making you feel like you're stealing from the band, rather than Donald Trump.