Poll: "Heartbroken" Microsoft Employee Explains How Family Sharing Would Have Worked

[mike1921]

Yes you have a choice. You have the choice of not buying the games, I have no idea how anyone could on a regular basis think a game is worth $90. Just the same as if it costed $900. Like, there are very few games I'm willing to pay $60 for let alone $90.

Yep coming from a viewpoint that games don't cost more than $60 I'm sure you wouldn't pay more. There is only one problem with that, EVERY game in Australia costs that much, a CHEEP game might be $80. So what your effectively saying is that if games cost more than $60 you wouldn't buy ANY games? I doubt that, you would just grit your teeth and buy them because that's what they cost and so that's what you have to pay and there isn't a dam thing you can do about it. Once again WHY DO YOU THINK AUSTRALIANS WERE SO ANGRY ABOUT USED GAMES BEING BANNED??

Seriously there were lots of us who believed that Gametraders and EB should have refused to stock the Xbone if thats the attitude they were going to take, it wouldn't actually have cost them that much money because the mark up isn't at the retail end, its not taxes, its all coming from the publishers and they are the ones making the money. I have herd that EB makes $5 per $400 console and not much more on the games themselves. They survive based on the used game market and we use the used games to actually buy games at a reasonable price. And for those who DO buy new when they are released a lot of them can only afford the $100 per game because they are going to play them for a week or so and then trade them back in

I still think most of them are very overpriced at $60

Oh no there are some games I would buy,and I tried to imply that with my writing:"I have no idea how anyone could on a regular basis think a game is worth $90". IT would just be maybe 2 a year.

Yes, there is a damned thing I can do about it, not buying it. Just like I do with most games. You underestimate my frugality. There are very few games I think are worth the $60 price point. Most are honestly only worth around $30 if you ask me. There are games from the 90's I want that cost $15 that I won't buy because I don't think a game as old as I am should cost more than $7. I don't grit my teeth and pay more than I think something's worth if it's a luxury product. I'll put it on a wishlist and see if it's worth it in a few months, or a few years. And I game like constantly, like unhealthily, anyone who knows me personally and hears what I live like is saddened by it, and I still don't pay the prices that most people seem to. Do you know how many games I plan on paying $60 for the rest of this year? 1 (tales of xillia).

Does eb actually give decent trade in rates in Australia or is it like it is here where you'll get like maybe 1/3rd what you'd get off ebay? Do they also give you a sizable discount on used games as opposed to "We took off $5, SO SIGNIFICANT, YOU SHOULD TOTALLY BUY USED"? Because for the last 8 years or so, as far as physical games have gone I have used amazon and ebay almost exclusively (except xenoblade chronicles, gamestop exclusive).

 

[Anthony Corrigan]

Yes you have a choice. You have the choice of not buying the games, I have no idea how anyone could on a regular basis think a game is worth $90. Just the same as if it costed $900. Like, there are very few games I'm willing to pay $60 for let alone $90.

Yep coming from a viewpoint that games don't cost more than $60 I'm sure you wouldn't pay more. There is only one problem with that, EVERY game in Australia costs that much, a CHEEP game might be $80. So what your effectively saying is that if games cost more than $60 you wouldn't buy ANY games? I doubt that, you would just grit your teeth and buy them because that's what they cost and so that's what you have to pay and there isn't a dam thing you can do about it. Once again WHY DO YOU THINK AUSTRALIANS WERE SO ANGRY ABOUT USED GAMES BEING BANNED??

Seriously there were lots of us who believed that Gametraders and EB should have refused to stock the Xbone if thats the attitude they were going to take, it wouldn't actually have cost them that much money because the mark up isn't at the retail end, its not taxes, its all coming from the publishers and they are the ones making the money. I have herd that EB makes $5 per $400 console and not much more on the games themselves. They survive based on the used game market and we use the used games to actually buy games at a reasonable price. And for those who DO buy new when they are released a lot of them can only afford the $100 per game because they are going to play them for a week or so and then trade them back in

I still think most of them are very overpriced at $60

Oh no there are some games I would buy,and I tried to imply that with my writing:"I have no idea how anyone could on a regular basis think a game is worth $90". IT would just be maybe 2 a year.

