Last Thursday, nosy individuals over at NeoGAF unearthed a Sony patent for a technology that slaps a "use permission tag" on game discs, blocking playback if the user's personal details fail to tally with the terms of use for that game. As our chums at CVG note, this could well serve as a basis for an anti-preowned system of some sort, whereby games are locked for the exclusive use of the original buyer.
There's certainly precedent for this kind of behaviour. The industry's grudge against the lucrative trade-in market is widely documented, and publishers have spent the past half-decade experimenting with software-side incentives to buy first-hand - chiefly, by requiring players to redeem a one-time-use code to access features like online multiplayer.
"There is a body of opinion against the second hand market and there is an argument that it damages development. Developers do not make any money from the sales of pre-owned titles," Wilson told me.
"It could also be argued that the more games that are sold second hand, the less likely it is that retailers will order new versions. It's the same stock going round and round which places more emphasis on sales in the first week or two."
He's not blind to the benefits to the consumer, however. "On the other hand, the second hand market is well established and it operates in many industries. Additionally, by purchasing a game second hand, gamers are able to widen the number of games they play in a given year, allowing them to take greater risks on titles and experiment with genres."
The dilemma of preowned may, in any case, be vanishing into the annals of history. New consoles (hotly tipped to arrive this year) are likely to rely on digital distribution to an unheard-of extent - only yesterday, Microsoft unveiled a new London-based studio run by a crack team of industry veterans that will develop games exclusively for the cloud. Meanwhile, high street retailers in the UK are losing millions.
"The market is changing and digital distribution is booming," Wilson commented. "Retail sales, on the flipside, are falling. So it could be that manufacturers don't necessarily have to do this. This is a strategy for coping with issues relating to physical games."
The need for pre-owned will diminish as the shift towards digital eradicates the middlemen in publishing and distribution who are responsible for eyebrow-raising RRPs. "Without a physical copy to sell on, it will put more power in the hands of the developer. It will also make it cheaper for developers to produce games and maximise their revenue - there will be less need for a traditional publisher.
"The next generation will probably push digital distribution to a greater extent," he went on, "and that will water down the pre-owned market despite attempts in recent times to create a second-hand market in digital products."
But Wilson cautioned against concluding that the digital market will put the physical market out of commission entirely - at least in the foreseeable future. "This remains a grey area and we believe it will be so for a long time."
We had a think about how to "kill off" pre-owned without screwing over consumers last year. By all means give the piece another whirl.
32 comments so far...
CunningSmile on 11 Jan '13 said:
Whilst I agree with his point about lowering price as a result of eliminating the middle man that benefit is completely reduced if MS or Sony are allowed to set prices as they then become not only a replacement middle man but also kill competition that naturally lowers prices by price fixing.
For example, in a world where developers sell to us directly and set their own prices the next CoD would probably sell for £100 a pop (based on the fact we couldn't shop around, had to buy direct from Acti and Kotick would squeeze CoD fans until they squeal) whilst someone like THQ would think "we can't compete with CoD's brand, but we think Metro is a great game so we'll sell it at £20 on the same day as CoD and pick up the scraps" and as a result we all buy Metro, have a great experience and Activision go bankrupt. Happy all round.
In the real world however MS will turn around and set the price they want all online games to be. It's already happened. We all complain about unrealistic prices of Games on Demand and when was the last time you saw a XBLA game that wasn't 1200 or 800 points? MS price fix in order to "create a level playing field" and both the consumer and smaller developers lose out to the big corporations that MS can't afford to piss off by allowing true competition.
BaileyBoy on 11 Jan '13 said:
Haven't posted in a while, saw this and thought meh, I have time.
The main problem with a fully digital distribution service on the part of consoles is that at the moment most console gamers primarily buy the big titles physically mostly due to the fact that in Microsoft's case it takes forever to actually put the newer titles on Games on Demand. There is then the issue that when it if finally made available to download, it is released at full price whereas a physical copy will have already had price reductions. While I understand that the shift to digital copies will be more profitable to the companies with the business model they have now there is a likelihood that they will turn people away.
