1. Fat Seth, I am SICK of seeing you directly insulting other forum members. I don't care what the argument context is, it really needs to stop. You're demeaning the argument and provoking other people into a flame war.
2. The idea for a long-running multiplayer game, like Team Fortress 2 (2007 to 2011) is that it constantly has an influx of new players, in exchange for their continued upkeep and added content. The revenue of new players makes it possible to keep the game running.
But WAIT!
After that game has been out for a year or so, there are likely to be about a million used copies gathering dust somewhere. Let's just say that EVERY consumer from then on just buys a used game. After all, we're not trying to determine whether individual used game sales have "enough" of an impact, we're determining if they have AN impact, true or false.
If EVERYONE were to buy used from then on, the company would not get a single penny, despite new players showing up all the time eager to try out their game. It's technically not an "added" strain on their server, since people were obviously leaving, but time goes on and upkeep, server administrators, and the office donut boy don't pay for themselves. In this scenario, there is no question that the company would go under from paying these maintenance costs.
I hope I've cleared up the issue. If you don't like this model of paying once, and then just relying on getting new players once in a while, I'd like to know if people would instead prefer simply paying a monthly fee for every single multiplayer game. Those maintenance costs must be paid somehow.