Want to Solve the Used Game Dilemma? Here’s How to Do It.
by Deejay Knight: at November 12th, 2008, 4:29 am
Wrapping It Up
I’ve laid out these suggestions for every gamer, developer and/or publisher to see. As a gamer and someone who has worked in the industry, I feel this list would be beneficial to both gamer and developer alike.
The end result of this is not only to line your pockets and keep your community satiated, it’s to keep gamers interested in your game.
One of the problems with the gaming industry as a whole is that developers tend to launch a title and forget about it. People wonder why gamers buy a title, play it for awhile, and go onto the next title, but the answer is the source: Developers’ commitment to moving on to the next title is partially to blame for the purchase, sale, and resale of titles. Of course price has a big part of it, but developers have to swallow the pill of responsibility and realize that they play a part in their titles being resold.
That said, I have to admit to having an ulterior motive behind this article, but it’s a noble one. Noble for both gamers and devs/publishers alike. These suggestions outline not only a way to keep titles sales high, but to involve your gamers in a community. Look at the example of Burnout ParadiseBurnout Paradise reviews
– Criterion’s big racing title has stayed in the headlines despite being released in January of 2008, with new features and downloads dropping all the time. How many titles have that kind of staying power in the play-and-throw-away industry we have nowadays?
It’s because the players of that game always have something to look forward to. Their purchase of the game was almost like an investment that they didn’t know about when they bought the game – but they keep right on playing.
Something that I learned a long time ago applies to the gaming industry as well: Invest in your gamers, and they’ll invest in you. How do they invest in you? By purchasing, playing and keeping your title.
Follow these suggestions (like Burnout Paradise has, in a way) and you’ll find yourself not only keeping your gamers happy, but brining in new purchases for gamers to keep and reap the rewards from over time.
The only question now is the ultimate question: Which developer/publisher has the balls to try it out?
Do you agree? Disagree? Hate the ground I walk on? Let me know what you think either way in the comments section.
*UPDATE*
Some people have misconstrued my meaning of this article. The goal isn’t to completely remove second-hand sales, as that’s impossible as long as there is a physical media. The intent is to show both gamers and developers that it’s very possible to curb second hand sales without resorting to digital distribution for their titles.
I’m not a fan of hardcore DRM schemes, which is exactly what digital distribution would bring about. These suggestions can be taken as a guideline to making slight changes to the way business is done to not only get more gamers into the fray, but to remove the need for such a cutthroat second-hand market.
If gamers are happy with their games, there’s no way in hell they’d trade them away. Ask all the people who still own copies of Burnout Paradise and are happily awaiting the latest DLC.
Developers and publishers just have to want it bad enough.
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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