We then have the fall of the gaming specific Brick and Mortars. While we don't always particularly like them, a shift to digital only sales would essentially kill specialist gaming shops like Game, GameStop etc. That's a lot of people that will lose their jobs because EA and ActiBlizzard don't like losing a small amount of money because of the Pre-Owned generation.
And then we have the pre-owned part. The second hand market is a big one that encompasses practically all forms of media. So why is it only gaming (in particular the companies involved) that takes a stand against that. To be honest I can tell you for a fact that the console that allows pre-owned titles will ultimately sell more.
On the bright side this could bring some of my console friends over to PC, might be able to get a good game of Planetside 2 in
SilentDark on 11 Jan '13 said:
It truly baffles the mind that developers can talk this kind of trash about used games with a straight face, no other industry, film, books, toys, automobile etc. accuses the second hand market of damaging their sales. Video games are the ONLY industry who talks about it. That said their will be no move towards digital only distribution if Microsoft and Sony don't buck up their ideas and sell their products at a reasonable price. Why am I going to pay £45 for a game on PSN or Live if I can pop to Tesco or Asda and pick up the same game for around £30-£35, when the middle man is selling at a lower price point than direct sales then something is very wrong.
Another thing, without the preowned market I wouldn't have been able to buy some of the games I do at the extortionate prices these companies charge. I also wouldn't have been able to pick up some of the early games I miss by not being a day one adopter of games consoles in the first place.
And if these games are not mine to sell, if I do not OWN these games then charging me £45 for a product rental is extortionate.
I especially resent companies like EA telling me how damaging my second hand purchases are when their CEO earns more money in a single year than I'm likely to see in my entire life.
STE MO on 11 Jan '13 said:
If they go with the digital only route won't they then be a monopoly and have to offer other stores a chance to sell on their platform? That's the way that I'm seeing it at the minute. I really don't think that MP's or the EU would allow a closed shop.
CunningSmile on 11 Jan '13 said:
In theory you're correct...in practice monopolies are only rarely broken up.
My personal favorite is RBS being told they are too large a bank and need to sell half their branches. They try to sell to Santander (who are almost as big, so I can't see the logic) and after two years of RBS deliberately making the sale fall through it's now been agreed that they can keep their branches otherwise they can't afford to pay the £500m+ fine for rigging the LIBOR rate and driving half the world to bankruptcy.
Meanwhile 1 out of every 9 pound spent in the UK goes to Tesco, there are really only two insurance companies, you have no choice over which water company you use and if you want Broadband you'll almost always need to contact BT for a landline but my local dentist has just been told he can't merge with the dentist down the road to cut costs as it will adversely effect competition so now they'll both go bust.
msbhvn on 11 Jan '13 said:
Depressing news, but I'm hoping this kind of DRM is like the horrendous stuff that was touted when they were devising the High Definition disc formats, ie. it's so detrimental to genuine customers that no one wants to be the first to use it and suffer the backlash.
This is an industry that has been censured in the past for cartel behaviour, they can't be trusted to set prices fairly. The issue of second-hand sales is getting really old now, it's perfectly legal and removing the physical product does not remove the customer's right to sell it on, as the EU ruled last year.
Digital distribution done right is convenient and benefits the people who create the content rather than middlemen who suck up the lion's share of the profit for very little effort. Of course, no one has really done it right yet...
FishyGinger on 11 Jan '13 said:
True, doesn't mean they have to make it easy to sell games though. Still, I don't think any of this will affect me so can't say I'm overly bothered.
Grummy on 11 Jan '13 said:
It truly baffles me the level of ignorance surrounding this subject. Yes, it's not black and white, but there is no doubt that pre-owned market is big business and cuts a significant chunk out of the pocket of the games industry.
