Good heavens. The man himself:
Point being: Citing development costs as justification for squelching the used games market doesn't really fly, as AAA title development has always been costly in one way or another. Yet we didn't hear much noise about sales of used Nintento carts, or used Sega carts, or used Playstation discs...
Well, of course it affects them (to unknowable degrees), just as used car sales affects car manufacturers, just as used book stores affect book publishers. My issue is their raising a stink about it in the apocalyptic terms they have.GrahamS said:However, to say that buying a used game over a new one doesn't affect the publisher is foolhardy.
We are in violent agreement. If you were looking for a poster child on how to construct a used game sale and rental business in the most dickish way possible, you'd be hard pressed to exceed GameStop. I never spend money there.Essentially, my issue is with companies like GameStop pushing used games over new because it makes them more money.
Perhaps not so odd for me. I shop at Fry's. They put non-defective customer returns back on the shelf, marked down slightly.Unrelated, you must admit that it's weird for places like Best Buy and Wal*Mart to be selling used goods of any kind.
Not really relevant. Nintendo carts in the 1980's had a BOM cost of about $15-$20 each -- most of which was Nintendo's "because we can" charge. Sega carts weren't much better. This is what spurred EA to successfully crack Sega's platform locks (thereby forcing a more equitable deal), and eventually drove Trip Hawkins to launch 3DO...mjc0961 said:But when you consider how much games for PS3, 360, and high end PCs cost to develop these days [ ... ]
Point being: Citing development costs as justification for squelching the used games market doesn't really fly, as AAA title development has always been costly in one way or another. Yet we didn't hear much noise about sales of used Nintento carts, or used Sega carts, or used Playstation discs...