Why do people buy used games?

[Avalanche91]

I am a metal gear solid fan. I haven't always been; I got on the bandwagon 2 years after the release of mgs4.

But I found a used copy of MGS Twin Snakes on NGC and decided to give it a try....then I bought a secondhand playstation with MGS2 and MGS3 so I could play those too...Then I let my friends play it. Then we bought a copy of MGS4 and Revengeance in the stores with our money. Games we wouldn't have given the time of day had I not bought a second hand copy of Twin Snakes.

In short; Second hand sales are a good way of saving money, lowering the cost of entry for games you aren't sure you'll like, and creating customer loyalty.

 

[TheWanderingFish]

What happens when a publisher stops producing a game? No other option except to buy it used if you ever want to try and play it.

This is my exact reasons. There are a lot of games that I didn't or couldn't get (stupid ESRB) when they came out. Bioshock comes to mind immediately; I picked it up 4 years after it came out. Firstly, The game is great and I wouldn't have been able to play it without the used game market.

Secondly, it let me experience Irrational's work, and now I look forward to their games. Really, the used game market allowed me to become a customer of theirs.

 

[Ren_Li]

Used games are a buying and selling of your property. Restricting used games are restricting what you do with your property, within the basic property laws. That's... sort of something to stand up for.

As for the money side of it- to some gamers, that slight price difference can be the difference between buying the game or not. Or, perhaps, (as has been the case with me), buying the game without DLC, or buying the game AND DLC.
It's also a way to know that, if you spend money on a new game and find that it's either really bad, or really doesn't appeal to you personally, you can then trade it in. Of course, you can't get a refund- but you can get some money back, or better yet, more credit than cash towards a new game. Again, some gamers can't afford to buy a game new if they're not absolutely sure they will either like it, or they can get some of their money back if they don't. (And, once more, I've been there.)

I probably wouldn't be a gamer if it wasn't for used games, used consoles, used controllers. And I make a point of paying the developers back by being very generous with my assumptions on their DLC- which, it's worth noting, never goes down in price as the game does. I bought Dragon Age 2 for pittance last year. After discovering I liked it (despite it's flaws), I bought most of it's DLC- most of which cost more alone than the game did. So not only am I able to keep gaming- I'm still doing what I can to support the people making these games. Take that how you wish.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

Usually because I can't find the game new, especially these days since a lot of times used is the only way to find games that are over a year old.

 

[Bashfluff]

They're cheaper. In no other industry are we "supposed" to worry about the effects of used products. The MPAA, despite their shittiness in general, do not warn people against buying used, lest no movies come out that you want to see. Car companies are much the same.

It's because if they had a problem with used, they solved it themselves instead of trying to pressure the consumer into doing things that just flat out are bad for them. Why should we be pressured into paying more for a product if we don't have to? Why should the public be held to ransom for publishers not knowing how to make money? If publishers wasted half as much effort on finding a new source of revenue from games instead of trying to convince the consumer to pay more money for the same product, they would have discovered new ways to monetize their products.

 

[Rebel_Raven]

I'll be blunt. It's largely 2 reasons:

A) The game isn't in production anymore. I've an extensive backlist of games I want, and one day, might get around to actually getting! If those games aren't in production, I've gotta find the rare unused copy, or a used copy.

B) I'm generally in the area of broke most of the time. Price drops, used sales, and so forth really help me out at times.

Nothing I'm proud of, really, but reality is reality.

 

[Tom Waits' hat]

Why would I pay $60, If I can get it for less than $60. Still the same content and same enjoyment.
Also, I have a huge backlog of games. I can't to play every games on launch date.

 

[Anthony Corrigan]

Used games do a lot of things

Firstly they stop new games from being forever sold at $80 plus

Secondly they allow people to play games which have gone out of production (like PS2 games)

Thirdly they encourage people to buy games on release day by giving intensives to trade in and put that money towards the new game there by increasing the numbers who will buy release day (EB gives extra credit if you trade towards another in store product and even more credit if you trade towards a preorder) because not everyone could aford to buy every new release

fourthly the flip side of that is that it allows people who cant aford to buy new games to buy games and therefore increases the numbers who will buy a console in the first place and even increases the number of new game sales as very few people JUST buy used

Lastly it keeps EB in business because the margins for EB are NOT enough on new games and new consoles to keep the stores open and this gives competition to the consoles online stores, DEFINITELY a good thing. This allows people to access there consumer rights without having the issues that they do with online only (see the issues Apple have realizing that they are subject to the consumer laws too), this also directly competes with the online stores. Further more people may well factor in the resale price when they buy a product because they always intend to trade it back in so factor that value in when they decide if the price is worth it.