I've read one argument above that no other media complains about the 2nd hand market, which may be true, but the revenue streams are very different. In gaming, the industry has one revenue stream in primary sales, and if they plan well a 2nd one in DLC, which, whilst fairly lucrative, not everyone buys into, no small number of people refuse outright to pay the price for CoD map packs, others wait on DLC they want to buy a GotY edition instead, and get all the DLC for cheaper. Primary sales is the real revenue stream for the industry. Other industries have a better revenue stream.
Film for example has movie ticket sales, which usually match the production costs at the very least. After that they have DVD and Blu Ray sales, licencing fees from TV showings. They also have a significant and well publicized revenue stream in additional licencing for toys, games, soundtracks, lunchboxes, posters and, yes video games. Of course, some games have this too, but nowhere near the extent that film does The point is, by the time the 2nd hand market comes into play, a film has gone through a number of revenue streams and made significant money, the 2nd hand market probably does actually take a good chunk of money from them, but it's so far down the line that they don't really notice or account for it.
TV is similar, all its revenue stream is in primary viewings and how the licencing fees for TV works, sales of DVD and Blu Ray are additional revenue streams, which, again, the 2nd hand market will likely impact, but again the bulk of their money comes from initial licencing fees.
Music? Its the first media to completely adopt the digital sales method which has seriously changed the market in the industries favour. But even so, lets look at the revenue streams for music. Initial revenue is from sales of singles, after that we have album sales, concert tickets, TV time and a huge merchandising structure. Music has always had numerous revenue streams of which sales of songs are only 1 part, which they have then managed to largely shore up thanks to digital sales.
Books, well I'll admit I don't know too much about the revenue model for books. I would assume though that 2nd hand sales have never ever featured as an issue for them. Yes 2nd hand books do massive business, but the difficult nature in finding particular books often means that people will simply search for the cheapest new copies they can find instead. I don't seen the 2nd hand market for books hugely impacting primary book sales. However, we now also have to consider digital sales once again. I don't know too much about the price of ebook and kindle book sales, but no doubt they have made a vastly significant difference in bringing new primary sales.
The point is that every other industry accounts for its sales differently, and have numerous other revenue streams that factor in. The games industry doesn't really. DLC, yes, that is one, but it requires the primary product unlike movies for example where you don't need to see the film in the cinema to then be able to go and buy the blu ray. The games industry lives and dies on its primary sales, and the 2nd hand market tears into that.
In my opinion, the games industry needs to wake up to its pricing. I'm not one of those people who thinks games are too expensive, I was paying £40 for a game 20 years ago (this is another area people need to consider, every other media has increased its prices over the years, except the games industry) and see no problem paying £40 now either, the problem though is that some great games get forgotten because of this price tag. Enslaved for example, a quality game and it didn't do well. Why? Because it was something that people really weren't sure about and it cost £40 to buy. People preferred to spend that money on something they were more comfortable with. Go figure. If the prices were lower than they are now, chances are that more people would have been willing to take a gamble on a great game. Unfortunately, why should bobby Kotick and Activision care whether a game like Enslaved sells well as long as they can continue to make their squillions from CoD?
I've said it before, this industry needs regulations and standards across the board that everyone has to adhere to. Microsoft also needs to wake up a bit too. The steam sales are a fantastic example of the right way of doing digital sales. If the complete AC collection appeared on GoD for £40 next year, I'd be tempted to buy it, and likely so would a lot of people. Similarly, right now you can buy the complete the ME collection new on disc for £40, if that turned up and GoD for £20 next year I'd snap that up in an instant. Great deals are one real way to make extra sales from games in the face of the 2nd hand market. I've owned all the AC games and all the ME games, and yet I'd still be willing to buy them all again in mass collections if the price was good.
FishyGinger on 11 Jan '13 said:
Books don't generally cost 40 quid, generally nearer 5-10 for paperbacks. That'd help as they're fairly cheap already. But good post. Pricing is very important.
You've written so much all I can do is look at my keyboard in disgust...
