What Would The Industry Be Like If There Was No Used Games?

[Nepukadnezzar]

I will try to insert a rather naive point of view:

If it wasn't for used gaming, I would have never started playing.
The first game on PC I played was WarCraft 2 on PC, I borrowed it from my friend.

The first console I had was the Nintendo 64 of my cousin, he did not like it after one year (beats me, still have it)

If it wasn't for used games, I do not think I would be a gamer at all today.

 

[Brotha Desmond]

People seem to think that publishers are paid for each game sold. That is not the case. People who work on games are given a set paycheck. The only ones who care about used games are the C.E.O's who just want more money. Used games have not been shown to dramatically affect new game sales.

 

[BloodSquirrel]

People seem to think that publishers are paid for each game sold. That is not the case. People who work on games are given a set paycheck. The only ones who care about used games are the C.E.O's who just want more money. Used games have not been shown to dramatically affect new game sales.

That's.... no.

Publishers are directly paid for every copy of a game sold. How much the developer is paid depends on what kind of deal they have with the publisher. They are often paid royalties sold per copy, as well as bonuses for sales milestones. This can even include individual employees. If the developer funded them game itself, and only signed with a publisher to handle distribution, the developer will get more than the publisher per copy sold. If the developer is owned outright by the publisher, there's not really a distinction between who is getting paid in the first place.

Furthermore, how much "people who work on games" get paid in the first place is still going to be dependent on how much money publishers are making. It directly affects the financial value of the game the publisher is getting from the developer.

 

[Gearhead mk2]

Only fairly rich people would be hardcore gamers. The rest wouldn't bother because it would be too expensive, unless every platform and every publshier did Steam-esque sales.

 

[Rickin10]

At first with no fear of the used market pubs like EA would almost certainly keep the prices the same, try even more nefarious dlc schemes, or even raise prices in their delusion that people would continue to buy new games at the same rate or greater, when in reality people would start to be a little more circumspect in their purchases.

Suddenly the idea of the annual COD, FIFA, Assassin's Creed milking would start to make gamers question whether they really needed another one of these, if they knew they would be stuck with them on their shelf forever. Thus with falling sales, Publishers would then start whining that gamers were fickle, mean-spirited individuals who were leaving the poor developers with barely enough money to feed themselves.

Begrudgingly, they realise there are no boogie men left to blame, and start to budget less insanely and drop prices.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

There would be the same amount of sales there are now, piracy would be blamed much more or whatever new buzz they make and people would buy less games and play less games.

 

[Trek1701a]

A lot of people compare the changeover for PC games from a physical copy to digital and the console model(s). Maybe it was just the area I was in, but when PC games were all/mostly physical copies, the used game market was very small, if almost non existant, of which I am talking retail outlets not friends. PC games were always easily copied, so the used game market never really developed. GameStop and other used buyers/seller at the time played around with taking PC games from time to time, but it usually didn't last very long for one reason or another. So while PC gamers had the right to sell the games, finding actual buyers was tough. So moving from physical to digital wasn't so bad as the loss of resale rights, at this time, really wasn't much of an issue to begin with. If Steam and the other digital resellers make inroads into being able to sell/transfer the game licenses between users, I would actually say that PC gamers maight actually have a better used game market now than they did when the games were actually physical.

The used game model for console games is so intertwined with today's market, that if it never had existed, I'd probably say that video gaming might not have gotten out of just being an enthusiast market. Too many people use the used game market to alleviate the price for new games, myself included. It certainly wouldn't be doing the big business it is today.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

Some financial analysts I believe did a study recently where they tried to work otu the net effect of used games on the industry.

Their conclusion was overwhelmingly positive: used games promote the sales of games and generate more revenue for publishers. People who sell their games to someone else are likely to use the money to buy a new game. Without used game sales, gamers would have to be much more sparing and selective in their purchases, which would have a negative effect on revenue.

As Reggie and Miyamoto said a short while ago- if second hand games are a problem for you as a developer, then make better games.

This is the elephant in the room. You get nothing in cash for games that you trade in. I see people get cash back once in a blue moon. A majority of the time people get store credit which they use to buy more games. The publishers are short-sight morons.

 

[hawkeye52]

Well we wouldn't have brick and mortar stores for one anymore. That means that the publishers would have to distribute the games themselves instead of gamestop etc which would lead to higher costs and therefore less games.

 

[BoredAussieGamer]

Just to give you an idea(this list is incomplete): 20+ studios a year.
(VERY LONG list of closed game companies snipped)

What's your point? What are you trying to say by listing a bunch of closed game companies?

 

[MrBaskerville]

The same, publishers would complain that they weren´t selling enough and they would probably find a way to blame the consumers for this. As a result of poor sales we would see lots of DLC, microtransactions and whatever else they can cram into the package to squeeze a few extra bucks out of each sale.

I don´t believe that the removal of used games would change much, if the entire industry is hanging so much in a thread that the only thing keeping them alive is the extra reveneue gained from the elimination of the used market, things can´t be going that well (considering that you can´t buy something used unless somebody else bought it, people would have to sell and resell a lot of games for it to be a massive problem).

 

[MetalDooley]

Big list snip

Wait let me get this straight.Are you claiming that if there were no used games then all those studios would still be open?Because if you are I call bullshit

 

[Lil devils x_v1legacy]

I would say the industry would be much smaller because people don't HAVE to buy games, they are not a necessity and considering publishers base off week one sales you would have little to no preorders so far fewer week one sales. Also those who are to poor to buy new games would buy less or none at all meaning that console sales over all would drop. This means that those who buy new for full price with the intention of quickly turning over those games to buy the next one would buy less because they couldn't turn them over and so over all there would be less money in the industry

And that ignores the social aspects, all the history which would be lost when a company closed up or simply stopped making the game or console.

