Jimquisition: When The Starscreams Kill Used Games

[LordLundar]

And what publisher would want to block used games? I feel that the backlash of the blocking will completely outweigh any short-term profit gained by forcing people to buy new games. To turn people away from your product is a death sentence for a company.

You're assuming that publishers look at the long term. They don't. I would go so far as to say that even beyond looking past a single weeks worth of sales is a stretch. It's why they've been trying to stir the panic up around used games recently despite that aspect of the industry being around almost as long as the new sales have been. Games made today are so short and have so little replay value that they're getting resold within that first week and it's cutting into new game sales.

http://venturebeat.com/2010/10/13/what-is-the-real-problem-with-used-games/

This article puts the concept into much more detail.

 

[shrekfan246]

You know, I've seen many smart people like Yahtzee and MovieBob give GameStop a bad rep along with everyone else. The Jimquisition was slowly taking me out of that mindset. After this episode, though, I have to wonder why I or anyone else ever tried to shit on them in the first place. I'm going to shop at GameStop as much as I want now... Though I'd prefer there be a competing game store as well.

I know that there are, of course, differences between stores because of who they hire, but I've never once had a bad experience with any of the local GameStops, and always wondered why people seemed to have such deep-seated hatred for them outside of possibly bad experiences with apathetic, snotty, or unhelpful employees.

And yeah, admittedly I don't have the same soapbox that Jim does, but I've tried getting across multiple times that the reason GameStop pushes used games so aggressively is because it's the only way they actually make any money. They shell out the price of getting new games shipped to them, and publishers take the profits from actually selling new games. How else do you expect them to keep their business afloat? It's not some conspiracy to deprive poor developers from getting paid (I doubt they get much of the royalties that the publisher takes anyway), it's just them trying to make a sustainable source of income, like every other person on this greedy planet.

Sadly I don't think publishers will ever stop looking for invisible boogeymen in the shadows. After all, the reason they're losing money and failing to meet expectations can't possibly be because of market oversaturation, unrealistic sales projections, and the fact that they all release their big titles during the same few months every year.

 

[kamay]

most of the used game I buy, I do so because I am unsure if I will 100% like the game or was an impulse buy. In other words - I wasn't going to buy it brand new to begin with and only bought it because it was cheap. From my circle of friends I am not the only person that does this

 

[rofltehcat]

Oh boy don't remind me of that "article" on PA... someone must have greased his palms big time.
Overall, I wonder how they can fail to see the Steam's success and yet still fail to see how gradually lowering prices would lead to higher sales. Huge parts of the used games market would go to the publishers instead of Gamestop if they'd just have sales.

Is it just CEOs not understanding the concept of not having unlimited money?

 

[Rituro]

The problem with me watching Jimquisition at work is I get extra-twitchy at sloppy mic placement. Jim: lav mic goes on the tie or the inside edge of the jacket. You want a maximum of a ruler's length between your mouth and the mic; that way, you capture a fuller sound and can drop your input level to remove some of that hissy room tone/white noise.

 

[Dojofreak1181]

Nice episode. What Wizardry-looking game was that playing through 3/4 of the video? Intrigued.

 

[Frezzato]

I actually have a hand in the demise of the games industry.

I rarely buy used. I buy new, sealed games at significant discounts.
I wait. I wait for prices to drop. It hurts retail (sorry Best Buy, but you can suck it), it hurts the publishers, and it hurts the developers (unfortunately).

Spec Ops The Line for less than $20? Don't mind if I do.
Bayonetta for $10? Sure, why not.



The main thing hurting games right now is the fact that you don't need them. It's not like they're as important as water or gasoline. I got rid of cable years ago. Didn't need it. No smartphone either. Just a dumb prepaid.

And I can live without the Xbox One.
Deal with it, Microsoft.

 

[FoolKiller]

There is one good thing about all this. My current video game collection will skyrocket in value as it will be the last generation of console games that just requires a console to play. What a crazy world.

And that's just it.

All a console game should require is a console to play.

 

[funnydude6556]

I hate how Microsoft felt fit to talk more about what the Xbox One can't do rather then what it can do and now we've got people talking like it's a good thing? That is just insanity! At this point if I worked for Microsoft I'd just start revealing even dumber things for the console just to check if the gaming journalist are even capable of hating things anymore you know like "And now you have to be five miles near your local Xbox One Center to use your Xbox One!" or "To play online you'll need to insert this chip into your brain so Microsoft knows where you are at all times, ignore the piles of dead people on the stage they are merely the rejects for Microsoft's new superior race of Xbox People"

 

[Norrdicus]

Nice episode. What Wizardry-looking game was that playing through 3/4 of the video? Intrigued.

