Well that's what they WANT to do, the Publishers/Devs don't get any money from games sold by a third party bypassing the altogether, so they couldn't care any less about the people that do so because they aren't their customers.
I define customers as those who are using their product.
What is even more perplexing for me is that apparently a lot of people will buy "used" at something like 55$ a few days after a games release when the new game is 60$ just cause some guy behind a counter was instructed to say things like "Don't you like saving money?" or "Are you sure you don't want to get a used copy, it'll be 5$ less." etc.
That's true but disliking Gamestops practices doesn't mean you have to get in bed with the publishers. Publisher who don't want you to be able to recoup your costs if you buy something that sucks. Publishers don't want stores to give refunds on software and they also don't want you recovering $20 from Gamestop.
Can't you just not jump in bed with either Gamestop or the publishers?
Personally if I buy a game I want to support said Developer/Publisher and want to practice my right of "voting with my wallet" saying "I want more of this"... that vote is also lost buying from a 3rd party and them being the only ones majorly profiting from it even though they weren't involved in the development of the game in any way or form.
Voting with your wallet becomes less powerful when you can't buy it used anymore.
I don't think you understand how it works so I'll explain it. Every used game was already sold NEW so the publisher already got their money. The 3rd party bought the game from the person who bought it new so the 3rd party did put money into that copy of the game and if they sell it they deserve some, all or a profit back from it. You don't think the publishers are selling merely at cost do you? No! Does the publisher start giving out free copies of a game once they've made their money back? No!
That's how business works and I don't know why it's ok for publishers to make hella profits but not for Gamestop too.
Hell, people who CHOOSE to sell games to Gamestop that they bought NEW know that Gamestop is going to give them crap for their game and then sell it for alot more. They do it anyway because getting back $20 means the game really only cost them $40. How many people wouldn't buy the game new at all if they knew they couldn't recoup some of the cost?
Not to forget that there are dozens of other forms of "buying/selling used" like eBay or similar sites that will probably be both cheaper to buy and getting a better price selling (and no big 3rd party company being behind it leeching off the profits). Thank both those parasitic companies and people making stupid purchasing decisions for this, the console manufacturers and publishers are only trying to protect their interests with almost 50% of the total game sales of GameStop being "used" now and it being a over 2 billion $ business: http://venturebeat.com/2010/08/19/game-retailer-gamestop-misses-earnings-target-despite-huge-used-game-sales/
Hating Gamestop doesn't make you look objective.
The "used sales" argument doesn't come down to "everyone would buy new if they didn't have a choice" but to "we aren't getting any money from this, even if less people get the game but we get more money it's good."... Regardless of all that, it will come as I've said often before, if you want it or not xD
They aren't entitled to money from used sales.
Let's be honest here, what the publishers would like is to be able to own YOUR game. That's right, you bought it but they still like to pretend that they can control what happens to it and if you resell it, they want some of the money. They aren't entitled to it!
That's how greedy the game industry has become. It's like a bank robber claiming he/she is entitled to the money in the bank. He/she isn't entitled to the money because IT BELONGS TO SOMEONE ELSE.
