Pre-owned games banned? Are you cool with that?

[ikoian]

Yep, I'm perfectly cool with this. Doesn't affect me one bit, and as an added bonus I get to be entertained by all the whiny entitled cheapskates who think that if they can't afford something it means it's too expensive.

I guess you're also entertained at the idea of not finding out about a game till years later and find out that it is no longer printed and thus, impossible to find new?

 

[spartandude]

yay for making piracy more viable/sarcasm

but seriously if this is true, and with drm hurting actual buyers it seems as though devs and publishers want us to pirate

 

[Lordmarkus]

Pc gamer here so I'll stay ignorant as always and say that it wouldn't bother me one iota. I haven't bought a new game for nearly 3 years that wasn't locked to some kind of service, Witcher 2 being the exception. It feels like 95 % of all new PC games have steamworks, and the rest 5 % use Origin, GDWL or Uplay.

Of course It isn't good news for anyone but after years of shoddy consoleports, piracy-accusations, DRM and service-locked games I cannot feel any pity for consoleplayers if this becomes a reality. At least you get games that are built for the platform and that they fucking work on a shoddy internet connection.

well aren't you the such a nice and considerate person. I personally choose to not play on consoles so fuck everyone who does. nice

Hooray, I found myself a soulmate! In case of traitorous sarcasm, I'm pretty sure that you wouldn't be vomiting sunshine after playing sequels of great PC games turned into consoleport trainwrecks like Crysis 2, Modern Warfare 2 & 3 and Battlefield 3 that you are unable to sell.

I will never say that this is a good idead, I'm just telling that my patience is at an end.

 

[everythingbeeps]

Yep, I'm perfectly cool with this. Doesn't affect me one bit, and as an added bonus I get to be entertained by all the whiny entitled cheapskates who think that if they can't afford something it means it's too expensive.

I guess you're also entertained at the idea of not finding out about a game till years later and find out that it is no longer printed and thus, impossible to find new?

Well no. First, because I know how to use the internet. Not finding out about a game "till years later" is no longer a valid scenario for people who know how to read.

Secondly, even for those people, digital distribution is going to make your point moot anyway. By the next generation I expect all games that are available on disc to also be available digitally.

 

[Vegosiux]

Yep, I'm perfectly cool with this. Doesn't affect me one bit, and as an added bonus I get to be entertained by all the whiny entitled cheapskates who think that if they can't afford something it means it's too expensive.

I guess you're also entertained at the idea of not finding out about a game till years later and find out that it is no longer printed and thus, impossible to find new?

Well no. First, because I know how to use the internet. Not finding out about a game "till years later" is no longer a valid scenario for people who know how to read.

Secondly, even for those people, digital distribution is going to make your point moot anyway. By the next generation I expect all games that are available on disc to also be available digitally.

"Not being able to afford it" is kind of the definition of something being "too expensive", really, just saying.

As for the used sales, there's another point I kind of didn't point out yet. People who trade in their old games use a lot of that money to buy new games, hell, I've done it myself a few times about 6-7 years ago when the DRM was still just "have an original disk in your CD drive".

Often being able to trade in my old games made me able to get new ones...which I would have never bought if I had no option to trade in the games I wasn't willing to keep.

What I'm saying is, take away the used games market and I'm pretty sure you're going to lose plenty of "new" sales as well. I know I'm buying less games than I used to, for example.

But of course why am I even saying that, your view seems to be "buying used = cheapskate = lazy self-entitled scum of the earth who don't deserve nothin'".

PS-edit: I do like digital distribution though. It's convenient, less of a hassle, and it's easier to get good deals on it.

 

[everythingbeeps]

Yep, I'm perfectly cool with this. Doesn't affect me one bit, and as an added bonus I get to be entertained by all the whiny entitled cheapskates who think that if they can't afford something it means it's too expensive.

I guess you're also entertained at the idea of not finding out about a game till years later and find out that it is no longer printed and thus, impossible to find new?

Well no. First, because I know how to use the internet. Not finding out about a game "till years later" is no longer a valid scenario for people who know how to read.

Secondly, even for those people, digital distribution is going to make your point moot anyway. By the next generation I expect all games that are available on disc to also be available digitally.

"Not being able to afford it" is kind of the definition of something being "too expensive", really, just saying.

As for the used sales, there's another point I kind of didn't point out yet. People who trade in their old games use a lot of that money to buy new games, hell, I've done it myself a few times about 6-7 years ago when the DRM was still just "have an original disk in your CD drive".

