Want to Solve the Used Game Dilemma? Here’s How to Do It.
by Deejay Knight: at November 12th, 2008, 4:29 am
The Problem
Used game sales are a major problem for developers, and second-hand game sales from companies like Gamestop are the primary cause. It’s completely concievable that Gamestop could cease selling new titles and focus on used games to drive profits, and that’s what gets their hair ruffled. Why are they so bothered by this? Every used game sold at a Gamestop location is a sale that they get zero income from.
Considering the amount of manpower involved with creating games, this is a justifiable problem. Unfortunately, the First Sale Doctrine allows users to sell their copies of legally obtained software. Anyone trying to dispute a buyer’s First Sale rights should take a look at Timothy S. Vernor v. Autodesk Inc., which protects users’ rights to sell their used software. If 3DS Max couldn’t get away with attempting to stop users from selling software, console publishers may have a difficult time doing so.
There’s also the problem that every other industry has issues with sales of used products, but there’s not a thing they can do with it. Does GM receive income from sales of it’s used cars? Nope. Does Sony get a cut of used Bravia sales? Does GE get a cut when someone sells a microwave oven or washing machine? Do home builders get a cut when someone buys the home they sold years ago? There’s a resounding no, no, and no to answer each of those quesitons. Would those companies like a chunk of that income? Of course. Unfortunately for them, they can’t do anything about it either.
That still doesn’t change the fact that developers would like to see a bit more income for their hard work, rather than watching Gamestop make very large amounts of income from it. Fortunately, there’s a way to correct this problem without resorting to ridiculous and draconian systems like denying users of the story because they bought a title used.
Find out on Page 3.
Awesome write up DeeJay! Burnout Paradise is by far the perfect example. More DLC keeps us coming back for more and gives us a reason to keep our games.
Very good work! Something probably does need to happen. These people who work like crazy to create these games need to be compensated. Some may argue that used movies get sold, and no one worries this much, but a video game doesn't have a theater release… Burnout Paradise with their free DLC and Gears 2 with the download cards are great examples. Rock Band 2 also had a similar thing for 20 free downloadable tracks.
Thanks a lot for the comments, guys! Replies like those are the reason I came up with these suggestions in the first place! Now, the question is, who's going to step up to the plate and make it happen?
The problem with free content is paying people to continue cranking out content. If the game isn't good, you can't afford to pay people to continue to work on the game. I don't understand why it took console devs so long to realize they should be creating add-ons / download content while giving the user the ability to do the same. This has been almost standard for pc games now, and the only console game to do this right is Little Big Planet. But how many people are willing to stop making cookie cutter games that will sell to the masses (Saints Row, and all the other GTA rehashes) vs people who will make a high quality game and create a fanbase to sell to (Halo, MGS4, etc).
IMO i think that the gaming industry needs to open its eyes and see that for 60$ players want their moneys worth. they want to feel like there is a supreme reason to purchase the game as new. I was very impressed with the GoW2 DLC that shipped with the new games….eventually once even more titles sell you will start to see less people with the distinguishable golden weapons and that will be great for people, not to mention the map packs etc. I would love to see games drop to 50$ at title, that would make me so happy. But look at microsofts few titles that have recently been coming out….I'm not talking about their big games, Im talking about Viva Pinata and Banjo Kazooie. Microsoft has been trying to get game devs to drop their prices on new releases to make games more available. When I think of a hardcore market i think of people that are willing to buy games as new @ 60-70-80$ a pop. But for the low income gamer, they miss out on so many great titles that they have to depend on used games in order to find out what they miss out on., its terrible…. I believe that if gaming companies launched their titles with DLC/Limited Content to weigh in a few extra bucks then it makes it worth it to get that game at release date, and if they would drop the price within 2 months/3months when purchasing drops, I bet they would see more dramatic changes in purchasing due to the fact that Gamestop uses the same style of system, except they seem to base it on how popular the game is coming off of their shelves… I agree that I feel his statement was to tread water with this idea and see how the gaming community will react. And I don't think that it will happen anytime soon. Oh – and could you imagine if they actually did…Guarantee that Movie companies/computer software companies would immediately follow suit. – whats that? you want to render out in 3D studio max? 80$ buddy….or you want to slice this into website pieces? 250$ man. UGGGG This will never happen. there will be riots in the streets.
Tony, First off, thanks for the comment. I completely understand what you mean on the creation end of the spectrum. It does have to be paid for, and if more titles were profitable those companies could afford to keep that DLC pumping. On that same note of profitability, more companies would make a profit on their games if all of the uber-major hits weren't released in the final three months of the year. Within the past month, I've seen no less than five games that I'm interested in buying, but I can barely afford to pay for one. I'd go more into depth about THAT problem, but that's an editorial for another day entirely… Again, thanks for the comment. These are the kinds of conversations I'm trying to bring about, so keep it up!
[...] you’re at all interested in the state of our industry, you should definitely read these two articles that were put up by Deejay Knight on GamingTruth. One is a tad old, dating back to April this [...]
Yep, Criterion would even get my vote for dev of the year for all the support they've been giving BP.
Agreed. BP, GOW2 and RB2 are starting good trends. People don't care much for movies as it's usually a one way thing…the studio puts it out, and the buyer gets it. End of story. There is no real interaction between the studios and customers. Games are different however due to the fact that they last much, much longer and there usually is an interaction, however finite between the devs and the gamers. Also, games debut at a price point of $60 and movies debut at $30 or less…
Yea. That's another problem. Companies don't seem to understand that gamers are willing to get games through out the WHOLE year. If they just spaced out some of their releases throughout the year and NOT the last 4 months of the year, then they would surely get more attention and sales. Heck, there are SO many games coming out this holiday season, it's impossible to keep track of!
Awesome article bud.
Linked: http://www.360sync.com/2008/11/12/gamingtruth-puts-up-2-articles-well-worth-reading
So much for microtransactions too: http://www.ps3fanboy.com/2008/11/12/lbp-motorstorm-and-animals-costumes-priced-and-dated-for-us/
i say down with gamestop! i work for them and get a 10% discount on everything but new systems. 10%…???? wtf! they make so much money and thats all we get for 8 bux an hour!! plus we have to BUY an edge card for the extra discount!! i say all devs just don't release new titles at gamestop as well as the other aformentioned solutions let them just be a used game only store.
most other stores get 15-20% for got to say that hehe
Or maybe game developers should charge GameStop and any other store that sales used games for rights to be able to sell their game used. That way they see some money coming back their way. Then if GameStop didn't want to pay the fee, then they won't be able to sell that game used…but if they did sell it without paying the fee, you could treat it kind of like selling an illegal copy. This could also be used with some of the points you made as well.
Haha! WOW! Keep it up game developers your starting to sound like the oil companies. Couldn't this hold true for any company manufacturing anything? Should car companies not let dealers sell used cars. This is total BS.
[...] some Steam topics, and even CES (since we lost a week and all). We even touched on the whole used game dilemma! Here’s what was on the discussion [...]
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