Lack of used games haven't hurt PC game sales at all. In fact, you might even say they've improved them because the price of retail games has gone down significantly, not to mention there are spontaneous "cut price sales" on nearly every digital game distribution site which drop game prices by upwards of 75%. It's a different culture than console gaming is, console gaming is still relatively behind the curve. Trust me when I say the gaming world would be a better place without gamestop and used game sales.

I have tons of used PC games, and play those more than I do my new downloaded games, because I find the older games to be more entertaining for the most part. If it were not for used PC games, I would be very bored with the current selection.

 

[Lil devils x_v1legacy]

Just to give you an idea(this list is incomplete): 20+ studios a year.

I certainly hope you're not making the ABSURD suggestion that these studios all died off because of used games sales.

I mean FFS man, you put 3D realms at the top...a studio which closed for a multitude of reasons, none of which are used games sales.

If this is your level of research, then i'm glad I didn't have to go further down than #2 on your list to deduce you're full of shit.

They close down because they spend tons making crap games. It seems like every time they make a sequel to a good game they ruin it so it is no wonder they close down.

 

[Terramax]

Can't speak for the entire industry, but I would be a heck of a lot more choosy with the games I bought. I've never paid full retail for a downloadable game, probably not even more than £10. And I only buy video games brand new when they turn out cheap enough or I think there's a very high chance I'll enjoy them.

Also, I don't, and I doubt I'll ever use Steam. No DRM thank you.

 

[Lil devils x_v1legacy]

A lot of people compare the changeover for PC games from a physical copy to digital and the console model(s). Maybe it was just the area I was in, but when PC games were all/mostly physical copies, the used game market was very small, if almost non existant, of which I am talking retail outlets not friends. PC games were always easily copied, so the used game market never really developed. GameStop and other used buyers/seller at the time played around with taking PC games from time to time, but it usually didn't last very long for one reason or another. So while PC gamers had the right to sell the games, finding actual buyers was tough. So moving from physical to digital wasn't so bad as the loss of resale rights, at this time, really wasn't much of an issue to begin with. If Steam and the other digital resellers make inroads into being able to sell/transfer the game licenses between users, I would actually say that PC gamers maight actually have a better used game market now than they did when the games were actually physical.

The used game model for console games is so intertwined with today's market, that if it never had existed, I'd probably say that video gaming might not have gotten out of just being an enthusiast market. Too many people use the used game market to alleviate the price for new games, myself included. It certainly wouldn't be doing the big business it is today.

Specific Gamestop locations have PC games, rather than all locations. The store here stocks PC games, but the majority do not. I also think that people do not tend to sell the PC games as frequently, thus they have a more limited availablity of used PC games than they do for consoles. I still play my original Command and Conquer/Red Alert on discs now and then. I still have a huge selection of old games to play when bored, and buy used PC games occasionally, but you have to order them online to have a decent selection.

EDIT: Half priced books often has a good selection of used PC games as well.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

My guess is that publishers would have to find something else to blame all their woes on.

 

[Lord_Jaroh]

There's a lot of good replies in this thread. Myself, I believe that without used games (and to some extent piracy), the game industry would be better.

I think that we would be a lot smaller overall...ALOT smaller. Without used games getting tons of people into games in the first place (through discounts, or through obtaining a copy from a friend), there are tons of developers that just would not have gotten into the industry. There are a ton of people that wouldn't have bothered playing games, because they would be just too expensive (the first copy of Zelda I saw for sale in a store was over $100!).

Because of this, I think we would have remained more of a niche hobby. Without the "millions of gamers" mentality, the big players, the EA's, the Activisions, the Ubisofts would not have become the megaconglomerates they are today. However, on the flip side, I think that technology-wise, we would not be nearly where we are today. I think we would all be rocking a PS2-level machine, and that's being conservative. The drive for better graphics is also a drive born of competition, in this case a desire to push people towards new and better systems that have newer and better forms of DRM. Without the threat of Used/piracy, DRM would not need to exist, thus the push to drive them towards a new and better system, would not be there.

I think that we would have more original games, and far less sequels. There would still be sequels, but without megcorporations and megablockbusters, and with a lesser technology base, there would be less of a need to stay stale and repetitive. Developers would be inclined to try something new and different in order to capture sales, rather than just graphics upgrades.

I also think that price would be an issue for lots, but I do think that most would be priced according to quantity, not generation, so to speak. I think that there would be multiple price-points for different styles of games, which there should be. Should Bejeweled be a $60 game? How about Plants vs. Zombies? Final Fantasy? Grand Theft Auto? R-Type? All of these games are very different, and yet when released as a disk on a system, they all have a base price point, which the manufacturers suggest they be priced at, and the major publishers generally follow (or raise from). Thus everyone follows suit. Without the over-reach of EA or Activision, publishers and developers can charge closer to what the actual value is, so games would be all over the road map, but this does mean that your AAA blockbusters would be priced somewhere ridiculous, while everything else would trickle down from them. Games that try to pretend they are AAA, but in fact are lesser games will quickly drop in price, while games that are good will rise (due to lack of availability). They aren't printing as many of these, you know.

I am unsure if Steam would even exist, without being born out of necessity so to speak. Would there be a push for a Steam-like service without the need to go digital only? Without PC games being pushed out of the isle at Wal-Mart would a digital service be needed? I think that there might be rumblings for someone to try something like it, but I don't know if it would catch on. Although without the threat of used games, people would look at it as a source to get games more legitimately, but conversely, without the used game threat keeping prices down, prices digitally would be a lot worse. No Steam Sales for example.

Overall, I think it's an interesting "What if...?" to talk about.