Poll: What's really hurting the Game industry?

[Mandalore_15]

I'm going to come straight out with this: pre-owned sales may hurt publishers'/developers' profit margins, but frankly that's tough shit. There is no other industry in the world where companies are attempting to destroy the second-hand market (with the exception of digital distribution of music, but seeing as you can buy music on a physical medium I don't see this as an issue).

The fact of the matter is, copyright law protects people's rights to sell-on their legitimately purchased goods, and people's rights to buy those goods. This is called the "distribution right" in the UK and the "doctrine of first sale" in the USA. Videogame companies may not like the fact that people sell on their game, but any attempt to stop them doing so is an attempt to either extend copyright beyond its legal remit, or create new rights altogether.

We shouldn't stand for this. If companies are worried about too many people buying second-hand in a tough economic climate, perhaps they should stop being such tight-fisted assholes and actually lower their prices...

 

[6unn3r]

Steam, or more accuratly those devs that are not, or do not intend to use it.

Yes EA i am looking at you!!!

Lets face it, its the future and while EA are quite within their rights to throw a hissy fit and deny their games to the biggest direct download user market, its only going to hurt them in the long run. I honestly do not think Origin is going to make a big enough dent in Steam's user base to affect sales, especially since so many publishers and indepentant developers are using it.

Battlefield 3 on Steam would have been HUGE, im never going to be able to find all my BFBC2 friends on BF3 without my Steam friends list, its just not practical.

EA really missed out on a golden opertunity to stick two fingers up at Activision and COD.

 

[Lancer873]

All of the above, excluding Microtransactions when done right, but most of those are a direct result of inflated AAA game prices, so I'd have to go with that.

 

[Yvl9921]

Piracy, definitely. At least people are paying to keep the gaming industry going with pre-owned sales.

No, they aren't. Gamestop or their equivalent keeps all the money from pre-owned sales. The industry itself makes nothing from it.

 

[Yvl9921]

Making a shoddy, rushed game and expecting full market value.

Compare the time spent on Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2. For a moment forget whether you like one or the other better, just focus on time spent.

Origins was Announced in 2004 but wasn't released until 2009. That's at least a five year development time.

DA2 was released less than 2 years after the final expansion for Origins.

5 years compared to 2 years (being generous), and yet BioWare expected DA2 to outsell Origins by a considerable margin.

It didn't. Not because of piracy. Not because of DRM. Not because of Pre-Owned sales. Because they spent less than half as long on it.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is the true problem with the game industry. That and Pre-orders. Why are intelligent consumers being punished by being cut off from in-game content? They paid just as much for it.

Sequels take less time to make. The assets are already there, they just need to be tweaked. Look at Persona 4 compared to Persona 3, they were out within a year of each other with the same amount of content.

 

[MuppeTeN]

Inflated AAA prices, which leads to piracy ( for a lot of people).

I buy every game(some new, some used) but I can assure you, if every game cost 30-35$ new, I would buy everything new.

But for example, paying 60$ for Star Wars Force Unleashed 2 would have been a waste ( which is why I but it used for 25$)

 

[Scow2]

Piracy, definitely. At least people are paying to keep the gaming industry going with pre-owned sales.

Except for the fact that none of the money from pre-owned sales makes it back to the developers or publishers.

Pre-owned sales are actually another problem, simply the fact that the publishers and developers are losing out on something they made. I personally think that the project 10 dollar type plans are a good idea, it helps get the funds back to publishers and developers and nicely highlights how freaking stupid the markups are on pre-owned sales are. When you buy pre-owned, then have to fork out that extra 10 bucks for the MP or whatever it is, it would have been just as cheap, to buy the game new.

Not true... In order for someone to buy a used game, they must pay the original purchaser, either directly, or indirectly. Places like GameStop advertise, sell, and support new games: Drop off the old games you're done playing, spend that cash on a new game.

Oh sure, publishers who make a single overpriced game with no replay value may whine, but that's because it's their fault for trying to charge too damn much for the hours of entertainment returned... Making extra copies of a game is dirt cheap. More people will buy dirt-cheap games than expensive ones.

Personally, I never try to spend more than $10 on a game, unless it's a good Value game, when I pay $20-$30.

If it costs more than a Month of WoW or Planetside with less than a month of gameplay, then I'm not buying it. I'm a casual gamer that also likes to experiment or faf about in games, play and forget about games I have, and rarely return the ones I buy, so a Twenty-hour game goes a long way.

Also, the ability for a single copy of a game to be enjoyed by multiple different players is part of the reason the Wii, Call of Duty, and Halo series are outperforming everyone else.