Yes, there is a damned thing I can do about it, not buying it. Just like I do with most games. You underestimate my frugality. There are very few games I think are worth the $60 price point. Most are honestly only worth around $30 if you ask me. There are games from the 90's I want that cost $15 that I won't buy because I don't think a game as old as I am should cost more than $7. I don't grit my teeth and pay more than I think something's worth if it's a luxury product. I'll put it on a wishlist and see if it's worth it in a few months, or a few years. And I game like constantly, like unhealthily, anyone who knows me personally and hears what I live like is saddened by it, and I still don't pay the prices that most people seem to. Do you know how many games I plan on paying $60 for the rest of this year? 1 (tales of xillia).

Does eb actually give decent trade in rates in Australia or is it like it is here where you'll get like maybe 1/3rd what you'd get off ebay? Do they also give you a sizable discount on used games as opposed to "We took off $5, SO SIGNIFICANT, YOU SHOULD TOTALLY BUY USED"? Because for the last 8 years or so, as far as physical games have gone I have used amazon and ebay almost exclusively (except xenoblade chronicles, gamestop exclusive).

Depends, if you want a game the week after release its not worth buying used however it is worth trading if you do that (I don't, I buy games to keep), they give very good rates for that. However it depends what you want to do with the money, if you trade for cash your going to be disappointed but if you use the money to buy something else in the store the rates are fairly good from what I have herd and they are even better if you get in on there frequent "trade towards a preorder" if that's your thing because they give double trade value for those. As far as prices if you chose your times and don't mind waiting prices at EB are quite good (still more expensive than the US because thats what the publishers do, they mark up when they hear an Aussie Accent), they have regular sales and more importantly they are competing against stores which don't rely just on games, all those other stores apart from game traders have there core business outside games at least partially so that keeps the prices down. This is why we are so against a monopoly model, you hand Microsoft a monopoly and the prices will skyrocket. You might chose not to buy games at that price but most people will, especially if they have no other choice

Look at what happened with Itunes, they charge 70% more for Australians

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfEjWTRtRFo

That song was done by a show on the ABC after Apples response to the senate for why we pay more is "talk to the record companies", a blatant lie when Itunes has only 3 price points they offer to those who sell songs and the price difference is 70% between US itunes and Australian one

So much for free trade

 

[mike1921]

Yes you have a choice. You have the choice of not buying the games, I have no idea how anyone could on a regular basis think a game is worth $90. Just the same as if it costed $900. Like, there are very few games I'm willing to pay $60 for let alone $90.

Yep coming from a viewpoint that games don't cost more than $60 I'm sure you wouldn't pay more. There is only one problem with that, EVERY game in Australia costs that much, a CHEEP game might be $80. So what your effectively saying is that if games cost more than $60 you wouldn't buy ANY games? I doubt that, you would just grit your teeth and buy them because that's what they cost and so that's what you have to pay and there isn't a dam thing you can do about it. Once again WHY DO YOU THINK AUSTRALIANS WERE SO ANGRY ABOUT USED GAMES BEING BANNED??

Seriously there were lots of us who believed that Gametraders and EB should have refused to stock the Xbone if thats the attitude they were going to take, it wouldn't actually have cost them that much money because the mark up isn't at the retail end, its not taxes, its all coming from the publishers and they are the ones making the money. I have herd that EB makes $5 per $400 console and not much more on the games themselves. They survive based on the used game market and we use the used games to actually buy games at a reasonable price. And for those who DO buy new when they are released a lot of them can only afford the $100 per game because they are going to play them for a week or so and then trade them back in

I still think most of them are very overpriced at $60

Oh no there are some games I would buy,and I tried to imply that with my writing:"I have no idea how anyone could on a regular basis think a game is worth $90". IT would just be maybe 2 a year.