Fumps on 11 Jan '13 said:
Wow
It's pretty obvious that the games industry plan to corner it's user base into using their network & have no interest in the consumer at all. If this comes to being the norm I will be respectfully hanging up my pad. I have followed gaming since the BBC micro & the Atari 2600. The games industry always represented fun & escapism for me but this just looks like old fashioned greed. And I have no interest in spending my money with them.
I always buy my games 2nd hand because I personally feel that games are not worth the large price tag they charge. And if for one second I am expected to believe that the price of games will drop once companies like Microsoft & Sony have the full monopoly which is never going to happen. This is looking like the beginning of a choke hold on the industry & I'm happy to wave goodbye at that point. The games industry always had that little shadow of rebellion to it, a little piece of danger that was always the fun bit, now its the industry that is taking over the product......all i can say is look at what happened to the music industry, people will hopefully vote with their feet & show these bigwig idiots who are the people in power when it comes to gaming.
Grummy on 11 Jan '13 said:
You always buy your games 2nd hand? Then your hanging up your pad means nothing, frankly, you'll make things a tiny bit better. Seriously, You only buy 2nd hand and have the gall to comment on this subject at all. People like you are part of the problem.
comabob on 11 Jan '13 said:
Thats a bit harsh grumster -
Im the way of thinking - pay what you feel is an appropriate price.
EG - if HItman aint worth 40quid - shop around, wait for prices to drop or get it pre=owned. Thats what i call personal preference and the freedom of choice.
Saying someone is part of the problem cos they only buy second hand games is like saying YOU are part of the problem Grumster as you rent some games you play. The publisher/developer didnt get anything for your rental! Why not ban renting of games as well?
Cois that would be the next step for publishers.
Clanger67 on 11 Jan '13 said:
Agree with Grummy that the games industry need to wake up on their pricing,or the way they get revenue,like being able to get a share of the pre owned market.Also comparing it to any other media is a bit hard given how long the film,music and especially books have been about compared to the still relatively young games industry.Also agree that you could still easily blow £40 on a game twenty years ago.
Windowlicker79 on 11 Jan '13 said:
I always thought this was a pretty rubbish thing for console game developers to do, but then you have to think of the fact that its been working with the PC games market for years with no complaints. Why? Because PC games are far more affordable.
For example on Amazon Assassins Creed 3 for Xbox 360 and PS3 is £39.99, for PC its only £24.99. PC games have always been considerably cheaper than console games with no real explanation as to why this is. I think this is simply because PC owners buy near enough all of their games new (due to security keys preventing pre-owned sales). This means the price of the game isn't inflated to offset the losses from the pre-owned market. If console games in the future are going to be locked to one system then they need to drastically reduce the RRP. I'd happily buy all my games new if the the standard price for a new release was £24.99-£29.99 and older games were £10-£20. What do you think the chances of this happening are though?
Clanger67 on 11 Jan '13 said:
Yeah but then take into account a pc is about two grand for initial outlay for high spec., which if you are lucky will last a few years but then you may have to spend a few hundred on new graphics,memory etc.With a console you pay the initial outlay of two three hundred quid and nothing on it again,unless you get another HD etc.That's all the way through its life until the next gen. comes out.
Plus as i understand it with something like the Ps3 they are notoriously tricky to programme for.
STE MO on 11 Jan '13 said:
Grummy what you talking about £40 for a game 20 years ago, more like £55-£60! That was the price of new SNES games at the time and second hand games were £30-£40. Games ARE cheaper now then what they were bck then, by a considerable amount when you think about it.
I like the fact that I can go and buy a second hand game, if I'm unsure about the game. Most games I'll wait till they come down in price, but the option should be there for people.
