How do you feel about the fight against Used Sales?

[Soviet Heavy]

There will be no poll, because I want to hear opinions, not statistics. How do console gamers feel about the rumors swirling about anti used game policies coming in the next console cycle?

As a PC gamer, I've lived through the purge of used sales once already. Thankfully, Steam sales offer incentives to buy new and at reduced prices, so the damage has been somewhat mitigated. However, this is still an ongoing fight with the console market, and I wanted to hear your opinions on it.

Do you agree with the idea of cutting off used games from new consoles? What alternatives could you suggest?

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I'm not a big advocate of used sales, because the primary beneficiary of them isn't the gamer, but rather the re-seller. I loathe the business model of the Gamestops and EB Games of the world. They're parasitic, and watching them take one on the chin would be therapeutic.

So if the publishers want to find a way to discourage/hinder used games sales, they're welcome to do so. But if they do, those goddam games better come down in price. The reason I find it hard to get angry at Steam's pernicious always-on DRM is because I'm buying games a few months after release for pennies on the dollar. I can wander into a Steam Sale with $50 and come out with two dozen games. $50 might put a down payment on a new console title. And the used version of that same game is $5 cheaper. Woopity doo.

TLDR - If killing used sales makes games cheaper for gamers, which it SHOULD, I'm all for it.

 

[Audemas]

As a poor college student, I love the idea of buying used games. I don't always have $63.58 to get a game as soon as it comes out. Just recently I picked up Portal 2 and am playing it for the first time, even though most people have already played it and beaten it. I managed to get it for only $20.00.

While I do understand that developers are kind of getting fucked over, I think this is something they didn't plan for. We as a consumer cannot be blamed for that because if anyone can get anything for cheaper, you know people will. Gaming companies and publishers are out there to make money and consumers always try to find a way to pay less than full price for something. So I think that used games are worth it in general, but I can see why gaming publishers/developers dislike companies like gamestop.

 

[Savagezion]

I won't support consoles any longer if they do this and will just become exclusively PC. Trade-ins were actually a decent draw to consoles for me personally. Consoles are quickly becoming PCs you can't upgrade and I simply don't have any incentive to support such a terrible idea for a product.

 

[Norrdicus]

TLDR - If killing used sales makes games cheaper for gamers, which it SHOULD, I'm all for it.

Aye, this.

But still, I'm for used games. Returning our games is about the only way to get something back from a bad purchase. The existence of a "used games market" means that companies can still be punished for lack of quality or content even if the pre-order numbers are gigantic

 

[Swyftstar]

Maybe I'm just not near a store where they have good prices for used games but I don't really see the point. A new title sold as used will save you about $5. An old game will most likely sell for cheap whether it is used or new. So if I don't want to pay full price I just wait a while.
Also, I would much rather the developer get my money than a resaler. Both as a reward and as a resource to continue to make games. So if used games die, I'd just carry on as normal, perhaps with a bit of a gleam in my eye knowing that Gamestop has died a little.

 

[dyre]

Ideally, I'd like publishers to somehow circumvent the retailer, or at least find a retailer closer to Steam and less like Gamestop. I'd prefer to buy a somewhat cheap new game than a really cheap used game if it meant the money went back to the publisher / developer.

 

[Qitz]

I don't see a problem with it. Mainly because publishers and developers have been pissing and moaning about everything costing them money. We don't cut out content to force you to pay later? WE LOSE MONIES! We don't charge you to play online? WE LOSE MONIES! We don't put intrusive, completely useless and all around shit DRM on our game? WE LOSE MONIES!

Frankly, used sales are a part of any sale. Video Games aren't special. They don't deserve the cut any more than any other publication does.

Do used game stores push the used copy on customers to get 100% profit? Of course, but that's business. Not everyone wants to drop $60 on a new game every time when cheaper alternatives are available.

Until devs or pubs can come out with a better alternative, used games should stay put.

 

[Thoric485]

I feel it's idiotic and manipulative (game prices would be lowered, right, over Riccitiello's cold dead body), but I marvel at the sight of publishers and retailers at each other's throats.

 

[XMark]

I think EB, GameStop, etc are the ones primarily responsible for the backlash against used sales. The big game retailers were the ones who altered the landscape of used game sales. It's because of them that you can resell a game for a fraction of its cost in store credit only, and then they put it back on the shelf for just a couple bucks less than the new price.

