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

[Monster_user]

The answer is, we'd be using the pc-gaming model. From my perspective, it's a far better one, you give up access to a physical disc but gain convenience of buying instantly from your living room, and far cheaper prices to boot because there's no middle man to cater to.

Not true at all, with no competition and no second hand market to deal with, prices of software would sky rocket.

Not initially. People have to buy into this new ecosystem in order for all other markets to die off, and not have anything replace it.

Steam is waiting in the wings to scoop up the console gaming market.

PC games are cheap because they compete with consoles,...

Erm, that doesn't sound right. Consoles are more popular, and the gaming industry would not want to take away from easy money, right?

piracy,

This is true.

older games

On-going sales for a titles lifetime, this brings in money for publishers to continue to operate. This should actually bring game prices down. The quality of titles must compete with older ones, like books must compete with classics. However, this doesn't mean that new games won't sell, or that prices won't come down.

and free to play.

Free2Play is not what they are competing against, and it is mostly MMORPGs. Look at WoW vs Free2Play. WoW is not competing against Free2Play, Free2Play is competing against WoW.

Free2Play is a new model that publishers are trying out, to spread out the revenue stream. With the decline of the demo, the cost of entry has gotten too steep for some (many?) gamers. With Free2Play the cost of entry is nothing, which means that gamers can try before they buy, and choose the games they enjoy playing. Those that can't afford to pay, won't have to pay anything and can still play with their friends.

If that was all removed, they had complete control of your access and you had no physical property, they would likely tie your to a subscription, probably at a price similar to cable TV or broadband. If you were really unlucky they'd tie you into a subscription and make you pay extra for the games.

You can look at any product, when there's a monopoly prices go up and consumer rights go down. Sony and Nintendo already tried to fix prices in the nineties, you can bet they would again ifthey could.

This is the concern. Subscriptions are desirable for publishers because they provide a steady stream of revenue. Would you rather work as a contractor and get paid when the job is done, or get paid weekly/bi-weekly for your labor?


Thinking about this, a quote from the refuse ending of the Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut. "The freedom to choose."

Control = Digital Distribution and DRM.
Destroy = Ceasing the production of consoles, and console games.
Synthesis = A blending of DRM, and physical copies/used games.
Refuse = Let things continue as they were before the Xbox One/PS4, by refusing to purchase this console generation.

 

[Something Amyss]

The industry would find another scapegoat for the same issues: sales, cost, etc.

far cheaper prices to boot because there's no middle man to cater to.

It's a shame there's really no industry in which this actually happens. You can't even say "well publishers fear Gamestop" because the same is true even without a Gamestop analogue. This is really poor reasoning, and I suspect it's used to justify giving up one's actual rights as a consumer.

The fact is, virtually nobody is going to give up that middle-man cash to the consumer. They already know what we'll pay, and so they'll continue to charge it. See also: Australian game prices.

 

[Dr. Crawver]

In one simple word. Broken. In 6 words. One I wouldn't be part of.

Seriously, used games are a necessity for me. I'm hardly raking it in, and I can barely afford new games that I want, let alone take any gambles (and most games I [play are gambles, I like to try new things). I can't afford to drop £40 almost ever at the moment, so I almost always buy used. My purchase of a used game doesn't deny any developer of a sale, because without the used game market, they wouldn't get the sale anyway.

 

[songbird15]

Much more profitable I would assume.
I would like to say I agree that we shouldn't buy used games and help out the developers.
But when I think about it what manufacture of any product, gets a cut when the original purchaser sell's it on?
If you buy a car, table and chairs or a coffee machine. They don't get anything apart from the first time they sell it.

If they need to sell the same product more than once to make their money. Then there has to be something wrong with the business model.
But the truth is their business model does work and AAA games make millions. The problem is with the share holders who are always looking for x% of growth, in a never ending spiral.
It's the same problem of uncontrolled greed that is hurting all of us...and it can't last.

 

[Lil devils x_v1legacy]

Much more profitable I would assume.
I would like to say I agree that we shouldn't buy used games and help out the developers.
But when I think about it what manufacture of any product, gets a cut when the original purchaser sell's it on?
If you buy a car, table and chairs or a coffee machine. They don't get anything apart from the first time they sell it.

If they need to sell the same product more than once to make their money. Then there has to be something wrong with the business model.
But the truth is their business model does work and AAA games make millions. The problem is with the share holders who are always looking for x% of growth, in a never ending spiral.
It's the same problem of uncontrolled greed that is hurting all of us...and it can't last.

The problem is the developers aren't helping us out here. Making the games you love and enjoy " expire" offering no support and leaving you only to get them by other means. Often their " new games" suck compared to their old one, so what basically happens is if you don't like the direction they have taken with their new games, you are left with nothing unless you resort to used.

It is kind of like the lightbulb. I have a 1920's bulb that still lights up. They could still have lightbulbs that last that long, but it hurts their profits to do so. If they make a good quality game that people love and enjoy, they don't want to go out and buy the new ones. So they make the new ones crap so you will still keep looking for the right one. It has turned good games into crappy unsatisfactory games with the promise of better always around the corner. They make disposable games so people will always need a new one.