Droidsbane on 11 Jan '13 said:
Im not gonna lie, if the next consols are digital only or block pre-owned games im moving to PC, The pre-owned market is godend for those of us who are on a budget, and if it wernt for Xtra-vision and Game id probably made the the mistake of skipping out on Bioshock, Oblivion and Gears of War
Grummy on 11 Jan '13 said:
The guy has openly admitted that he plays games and never buys new, that means for all his entertainment, the developers of that entertainment never see a penny, how is that not part of the problem? If he said "I buy most games second hand, but the ones I really want I'll buy brand new on release" then fair enough, but he didn't, he said he buys his games 2nd hand. If everyone did that, the industry would die in a couple of years. That is a real problem.
MikeyL75 on 12 Jan '13 said:
I only got into console gaming about 18-20 months ago, and obviously I missed out on some awesome games like Halo, early AC games, The Orange Box, Gears, Fallout 3 and BioShock to name a few. The only way I was able to find some of those games to play was through a pre-owned sale. Some of those games I love, and it's led me to buy sequels when they first come out. For example, I've pre-ordered the last 2 AC games and Halo 4, and I will certainly be doing the same for BioShock Infiinite.
My point is, if I wasn't able to experience some of those earlier games, I very much doubt I would have got into console gaming quite as much, and the industry wouldn't have received as much money from me. I'm sure I'm not the only person who came to the party late either. If they block the ability to utilise the second hand market, people who buy the console a few years after it comes out and want to play older games for that new console will find it very difficult, and might think, "You know what, I'll get the console that hasn't blocked off second hand games so I can experience some of what friends have told me is good, as well as new games".
Blocking off games in a "one use only" fashion can only be bad for the industry in my opinion.
delmariachi on 12 Jan '13 said:
There seems to be a bit of a chicken and egg issue here, games companies want to understandably maximize profits, they are after all in it for that reason, so going digital could and probably will protect and improve said profits, on the flip side, the gaming community assumes that if they are going to take something away (second hand access or the ability to buy hard copies), we will by default, be paid off with lower pricing ala Steam.
With the current digital pricing of console games however, its quite a sobering thought to realise that a lot of people will be priced out of a section of the entertainment industry that has grown so popular since I first played games on a Binatone games system 30 plus years ago, its actually quite saddening if it were to go this way, but those same people who go for second hand (myself included at times, though I prefer new) will not be missed as unless they pay for the online pass, or buy DLC, they hold no importance to the games industry whatsoever, due to how sales and money are made from those second hand purchases.
In their eyes its no difference in monetary terms to a pirate. because in the same instance in their eyes, they aint getting anything from you. And this is where the resentment comes in, first from Devs as "we are not making any money so we must do something" which from their point of view is somewhat understandable, and secondly dividing those who buy on release and those that wait, with the "support your dev" "bloody second hand users" etc...
I am not calling second hand users pirates, just to make that crystal clear...
However, in reference to pricing, I remember paying 70 quid for Virtua Racing on Megadrive, 60 for Super Streetfighter on the same machine, so pricing has arguably improved, especially for the amount of content, as barring adventure games back then, there wasn't a massive amount of "game" to play apart from replaying the same content.
I look at Guardian Heroes which I happily paid 35-40 quid for on the Saturn when released all that time ago,and I was happy as Larry, I recently bought it on Live for 400 Msp in an offer and to be honest the nostalgic gloss wore off due to how short it is, as quite frankly we are some what spoiled by even lowly 8 hour campaigns, however with tech moving ever forward, we do (whether right or wrong) expect more, and even feel an entitlement (pirates justifying ripping/burning due to cost, fans influencing games due to simply being unhappy with ME3, or the general need to have every new release, peer pressure and even the simple want for bigger, faster, longer, harder) and this in itself will only cause further complication to an already difficult problem.
But of course Devs then compound everything by releasing GOTY versions etc, so arguably you are not quite THAT unhappy are you Devs.. anyway its 2:30am i'm probably rambling now
Personally, i'm on the fence, i'd love digital gaming to work on console in a Steam or even Android/Apple store way, in which good devs make money, can charge what THEY wish and the main hosts (MS,Sony,Nintendo) gain a percentage. There would be more choice, more content and hopefully more cream rising to the top, but alas I'd be very surprised. I am pro second hand to a degree as well, we are not all able to lump 160 quid on 4-5 November titles each year, so for those that cannot, at least they can still to an extent partake in a medium that was welcoming, was exciting as still is fun. This is the reason why i sort of want Ouya to work, not so much for the content as I prefer full fat consoles or PC but... If it takes off, and its pricing is reasonable for content, it may, just may make console makers and Devs think about things for an extra second or two..