 

[Vrex360]

Try living in Australia sometime, every new game costs on average about $100 and sometimes even more than that. Because of this I only ever get new games on my birthday or Christmas or on incredibly special occassions. However sometimes I do buy a game just because I want it and when that happens I buy used because that knocks the price down significantly. If there was no used game market I would have virtually no games in my library because neither I, nor my parents, nor my other family members and nor my friends could fucking afford them.
In Australia, in my experience, you have to find cheapness where you can and the used games industry is a great example of that. If Microsoft really did try to kill it, it would have screwed over people in Australia (from my perspective anyway I don't know how other Aussies might percieve it) to an incredible degree and while MS has taken a few steps back in that regard, I still don't feel quite ready to forgive them for ever considering open contempt to the consumer in the first place.

What happens when a publisher stops producing a game? No other option except to buy it used if you ever want to try and play it.

Yeah there's that too.

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

ok, the whole games going out of production thing obviously.

also if you take new titles out of your equasion;
I can walk into Game or Gamestation and get two (pretty old games) for £10 on a whim.
got a few hours entertainment for very little risk

 

[Rattja]

I don't understand how this question even exsist. People buy used stuff all the time, from cars to clothes to whatever you can think of. Why would games be any different?

Would you really live in a world where whenever you wanted something you HAD to buy a new one?

 

[Lliustril]

I could tell you lived in the USA before I checked your profile. In NZ there are often limited choices, a lot of websites won't ship here, or the shipping is horrendous. If the game isn't a huge title then shops that don't specialise in games (or other nerd/geek culture) often don't stock it, and they never have large sales on them because they can't make the money from the large number of sales.

When buying used games from stores you are shown the disk so you can check for scratches etc. If they don't do this in the USA, I'm sure you can ask. Buying online, the company or person has a reputation to uphold, so if the game is described as being in near new condition (etc) and turns up not in this condition, its bad for everyone. Because of this few people misrepresent their product, whether its a store or auction site (this is what buyer ratings are for after all).

Its not just buying used games, it's also borrowing or receiving a game after someone else is finished (ie from a friend for free). Or, if you buy from a friend then its often cheaper than any where else as they generally just want some money back to go towards the next game.

 

[Soxafloppin]

I don't buy many used games truthfully, I do sell them and use the money to buy New games.

The death of the Used game market is also the death of rentals, Which would get to me much much more.

 

[elvor0]

It's cheap. And sometimes there's no other way to get a game. Even the scratched disc issue isn't a massive one anymore, given I always make sure I look at the disc before I buy it, asking for a different one if there's a particularly nasty scratch. That and GAME and CEX all offer warranties, and if you get it home and it doesn't work they'll clean it free of charge. Even if you're out of warranty you can pay £1 to have it cleaned and your golden.

I never sell games myself though. Aside from Rockband 1 and 2, because there's no point in keeping them once you've transferred the songs over to Rockband 3. Each of my games is it's own little (or big) memory that having the box on the shelf is a great way to reminisce about it, even if I'm not likely to play it again.

The problem I have with buying certain games is if they're in the "platinum" or best sellers version. Y'know the one that doesn't sit in uniform with the rest of the shelf, because the logo on the side is different? OCD hell. If I can afford it, I will actively try and find an original version box later down the line to make sure it matches up. Beat up sleeves drive me nuts too. Take care of your games damn it!

 

[Anthony Corrigan]

It's cheap. And sometimes there's no other way to get a game. Even the scratched disc issue isn't a massive one anymore, given I always make sure I look at the disc before I buy it, asking for a different one if there's a particularly nasty scratch. That and GAME and CEX all offer warranties, and if you get it home and it doesn't work they'll clean it free of charge. Even if you're out of warranty you can pay £1 to have it cleaned and your golden.

I never sell games myself though. Aside from Rockband 1 and 2, because there's no point in keeping them once you've transferred the songs over to Rockband 3. Each of my games is it's own little (or big) memory that having the box on the shelf is a great way to reminisce about it, even if I'm not likely to play it again.

The problem I have with buying certain games is if they're in the "platinum" or best sellers version. Y'know the one that doesn't sit in uniform with the rest of the shelf, because the logo on the side is different? OCD hell. If I can afford it, I will actively try and find an original version box later down the line to make sure it matches up. Beat up sleeves drive me nuts too. Take care of your games damn it!