That doesn't help gamers, that helps their profits.

 

[songbird15]

It is kind of like the lightbulb. I have a 1920's bulb that still lights up. They could still have lightbulbs that last that long, but it hurts their profits to do so. If they make a good quality game that people love and enjoy, they don't want to go out and buy the new ones. So they make the new ones crap so you will still keep looking for the right one. It has turned good games into crappy unsatisfactory games with the promise of better always around the corner. They make disposable games so people will always need a new one.

That doesn't help gamers, that helps their profits.

Do you really feel that games are made not to last these days, like light bulbs and fridges? And I agree that is what happens with light bulbs and fridges, but games!

You think that developers are deliberately churning out crap?

But as a reader of this site and other gaming sites...a core gamer. You must be able to spot a bad game a mile away?

I can certainly spot a bad game a year before launch easily, I can smell em miles of. By the buzz, by the marketing and by the feel and the look of the game in screenshots, demos and marketing.

I can't remember the last time I bought a game I ended up not liking.

I'm disillusioned with a lot of things...Trust me. But the game industry isn't one of them, or I wouldn't be here reading this site.
For me games are of high quality and of a good length. That I am entertained for a good amount of time, and generally feel I have got my moneys worth.

Now that isn't the same as saying games are as addictive as they were in the old days, when all you were fighting against was the high score table. But that kind of twitch action is still available...and cheep as well compared to AAA titles.

With games like Bioshock infinite and The last of us. I just can't agree there is a quality problem.

But different folks look for different things.

 

[Lil devils x_v1legacy]

It is kind of like the lightbulb. I have a 1920's bulb that still lights up. They could still have lightbulbs that last that long, but it hurts their profits to do so. If they make a good quality game that people love and enjoy, they don't want to go out and buy the new ones. So they make the new ones crap so you will still keep looking for the right one. It has turned good games into crappy unsatisfactory games with the promise of better always around the corner. They make disposable games so people will always need a new one.

That doesn't help gamers, that helps their profits.

Do you really feel that games are made not to last these days, like light bulbs and fridges? And I agree that is what happens with light bulbs and fridges, but games!

You think that developers are deliberately churning out crap?

But as a reader of this site and other gaming sites...a core gamer. You must be able to spot a bad game a mile away?

I can certainly spot a bad game a year before launch easily, I can smell em miles of. By the buzz, by the marketing and by the feel and the look of the game in screenshots, demos and marketing.

I can't remember the last time I bought a game I ended up not liking.

I'm disillusioned with a lot of things...Trust me. But the game industry isn't one of them, or I wouldn't be here reading this site.
For me games are of high quality and of a good length. That I am entertained for a good amount of time, and generally feel I have got my moneys worth.

Now that isn't the same as saying games are as addictive as they were in the old days, when all you were fighting against was the high score table. But that kind of twitch action is still available...and cheep as well compared to AAA titles.

With games like Bioshock infinite and The last of us. I just can't agree there is a quality problem.

But different folks look for different things.

Yes. I do believe they are intentionally churning out crap, and do feel it is a quality issue with the newer games being released. Yes, I do feel they do this intentionally, so you have to buy a new one over and over again with the promise of " new an improved" which never really happens. Otherwise we would have a hellofalot more content than what we get these days. I am far more entertained with the old red alert than the new red alert, the old caesar rather than the new caesar, Lord of the realms 2 was better than Lord of the realms 3... Then when you look at the direction MMORPGs took and the " kill x" BS and auto targeting class based systems and lack of a real economy and crafting and replaced it with "pretty characters" and " see elf know elf's weaknesses kill elf" BS it is more than obvious.

Then when you look at consoles and the best game that has been released in a long time is Minecraft, which is dumbed down for console and better on PC anyways, what is the point? So I can mindlessly repeat killing noobs on COD or running through another pack of Zombies on Resident Evil? To me it is all the same actions without thinking. You can go through these entire games without having to think at all. There is no challenge. I am not seeing the "shiny graphics" as an improvement in game play.

Of course there is the rogue dev making a game like Darkfall that actually makes improvements to pvp, but they are few and far. I am sure they want the old games to go away, so we have nothing better to compare the new crap they make to.

 

[songbird15]

Certainly the games you mention and COD ofc is a classic case of a slight iteration to bleed more money out of you.
On the mmo front I find that GW2 offers something new for me.
Minecraft is a good example of something a bit different, and pretty much endless gameplay. Scrolls the new game from mojang looks good as well.
But I would add,

Heavy Rain
Bioshock infinite
The last of us
Journey
Bastion
Limbo
And upcoming games like. Beyond two souls, project spark, destiny, quantum break and titanfall.To the list of truly great games.

There is for sure a lot of trash out there but there are many great games as well, both big and low budget releases.

I guess we just need to tread carefully when laying down our money.
But that isn't a new approach