I probably should have voted "Other": The death/decline of Local Multiplayer in Shooter games, and LAN on PC. I saw a really cool FPS that had jump-packs, vehicles, Drop Pods, and other awesome features... but I didn't buy it because I don't have Xbox Live (Can't stand the Live kiddies anyway) and have at least three friends, cousins, or siblings willing to play with me. But I only have one Xbox.

Because I live in a big household that used to have everyone with their own tower, four or six of us would get on and play Starcraft, Warlords Battlecry, Age of Empires, Stronghold, Icewind Dale, Warcraft III, Diablo II, and other LAN games with each other - albeit by using a single purchased copy of the game that we made sufficient copies of so we could all play together: Is it better for a game company to sell one game enjoyed by four people at once, or not sell the copy at all?

So... more Super Smash Brothers, Halo, and the like for me.

 

[genericusername64]

Too expensive, I can't tell you how many friends want to get into gaming, but its too steep of a price point

 

[hyplion]

a combination of high prices of games and DLC, DRM (which restricts the paying customer), the general cutting of content (dumbing down) in games especially in rpg's which should be deep. and i have the impression big game companies lost touch with their fans.
by now i am surprised if a sequel is good, and frankly that sucks.

 

[NinjaCatStudios]

Games aren't more expensive, the only change I notice is that they stay full price for longer, that's only in local supermarkets though.

 

[Scow2]

Games aren't more expensive, the only change I notice is that they stay full price for longer, that's only in local supermarkets though.

Games have tripled in price.

I used to be able to buy the latest games for 20-30 USD each.

I don't like how Internet Piracy of games destroyed the freedom to buy one copy of a game and share it with my family and close friends. CD keys were "Good Enough" DRM to me, except when I lose them all (I miss Diablo II ). Now, game developers have to get serious about cracking down on copies, now that a cracked/DRM-stripped game can be posted to the internet for anyone to enjoy, instead of small circles of friends. (I don't recall Age of Empires I selling poorly, despite my family using a burned copy gifted from a friend.)

Of course, I considered the $20-$30 I spent to be worth the box, disk, and manual art alone.

 

[hyplion]

Piracy, definitely. At least people are paying to keep the gaming industry going with pre-owned sales.

Except for the fact that none of the money from pre-owned sales makes it back to the developers or publishers.

Yeah piracy is bad, but the reaction to it is worse, the hefty majority of DRM only harms the people who actually purchase the game, as opposed to punishing those in the wrong.

Pre-owned sales are actually another problem, simply the fact that the publishers and developers are losing out on something they made. I personally think that the project 10 dollar type plans are a good idea, it helps get the funds back to publishers and developers and nicely highlights how freaking stupid the markups are on pre-owned sales are. When you buy pre-owned, then have to fork out that extra 10 bucks for the MP or whatever it is, it would have been just as cheap, to buy the game new.

I am sorry but this is plain bs, since when do you pay sony when buying a 2nd hand dvd player, or mercedes for your used car, a writer when buying a 2nd hand book. The game industry should not act like a hurt child on this one, grow up, and take a fresh look at their buisness model.

 

[Kurokami]

Piracy, definitely. At least people are paying to keep the gaming industry going with pre-owned sales.

I think most pirates do go on to purchase games once they have jobs, obviously not all of them though but I don't think it's that big of a deal somehow.

Either way I think the gaming industry is doing fine, it's not gonna be eradicated anytime soon and although I agree that they should focus more on pleasing one specific demographic rather than catering a generic bland for all to taste, there are enough games doing that to keep me hopeful.

PS: The reason there are so many used sales of Heavy Rain is because the game sucks and the moment people realize it they sell it onto the next unfortunate victim.

(That's an unfair statement, it probably just wasn't my cup of tea but all the same, I hate the fact that I bought that nagging, ***** of a film for its full $120 at a store)

 

[NinjaCatStudios]

Games aren't more expensive, the only change I notice is that they stay full price for longer, that's only in local supermarkets though.

Games have tripled in price.

I used to be able to buy the latest games for 20-30 USD each.

Really?
It depends on the game for me, I can get some games cheap, when vanquish came out I saw it in the supermarket for £12.

I guess generally they are getting pretty expensive.
Although the fact that you can get The Orange Box and Mass Effect 2 for less than £30 in total is still pretty good.

Apparantly in the NES/SNES era, quite a few games where $70 new.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

I think the thing that is harming it the price and quality of new AAA games and I don't just mean the consumer side of things. The price of making AAA has gone up so much due to people just wanting new graphics but this has led to advances in that area. The side effect of this though is shorter games with less refined gameplay that cost more to make and seem to sell less.