Anyway enough talking b****ks, thats my tuppence, nite...
comabob on 12 Jan '13 said:
LOL - swhows how interested i am in what others say - i only read your post that responded to him.
Windowlicker79 on 12 Jan '13 said:
The cost of the hardware doesn't really make any difference. The games developers/distributors don't get any profit from the sale of PC hardware and the cost of pressing a DVD or Blu-Ray disc is no different between console and PC versions. There is one reason for games to be sometimes twice as expensive on consoles than PC, because PC gamers nearly ALWAYS buy the game new due to the general inability to install a game on more than one PC. There isn't really a pre-owned market for PC games and as a result they software is much cheaper.
Clanger67 on 12 Jan '13 said:
Yeah fair enough,the point i was making though was you pay more for the hardware on pc than you do on console.So given that console games are more expensive,still after the initial outlay how many games would you be able to buy before you got to the price of a new pc ?.Given that there isn't hundreds in the difference betwwen games on pc and console.You might say that you get games looking better,frame rate etc. on pc but you have to fork out the for the hardware to do it.Also like i said consoles aren't as easy to programme for as pc and the dev. teams tend to be larger,so you wouldn't expect them to be cheaper,would you ?.
Point being you pays a lot for the hardware and the games are a bit cheaper.Or you pay less for the hardware and the games are a little bit more.
Xbox11 on 13 Jan '13 said:
I've spent more on consoles and games than I think most people have on a new car , So i should have a worthy opinion.
Really the games industry needs the wake up and think , Sell the games at a reasonable price in store £10-15 (if its an complete masterpiece of a game £20) because of the price of discs etc for the first month or so to help retailers.
After that sell it only online at a discount say 9.99 , Most people will buy dlc for the game too and god knows what else those days like avatar clothes etc.
The reason some big developers have gone bankrupt is of greed pure and simple , And because of recycling the same old pony they did last year , Activision wants to count its self lucky it's has deep pockets , I for one think the last two call of boredom games where awful.
Let's hope if they are going mainly a digital route next gen they get it right and sell games a a fair price like on PC Otherwise I see lots of us moving back to spending money on monster GPUs instead of another expensive EA Turd.
Xbox11 on 13 Jan '13 said:
What's the point of me spending time to comment , Only to be told it has to go for approval first ? I can see why there hardly any comments on most topics , This website should be buzzing wtf OXM?
Windowlicker79 on 13 Jan '13 said:
I've never had to wait for a comment to be approved. Maybe its because you're a new member? Its pretty standard in a lot of forums to monitor new messages to weed out spambots, so its a good thing really. Usually it stops after a few messages have been posted. I wouldn't worry about it too much if I were you.
Did you actually have anything interesting to say? Or did you post purely to vent your anger about your comment needing approval?
locutus on 13 Jan '13 said:
This might help if the second hand game had a unlock code for second use and that money goose to the devs so at least people would still be able to buy second hand games. But this needs the second hand sellers to talk to the devs and sort it out casue if they do not do anything to help there business the second hand market will die and that is a shame for the people how work for these companys. So come on Game and other remove your head from the sand and talk to dev about some kind of payment to them ethier unlock code or small payment to them from every sale, to me make sensce to me how about it then?
KernowDevil23 on 13 Jan '13 said:
Welcome to the forums Mr Patient......
FishyGinger on 14 Jan '13 said:
Gotta side with the angry baby on this one. Games are a lot cheaper than they used to be but people seem to complain whatever the weather. I got hitman absolution just after christmas for 19 quid, dishonoured special edition for 21.50 and dark souls ltd edition some months before that for 22 quid, not second hand. That probably doesn't help the developers that much but they weren't really cheaper second hand, games aren't that expensive.