Of course, that business model wouldn't work at all if the consumers refused to accept such low trade-in prices. Though I guess it could be argued that the low price is because of the convenience of not having to look for a buyer.

But yeah, retailers are selling used games for too high of a price and paying too low for them, consumers are gladly getting ripped off, and it's hurting both the game developers and the image of used game sales.

 

[TehCookie]

I'm strongly for used game sales. I often buy old games that aren't available new, if the used market wasn't available I would never have been able to play those games. Not to mention they're cheap, most of them were under $10. I also shall clarify $10 for something physical. I'm a collector, I like seeing my games on a shelf and I have more space in my room than on my harddrive.

There doesn't seem to be a way to stop used game sales without screwing the consumer even after they bought the product. Or am I entitled for wanting to share my games like we've been able to do before? I liked when I was a kid my dad could buy one copy of a game and everyone in the house could play together. It beats calling up friends and asking to barrow their steam account and fucking with that whole thing so I can play with people who don't own it.

Sure I can understand hating the $5 off a recent title, but I love finding 10 year old games for $5 way more than that.

 

[Lionsfan]

I don't want to get into a flame war here, but I'm against this fight. It just doesn't make any sense and feels like a money-grab by publishers

 

[Lucem712]

I don't buy used because I want to support the studios that make great games. Though, I don't approve studios exaggerating claims of how much used games damaged their products.

Example being Heavy Rain losing 1 mil. units to used sales. Heavy Rain only sold 2 mil. units. THAT'S 50%. David Cage is telling me that 50% (at least) of people returned their copies and they were all bought up.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Even with the elimination of the Used Game sales, I think prices won't fall much, if at all.
Not for the gamers anyway.

The quick and dirty argument for it is that cutting out the middleman doesn't lower the end costs to the Publisher, but raises revenues instead, assuming demand remains the same. (They sold games to retailers, who resold the games at a price accepted by customers)

Why would the Publisher lower costs to the consumer when they know for a fact that the average gamer is willing to pay that much for that same content? The only hope is that at least ONE of the Publishers will attempt to take the temporary loss in initial revenue (relative to what they could make) and undercut their competitors.

However, I don't see this as being likely with biggest of the Big Publishers controlling such a significant portion of the console market, and the two Publishers in question are the most bluntly ruthless (EA and Activision). Whoever attempts to undercut the prices needs to have significant pull within the market.

It's a problem with Oligopolies. Too few companies have too much sway over mainstream gaming; not unlike how the label companies virtually control music or how Hollywood controls movies (in America, obviously).

And with this, I must include two caveats:
1) The loss of Used Games might DECREASE demand for a few reasons I can detail if necessary. For the sake of simplicity, I'm assuming the ideal and that demand remains the same.

2) There is a big difference between increasing revenue and decreasing costs. Do not try to equate them. They are separate forces that can lead to similar changes in the price curve, but they do NOT always do so.

Honestly, the only difference I see is that the Publisher will get more money. Nothing else.
(The developers are paid commissioned rates by whichever Publisher owns them, so it doesn't really help them much. The Publisher gets paid first regardless.)

 

[Kahunaburger]

If people from other media could get away with what the game industry is getting away with, they would. Which, incidentally, is why I avoid e-books like the plague.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

To use the example of Kickstarter here, as it has been in the news lately and might be able to perforate some peoples skulls. The reason why I only buy "new" games is the exact same reason I pledge to Kickstarter, I want the money to go to the people that made the game, I also want to vote for more of it or similar things being made. Preferrably I'd like to circumvent both Retailers and Publishers altogether as I don't see them contributing to the creative effort of making a game much, rather as being a hindrance.

If you buy "used" from GameStop/WalMart/Whatever, you aren't supporting the people that made the game and voting for more of the same, you are supporting GameStop/WalMart/Whatever's business practices and are voting for more in that direction.

So why do you buy new, then? New sales go to the publisher, the devs are paid ahead of time. The games industry works more like the general software industry than it does the music or book publishing industry; royalty checks are essentially nonexistent, and even bonuses are rare.

OT: Hopefully that shows why I'm all for used sales. The people who make the games aren't the ones who stand to make more by having more new sales go through. They're not even the ones pushing for it. And even if they were, I'd tell them to bugger off, because they aren't entitled either morally or legally to money earned on a second hand sale. This "war on used games" is a war on consumers. It's an attack on consumer rights, and a disgusting money grab.