This has fuelled the need for over priced DLC to help bridge the losses in profit that they would have experience a couple of years ago. The fact the DLC seems cut from games in some cases further discourages people from buying games new and this again fuels the DLC binge we are on at the moment.

This DLC binge also fuels piracy and pre owned sales to a degree which leads on to restrictive DRMs like Securom and treating paying customers like criminals which then further feeds into piracy usually in the form of cracks with Securom. This can also lead to straight up loss in sales.

Overall the industry just needs to take a long hard look at itself in the mirror and rejig where they spend money. I think there a vibrant safe market on handheld type device like iPhones which could be exploited to make some money which could then be reinvested into making new exciting risky ventures in AAA games. This and a move away from straight up realism graphics to stylised and a greater focus on gameplay and story and a bit longevity into games in my opinon would fix things.

On length I understand not everyone has the time to finish 20 hour+ campaigns. Just because someone does not finish a game does not mean they have not enjoyed it and that they haven't gotten their moneys worth but for those of us with the time to dedicated to this we need longer games. An increased difficulty and more deaths is not an acceptable way for a longer game. Halo 3 took me less than 3 hours on normal and something like 8ish hours on Legendary(45mins/mission). This is not long enough for something I sank ?60 into. Half Life 2 cost me about ?3 on a sale and I got 20 hours out of it and counting with Episodes(I don't have exact break up on me but HL2 no eps was 17ish hours).

That is something I can live with sinking ?60 into.

On consumer price it fluxuates widely from area to area. Ireland's prices have dropped since 7[sup]th[/sup] gen as 360 games started at ?70-80 and even 90 but are now down to ?45 before the ? they were £60(circa 2001). While on PC new games can be around ?30-?20 more are the latter. While this also depends on where you shop retailers, publishers and consumers need to meet each other 1/2 on this price thing.

 

[Ovoon]

Making a shoddy, rushed game and expecting full market value.

Compare the time spent on Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2. For a moment forget whether you like one or the other better, just focus on time spent.

Origins was Announced in 2004 but wasn't released until 2009. That's at least a five year development time.

DA2 was released less than 2 years after the final expansion for Origins.

5 years compared to 2 years (being generous), and yet BioWare expected DA2 to outsell Origins by a considerable margin.

It didn't. Not because of piracy. Not because of DRM. Not because of Pre-Owned sales. Because they spent less than half as long on it.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is the true problem with the game industry. That and Pre-orders. Why are intelligent consumers being punished by being cut off from in-game content? They paid just as much for it.

Sequels take less time to make. The assets are already there, they just need to be tweaked. Look at Persona 4 compared to Persona 3, they were out within a year of each other with the same amount of content.

I get what you mean with the Persona example, and it's perfect. However, most developers make sequels differently from the Persona team. Dragon Age 2 uses a new engine, and has completely different gameplay mechanics. It's more than just a "big expansion pack" style sequel like Left 4 Dead was. It actually rebuilt the game. Why do you think Persona 5 is taking so much longer to make than Persona 4 did? The jump in expected quality since the last game has shot up, so they are working with a new engine.

 

[Scow2]

Games aren't more expensive, the only change I notice is that they stay full price for longer, that's only in local supermarkets though.

Games have tripled in price.

I used to be able to buy the latest games for 20-30 USD each.

Really?
It depends on the game for me, I can get some games cheap, when vanquish came out I saw it in the supermarket for £12.

I guess generally they are getting pretty expensive.
Although the fact that you can get The Orange Box and Mass Effect 2 for less than £30 in total is still pretty good.

Apparantly in the NES/SNES era, quite a few games where $70 new.

Actually, now that I think about it, I've generally been 5 years behind the game industry until now... I got Starcraft and Diablo II in the early 2000's. And didn't buy Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal when that was new because it cost so much (A decision I regret.)

At least developers have one point in there favor: I tend to lose my games, even the one's I "pirated" (Burned CD copies) or bought 2nd-hand or in Bargain Bins, and frequently by New ones where I can (Or try and find abandonware where I can't)

 

[willsham45]

What I feel is hurting the gaming industry is the sacrifice of innovation for making games safer and more meh yet likely to sell.

Too many times someone does something new and inventive that is successful and then it is milked for all its worth when other companies copy the supposed winning formular when really they are not helping anything.

As well as that game was successful selling loads but not as well as the most popular game at the moment we are not going to continue with the concept.

And Publishers in some cases being more of a hindrance than helpful.