Often being able to trade in my old games made me able to get new ones...which I would have never bought if I had no option to trade in the games I wasn't willing to keep.

What I'm saying is, take away the used games market and I'm pretty sure you're going to lose plenty of "new" sales as well. I know I'm buying less games than I used to, for example.

But of course why am I even saying that, your view seems to be "buying used = cheapskate = lazy self-entitled scum of the earth who don't deserve nothin'".

PS-edit: I do like digital distribution though. It's convenient, less of a hassle, and it's easier to get good deals on it.

Well, let's be more specific here. When people say "video games are too expensive", they aren't saying "I just can't afford it". They're saying "video games should cost less". There's a huge difference. There are plenty of things I can't afford, but I wouldn't necessarily say they're "too expensive." They may be too expensive for ME, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna demand they lower the price.

It doesn't matter that people who trade in games use that cash for new games. It'll still ultimately result in a "lost sale" for the game company, from whoever buys your game next. Maybe that person would have bought it new, maybe not at all, but too many people have built their entire argument on the ridiculous notion that NOBODY who buys used would buy new if they didn't have a choice. Too often they use their own behavior and make that the rule for all people. You're kind of doing it yourself by pointing out that you wouldn't have bought certain games if you couldn't trade in games towards them.

You aren't going to lose ANY new sales by removing used sales. None. I promise you this. That number won't go down. It's just not going to go up quite as much as game companies seem to think. You aren't going to see an increase in new sales that's equivalent to what would have been used sales. Of course a lot of used buyers will just skip the new game. But plenty of them will buy new.

If any new sales decline, it'll be for crappy games. If people are buying fewer games overall (and that's certainly a possibility), the numbers are going to be skimmed off the bottom of the pile. Call of Duty will sell as many copies as it ever did. Section 8 will not. This might encourage companies to release better games, since people are no longer willing to take a risk on a potential piece of crap. That's only upside.

 

[dfphetteplace]

Like in all the threads: I have next to no love left for used games or people buying used. You are supporting a chain of stores which are run by assholes, abuse their customers, employees and the one industry relying on first hand sales through them.

What about buying from friends and on eBay? That is how I have bought every one of my 360 games. There was no chain of stores that were run by assholes selling to me. I got a game that I wouldn't have played otherwise, since I was not going to pay full price for, and someone got rid of a game they no longer wanted and made a few bucks off of. Good for them, good for me.

 

[Legion IV]

Like in all the threads: I have next to no love left for used games or people buying used. You are supporting a chain of stores which are run by assholes, abuse their customers, employees and the one industry relying on first hand sales through them.

And I am also a PC gamer. I just laugh at all you nonsense prophecies about the future of consoles when games start to be bound to an account or such.

What about people who can't afford to buy used?

What about people who can't find a new copy?

What about used cars? And Books? Are they bad too? Do you have "little sympathy" for someone who buys a used car?

No matter how anti-consumer companies like Gamestop are, this is like trying to get rid of an anthill with a nuke. Banning used games is the most ridiculous, ant-consumer bullshit anyone has ever thought of.

I work full time have my own apartment with zero help from anyone else and can still eat out and chill out AND i fucking import games, i manage?

cant get the game? Look on line my friend it will be there. Anyone can afford a new game if i can manage to constintly.

Used games are just, i hate them. You give no love for the developer. I actually would feel bad if i bought some of my fav games used, how can i say am not a fan when am not supporting my Niche JRPG developers (Gust Co, and idea factory. Both small) Sure you can argue with Ea but a lot of developers need that money.

I buy all the my games brand new and import direct from the developer(many games i can only get imported) if i can. Give these people your fucking support people!.

Hear of a game 10 years down the line you want but its impossible to buy new? Sure buy used.

support the companies you love, for gods sakes people.

 

[Strain42]

Like in all the threads: I have next to no love left for used games or people buying used. You are supporting a chain of stores which are run by assholes, abuse their customers, employees and the one industry relying on first hand sales through them.

You're assuming that people only buy used games through GameStop. What about people who just buy used games from other people on Amazon for a lot cheaper? It Puts money directly into the pocket of the person selling it.

Or any other number of sources for buying used games.

EDIT: And I don't care if the reason is "You're not giving any money to the developer." because I have no reason to support game developers unless they make something I want to spend a certain amount of money on. If a developer makes a game that I feel is worth the money to buy it new, I will, and do.

But if it's a game I'm mildly interested in that I don't think is worth 60 bucks, I don't see why I should have to pay that much. If it gets a good price drop, I'll consider picking it up new, just to try and help.