If it's something I'm looking forward to I'll pay more happily. This need to play everything but not pay for it is basically shooting ourselves in the foot as when the developers go bust there won't be as many games.
Grummy pointed out why games are different to other forms of entertainment and he's right, reading the forums I can't believe others have quite so juvenile followers.
Fumps on 14 Jan '13 said:
Sorry mr Gummy But i have looked everywhere & I cannot see where it is in any way illegal to buy 2nd hand games. If i look at a new game for £40 & see it elsewhere for £12 2nd hand It's not being part of the problem It's putting my mortgage above gaming. And also I did not see any clear restrictions on who can & cannot make comments on this subject.....If there is I will accept I'm incorrect & remove my comments. If there isn't any then my comments are actually allowed on a public website or am I wrong ?
And I would like to add that I don't agree with what you say, I am purchasing a game legally & if the games industry is not correcting their ways of selling games to work with the modern environment their products are being sold in then that makes me a part of the problem ? sorry your argument is flawed in a baffling way. If the games industry wants to make money from their games then they should compete with the 2nd hand industry. For instance i have just looked on Amazon at Halo Reach (I picked that at random because it was recommended to me when i went on there)
new £14.49
Used £7.65
If I could buy this game new for say £9.00 with a little incentive (for instance a few extra maps etc) I would of course buy the new one but that's not what is happening is it ? the option gamers have is buy the new one at twice the price or buy two games at a similar outlay , which is the incentive of 2nd hand games, this is exactly why people like me are doing it in the first place. Nothing illegal nothing immoral I'm just purchasing products at prices set by the sellers.
Back in the 80's games came out at a full priced £9.99 after a while when the game aged, you could buy the same game for about £5.99 then once it became a budget game you could buy it for £2-3 ish all new with books & even sometimes as part of compilations where old games came as a package these were usually full price but contained several games. this system worked really well. because you could buy games cheaply there wasn't much point in buying 2nd hand games simply because you could buy older games cheaply & guess what Mr Gummy ? yes the games industry made money from that. People with low funds could buy games & the industry built & grew.
My point in all this is that an entire industry cannot see that they have to make changes to survive, they have old games floating about that is like dead money & a second hand market that is hurting its survival.Lets be honest a large majority of their products are played & finished quickly so they lack a long shelf life and they are now looking to move to a monopolist style sales system to stop their games being resold by unhappy customers (Lets be fair if you love a game that much you would keep it and play it more, you definitely would not sell it, but in reality you now play a game for 4 days & you have finished it & whats more the DLC is usually not worth the money). In short the industry is riddled with issues & alienating their user base is not a good move.
I hope they do make changes and survive this, the loss of any industry is a sad thing. But blaming a person who buys a product for less money legally will continue until the shopper is offered a better option. And that's what they need to do, offer better options & incentives.
For anyone who has read the above & never bought a second hand game then good for you. but don't let anyone tell you it's wrong or immoral to buy a 2nd hand game, you are simply buying a product that you want at a lower cost because it's offered to you at that price, the games industry can offer you something just as good as what you pay for but are squeezing as much profit as they can......can anyone else see the obvious vicious circle in this ? lol
ROBS EEP on 16 Jan '13 said:
I don't like this idea. Me and my friend often share games and lend our new favourite game to each other, yet we may no longer be able to do this which is a shame. Similarly, we often lend each other new CDs and DVDs, so why shouldn't we be able to do this with games? It's quite a nice little system we have and we enjoy sharing our verdicts over a pint at the pub. That's just one of the many reasons I loathe this idea.
Xbox11 on 17 Jan '13 said:
Fair enough ,But i already jumped through hoops to sign up to the site, Input the CAPTCHA, Give you email etc, I shouldn't have to wait for a post to be approved
Thanks