I believe it's Legend of Grimrock, a new dungeon-crawling indie game with mod support and a sequel in the making

 

[GonzoGamer]

I agree with Jim completely but Gamestop would get more support from me if they didn't gouge the used game market so that the most you can save is $3.
If that had been the case when I had to buy used, I probably wouldn't be into the hobby now and buying new games as I currently do.
I'm just saying that while I like the concept of used games, they don't exactly benefit the consumer much anymore.

 

[Smokescreen]

Thank you for attacking that article at PAR head on. That set of assumptions was terrible and really undercut their credibility--surprising because they usually do excellent work.

 

[ObsidianJones_v1legacy]

The game market is a funny thing.

It constantly doesn't listen to the consumers, and then blames it for their failures. Whenever I think of game Developers as a whole, I think about those 90's coffeehouse 'artists' who feel way too deeply about their genius and how the world is a festering pile of excrement because not one of the seven billion people on this spinning speck of debris gets down on their knees and praises them like we all should have. You know, those 'artists' who were so compelled to have everything their own way. That bit and railed against you when you suggested things you might want to see, or dare I even say, opinions about things you like.

You were lambasted as a Philistine for not whole accepting the work that they gave you because it came from their soul. And since it did, it must have been the purest form of beauty.

Or, flip it. Again in the 90's, the guy who tried to keep up with the trends. The one that was Hip-hop one week, then the next week Skaters became cool so he got a board and those striped shirts that you were issued by law back then. Then the next week, everyone was grunge but he was luckily enough to be able to wear the same jeans but keep his hair messy.

It's such a fractured state of affairs that there's little good to be found in the situation, but a whole lot of bad. We get lost in the shuffle of their business, and it shows. We get lost in their ideas and it shows. Plenty of gamers feel like they were being talked over and the message didn't come close to anything we'd ever wanted. Yes, Xbox, you were a gaming system. You were bought by gamers. If you wanted to appeal to a wider range of people... develop a new system.

Hell, why not just make your own version of tvs! with all the functions you talked about. And have a special connection to show the highest of hi-defs. The Real successor to Xbox 360 that you'll develop for all tvs, but to work especially well with your XTV would still be a great looking system on other tvs, but you could make special connectors that plug into your Xbox Smart TV that just makes it look and play fantastic. Hell, you could do that 3D thing that was a craze... well, yesterday. You get more sales because you could link your damn failing Windows Phone into the New TV that you'd make, or the Xbox Better Name Than What You Came Up With, seamless everything... I just gave you the entertainment market:

A great looking TV to corner the market that you want, the non-gamers. Most non-gamers will take a lot of getting around to because when those few adventurous ones that the Wii brought looked at your thing and thought it was too complicated. This way, with a Smart TV that you'll shoehorn your TV version of Xbox Live or Windows8... you know, all the stuff you basically tried to make the Xbox One to be, you can REACH that market in two ways: It's a great looking tv that we'll make voice activated with this useless Kinect, and your kids would never have a better gaming experience the "How it's supposed to be played AND VIEWED" combo of the XTV and the Xbox. That has hardware to make playing and responses better, visuals that are mind blowing because the hardware will be made to not only work in tandem, but to accelerate the experience like only they can.

Take this dredge back, apologize, make the XTV and the real new Xbox, and we're all square.

Oh, and that always online shit will have to go regardless.

 

[iceeman_dk]

ONE topic I think that not enough people are talking about, is what will happen WHEN the Xbox one servers are taken down. It will become a useless brick, and the exclusive will become a thing of legends.

 

[Lunar Templar]

When The Starscreams Kill Used Games

The Xbox One will kill used games and control second-hand sales, and some people think that's great. Jim Sterling is not among them.

Watch Video

who ever they scramble to blame, the appologists will be right behind them nodding in support. I'm thinking it will probably be people who wait for sales/don't preorder for the next scape goat

sweet, so I getta be part of the problem next time really? Awesome, I'll getta be important I'll need to get demon horns and a pitch fork in that case, just to be ready when they start blaming every one but them selves, again.

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

Yet again more common sense from Jim to debunk the finger pointing at the used game market. I do look forward to the day publishers have no more monster to blame for missed sales expectations, though I fear that they may have quite a few more excuses up their sleeves before then, such as;

People are waiting for sales to buy our games at a discount, so no more sales from now on.
There was too much competition during the release window, we need to kill all our competitors.
The poor weather on release day meant no one went out to buy it, we need to control the weather now.
Turns out that the population of the Earth is not large enough to meet our sales expectations. Mandatory yearly breeding is now in effect.
People our deciding not to buy our games of their own free will. We need to install chips to suppress these free thinkers to protect our bottom line.