In other words, I'm not gonna support Ubisoft by buying Assassin's Creed 2: Brotherhood for 40 bucks retail, when I can get it for around 21 on Amazon Marketplace

 

[Batou667]

I fully expect that single-use unlock codes are something that Microsoft, Sony etc have considered, but they'd be drooling idiots to actually go ahead with it.

Firstly, stores like Game (UK) and Gamestop (USA) would go bust without preowned sales. Problem? You bet, considering they also make a healthy profit for the devs/pubs through new sales too. Get rid of bricks-and-mortar sales and you hurt games sales in general.

Also, the argument that buying preowned games doesn't benefit devs is short-sighted. People will often trade in their old games specifically so that they can buy new releases, encouraging a brisk trade in games both new and old. (As an aside, anybody who equates buying preowned to being morally the same as piracy, deserves a kick in the nuts).

Forcing people to buy new would be disastrous - not only do I predict that piracy would actually increase, but it would also discourage buyers from picking up a cheap game on a whim. People would stick to what they know, and as a result devs would hedge their bets by making their games as mainstream and financially "safe" as possible. Innovation is risky - penalise risk, and you smother innovation. If you're cool with playing yearly instalments of CoD and Final Fantasy for the rest of your life, this won't affect you. For those of us that like their games rough around the edges but with a touch of genius, this would be terrible news.

 

[spartandude]

I fully expect that single-use unlock codes are something that Microsoft, Sony etc have considered, but they'd be drooling idiots to actually go ahead with it.

Firstly, stores like Game (UK) and Gamestop (USA) would go bust without preowned sales. Problem? You bet, considering they also make a healthy profit for the devs/pubs through new sales too. Get rid of bricks-and-mortar sales and you hurt games sales in general.

Also, the argument that buying preowned games doesn't benefit devs is short-sighted. People will often trade in their old games specifically so that they can buy new releases, encouraging a brisk trade in games both new and old. (As an aside, anybody who equates buying preowned to being morally the same as piracy, deserves a kick in the nuts).

Forcing people to buy new would be disastrous - not only do I predict that piracy would actually increase, but it would also discourage buyers from picking up a cheap game on a whim. People would stick to what they know, and as a result devs would hedge their bets by making their games as mainstream and financially "safe" as possible. Innovation is risky - penalise risk, and you smother innovation. If you're cool with playing yearly instalments of CoD and Final Fantasy for the rest of your life, this won't affect you. For those of us that like their games rough around the edges but with a touch of genius, this would be terrible news.

my good sir, will you marry me?

 

[Arqus_Zed]

NO

I'm currently expanding my PS2 games collection, something that would be near impossible without the existence of pre-owned games.

Maybe if they just put a timed ban on it, like: "You can't sell pre-owned games within a year (or two years) of its initial release." I could live with that.

 

[Vegosiux]

Well, let's be more specific here. When people say "video games are too expensive", they aren't saying "I just can't afford it". They're saying "video games should cost less". There's a huge difference. There are plenty of things I can't afford, but I wouldn't necessarily say they're "too expensive." They may be too expensive for ME, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna demand they lower the price.

Well I'm inclined to agree that the prices are too high, not because of my wallet but because of the quality of most of the products. To me, most of so-called AAA titles are B- at best and most definitely not worth 60 bucks - is why I never rush into buying unless I'm pretty damn sure I want it.

There are some that are worth every last cent, but...I wouldn't say most are, no. That however, has nothing to do with my stance on used games, it's just how I see the pricing on the games - too arbitrary, but I blame the people who are willing to pay that much more than I blame the publishers on this one.

It doesn't matter that people who trade in games use that cash for new games. It'll still ultimately result in a "lost sale" for the game company, from whoever buys your game next. Maybe that person would have bought it new, maybe not at all, but too many people have built their entire argument on the ridiculous notion that NOBODY who buys used would buy new if they didn't have a choice. Too often they use their own behavior and make that the rule for all people. You're kind of doing it yourself by pointing out that you wouldn't have bought certain games if you couldn't trade in games towards them.

Well, generalization and absolute statements do nobody any favors here, I agree. I'm just saying that the used game market also contributes to new sales in its own way.

You aren't going to lose ANY new sales by removing used sales. None. I promise you this. That number won't go down. It's just not going to go up quite as much as game companies seem to think. You aren't going to see an increase in new sales that's equivalent to what would have been used sales. Of course a lot of used buyers will just skip the new game. But plenty of them will buy new.