Yes, there is a damned thing I can do about it, not buying it. Just like I do with most games. You underestimate my frugality. There are very few games I think are worth the $60 price point. Most are honestly only worth around $30 if you ask me. There are games from the 90's I want that cost $15 that I won't buy because I don't think a game as old as I am should cost more than $7. I don't grit my teeth and pay more than I think something's worth if it's a luxury product. I'll put it on a wishlist and see if it's worth it in a few months, or a few years. And I game like constantly, like unhealthily, anyone who knows me personally and hears what I live like is saddened by it, and I still don't pay the prices that most people seem to. Do you know how many games I plan on paying $60 for the rest of this year? 1 (tales of xillia).

Does eb actually give decent trade in rates in Australia or is it like it is here where you'll get like maybe 1/3rd what you'd get off ebay? Do they also give you a sizable discount on used games as opposed to "We took off $5, SO SIGNIFICANT, YOU SHOULD TOTALLY BUY USED"? Because for the last 8 years or so, as far as physical games have gone I have used amazon and ebay almost exclusively (except xenoblade chronicles, gamestop exclusive).

Depends, if you want a game the week after release its not worth buying used however it is worth trading if you do that (I don't, I buy games to keep), they give very good rates for that. However it depends what you want to do with the money, if you trade for cash your going to be disappointed but if you use the money to buy something else in the store the rates are fairly good from what I have herd and they are even better if you get in on there frequent "trade towards a preorder" if that's your thing because they give double trade value for those. As far as prices if you chose your times and don't mind waiting prices at EB are quite good (still more expensive than the US because thats what the publishers do, they mark up when they hear an Aussie Accent), they have regular sales and more importantly they are competing against stores which don't rely just on games, all those other stores apart from game traders have there core business outside games at least partially so that keeps the prices down. This is why we are so against a monopoly model, you hand Microsoft a monopoly and the prices will skyrocket. You might chose not to buy games at that price but most people will, especially if they have no other choice

Look at what happened with Itunes, they charge 70% more for Australians

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfEjWTRtRFo

That song was done by a show on the ABC after Apples response to the senate for why we pay more is "talk to the record companies", a blatant lie when Itunes has only 3 price points they offer to those who sell songs and the price difference is 70% between US itunes and Australian one

So much for free trade

As for prices skyrocketing: again, answer me, why is the price $90-100 and not $200? People won't buy past a certain price. Why aren't they $90 in US? We just won't pay that, and you won't pay the $200 price point. I'm pretty sure at the prices that both of our market prices are at that demand is the limiting factor on price.

Most people need to learn how to be frugal if you ask me. If you're willing to pay $90 for a game that's not incredible, that's your fault. There's obviously a point where people will cut down on games. Also, why not just go for older games? Catherine came out a year and a half ago and I just bought it last week. Like I'm sure there are some games from the last year you would've liked to buy if they were cheaper? Unless you're just loaded with disposable income.

 

[mad825]

I felt given time to mature it could have turned into something worth having as a gamer much like DLC (we went from pointless horse armor to amazing season passes like Borderlands 2!).

And here's me thinking that Straw men arguments have gone out of style. Yes, Bethesda did release horse armor DLC but they also released a full-blown expansion, out of style gaming development which has gone in favour for shorter and more expensive (for the customer) game additions.

Sounds like some CEO or business guy crying his balls off...Maybe, just maybe trololololol.

 

[jpoon]

It's a shit idea, glad it's gone...

 

[immortalfrieza]

Snip

I don't know where you get this stuff that you think I've said but haven't. I NEVER said anything that could possibly be misconstrued as "I think they can just snap their fingers and making new engines and development tools and otherwise cutting costs will magically happen," not by the wildest stretches of the imagination, quite the opposite in fact. It would take some time, it would take some work, it might even take some money, but what I've proposed is not only than possible, it's an eventual necessity for the video game industry to continue to thrive at this point, considering that games are becoming more and more expensive to make to the point that if it continues, the costs on both the consumer, developer, and publisher will start becoming prohibitive. What is needed is smaller to 1 person teams, easier to use game development tools that those teams can use to make games faster and with better quality, and more use of free and cheap marketing, and all can become a reality to the industry as a whole if they would put any real effort into it. Do I expect to see it happen? Eventually, once the industry starts to crash and they realize it's necessary, but I don't expect to see that anytime soon.