You just reminded me of that, its a good thing that Game went out of business here because if they hadn't they would have ended up in court for breaking consumer rights. I bought a game from them which didn't work when I got it home and when I took it back and ASKED for it to be exchanged they couldn't give me another one of the same game so I asked for my money back and all they offered was store credit which is illegal. Luckily for them the cleaning worked because if it didn't they would have had a fight on there hands for refusing a refund on a product which broke and that's my problem with digital, Apple are notorious for refusing to follow the consumer laws here

 

[Snowbell]

I buy used games occasionally if they're cheaper than a new copy. Most stores check that the games work before accepting them for resale so you don't really have to worry about getting a broken copy.

Literally the only reason for buying them is it saves me a bit of money - to spend on other games which are often new. I don't live solely on used games to spite the publishers, I really don't know why they're complaining.

Pirating is a much bigger problem anyway and I pirate all my DS games - torrent a metric tonne of anime - dabble in piracy occasionally totally never do anything that could be counted as even close to illegal.

 

[masticina]

I like second hand games. Why?

Okay I buy some games on launch day at launch price. But others..

Okay I make a list of games and give them a value
Games I definitely going to buy launch day
Games I am interested in and might buy as I walk past a game shop
Games I find interesting yet not at full price
Games I find quirky and might not fully like so definitely not at full price
Games I see the charm in..but definitely not at full price.

As you begin to notice the point.. only the top two are direct buys.

The third takes about 3-4 months and a lower price.

And the fourth and fifth type of game is something I buy from the sales/second hand box.

It is just stretching money. That and some games are not easy to get.. and you have to hunt down. Oh yes even in Europe where I live there are games hard to find. Because they never came to Europe for instance.

I must say though that most of my second hand games are from the gamecube and N64 era.
Yeah you can't buy them new.. each of them are pre-owned or old storage.

At a certain point games just are to darn old.. and they are gone out of the shops. But you still want them and you go to special second hand game shops.

You know what I found a copy of Eternal Darkness at a specialist shop. Yes it wasn't cheap.. but where are you going to buy a game like that "new".. you can't!

 

[rob_simple]

In more recent years I've made the move from buying used to buying new but cheap, but only because, now that supermarkets in the UK have moved into game selling in a bigger way, they do some weirdly good deals.

For example, I picked up Ninja Gaiden 3 from Asda for a tenner, only a few weeks after release. Granted, that game is fucking shite, but for such a big name release, I was still surprised. More recently, I picked up Far Cry 3, Lego Batman 2 and Assassin's Creed III all for £15, each.

The only time I buy used, now, is when I see something that interests me for really cheap or I'm looking for an older game that I don't feel like paying full RRP for just because stores like HMV think it's acceptable to charge £40 for a six year old game.

Also, it's the only way to find some more obscure titles.

Edit: About your scratched disc fear, I've bought loads of used games and never had any problem. Software bugs are a much bigger issue, and the great thing about them is that they're equal opportunity; going after new and used copies, alike.

 

[V da Mighty Taco]

For me, it's rarely because of price. Personally, if the game's not at least 25% off then I'd rather buy a new copy that's guaranteed to come with everything in perfect condition, rather than be missing the manual (I miss those) and having several scratches on the disk.

The main reason by far that I buy used is because I like playing old games - particularly one's I missed the first time around, and games even as little as one year old can be near impossible to find any other way. The past 5 years has seen me buy more PS2 games from GameStop than PS3 games, and I have a habit of visiting a certain set of local game stores that will sell everything from SNES controllers to PS2 games as well as the usual current-gen releases. Without used sales, I would not have bought Majora's Mask last year and properly played a Zelda game for the first time, nor would I be able to go to stores like the above to add to my N64 collection.

Captcha: "chuck norris". Well, can't say that Captcha is off topic. Chuck is pretty old, you know.

 

[Yopaz]

What happens when a publisher stops producing a game? No other option except to buy it used if you ever want to try and play it.

Ding, ding, ding! Give the man a teddy bear for hitting the target on his first try.

I don't buy used games to save money. Gamestop usually sells their used games at a higher price used than what I might pay for new games other places. Now for older titles that aren't available from digital distribution that are out of production there's simply no choice to buy them new. I have been regretting that I didn't buy Paper Mario for GameCube when I had the chance and I have lost several biddings rounds on eBay trying to get it and seen several places where they wont ship here.

Some save money from buying and selling games used which is fine too.

I also dislike the practice of getting rid of used games simply because it's a violation of trade laws. We're supposed to be allowed to determine what we use our product for, we can keep it, we can sell it.