We'll see. I suppose it could even out, but still, many gamers finance their new buys off traded-in old games. And the move would be controversial in any case, pissing off a lot of people.

If any new sales decline, it'll be for crappy games. If people are buying fewer games overall (and that's certainly a possibility), the numbers are going to be skimmed off the bottom of the pile. Call of Duty will sell as many copies as it ever did. Section 8 will not. This might encourage companies to release better games, since people are no longer willing to take a risk on a potential piece of crap. That's only upside.

Well, I'm still going to keep a distinction between what a successful game is and what a good game is, but I suppose you have a point in general. I'm a bit of a pretentious git on a high horse when I judge if a game is actually "good".

 

[Popeman]

Yet PC gaming doesn't have used game sales, and yet it has the most diverse game selection ever.

Well that simply is not true I buy used PC games on Amazon all the time. And regardless PC gaming is not console gaming as much as people wish they where the same thing they are not.

 

[everythingbeeps]

Well I'm inclined to agree that the prices are too high, not because of my wallet but because of the quality of most of the products. To me, most of so-called AAA titles are B- at best and most definitely not worth 60 bucks - is why I never rush into buying unless I'm pretty damn sure I want it.

There are some that are worth every last cent, but...I wouldn't say most are, no. That however, has nothing to do with my stance on used games, it's just how I see the pricing on the games - too arbitrary, but I blame the people who are willing to pay that much more than I blame the publishers on this one.

And now the obvious problem is, how do you determine what a B- AAA title is "worth"? Relative to what? If you want to argue that the problem is game quality, that's one thing, but if you're saying that there are no A+ games, the problem is you, not the industry. As has been said, it's not like the price of games has really gone up. And you'll never get me to agree that the general quality of games has gone down. So what, suddenly, is the problem?

Of course there are crappy games, and of course there are games with no real value. Those games drop in price pretty quickly. So that problem is taken care of. (And even if they don't, who cares? Was anyone really waiting at the edge of their seats for Homefront to drop in price?) If you spend $60 on a game and end up feeling it "wasn't worth it", that's really kind of on you for not doing your research. The industry didn't make you buy it.

Well, generalization and absolute statements do nobody any favors here, I agree. I'm just saying that the used game market also contributes to new sales in its own way.

Doesn't really contribute a whole lot. And my only point is that it doesn't contribute enough to overcome those lost sales that so many used purchases are.

(Not to mention that different publishers come into play here....Activision isn't gonna be thrilled if you're trading in a Call of Duty game in order to buy Battlefield...)

We'll see. I suppose it could even out, but still, many gamers finance their new buys off traded-in old games. And the move would be controversial in any case, pissing off a lot of people.

You keep pushing that point, and I never disputed it, all I'm saying is that these people don't drive the video game industry. It doesn't matter that they do this, because the flip side is that if you kill used games, many of those folks will still buy new games. They'll just have to be more selective about what they buy, which as I pointed out, only hurts the lower quality games, which isn't a bad thing. I'm in this group myself.

Well, I'm still going to keep a distinction between what a successful game is and what a good game is, but I suppose you have a point in general. I'm a bit of a pretentious git on a high horse when I judge if a game is actually "good".

The distinction doesn't really matter. You can't make people hate Call of Duty games, and you can't make them love something like Enslaved. But with more people having to do research, maybe they'll actually start paying attention to the hidden gems. And maybe they'll STOP buying games like Call of Duty or Madden when it turns out that they won't be able to just turn around and sell them in a month.

And don't get the wrong idea, I trade in games too. I absolutely benefit from the ability to get rid of my crap, and I also acknowledge that being able to trade games in makes me more willing to buy something like Call of Duty, and without that option, I likely wouldn't buy it, at least not right away. I see the possible end to the used game market, and I see a scenario where I'm buying fewer, but better, games. And I can't see a downside to that.

 

[Fenris Frost]

Most definitely not cool. It's a well-trodden argument but if I buy something it is mine to do with as I wish.

 

[Popeman]

sadly the "consoles are special" idea doesn't hold up.

I didn't say that I said they wherein't the same thing. And they are not. Also quick note if 3 out of 4 ways to play games let you can play used games and 1 you cant I would say the 1 is "special" and like I said they are not even that. I like to have a physical copy of things witch yeah means I don't like Steam witch means I mostly but PC games Amazon and you can buy used there. But I guess PC games are moving more toward digital distribution witch dose mean I am less likely to play them. In short I want to buy the game not permission to play it.