On the Subject of the Used Games Market

[otosaretatenshi]

Disclaimer:
In general, my opinions on various subjects when put in written form, tend to get critiqued rather harshly. I expect as much here, but in all honesty I don't really care. I'm doing this solely to develop my opinion on this matter fully, so that I may then feel confident to put my opinion out there, and subsequently be able to debate it

Comments

[sam767]

I'm too lazy to read the whole article, because I don't care about used video games, but I still have harsh criticism (that's how much you suck): It's not an industry, it's a market.

[otosaretatenshi]

Wow, that was a slip-up. Thanks for pointing that out.

[gunlord]

I skimmed over this article as well, but generally, one thing I find amusing about game companies' attempts to bludgeon the used-game market to death is that the same reasoning could be used against selling books. If I buy Twilight, I assume, I can sell it to you via amazon.com after I'm done reading it (which I won't, because it sucks), then you can sell it to Arf via amazon.com, who can then sell it to Burning Phoneix via amazon.com, and so on. However, Ms. Meyer will only see any profit off my original purchase, as far as I understand. Yet even the author of Twilight has not brought her sights against amazon.com, nor has she attempted to incorporate weird locks on her books where if you buy a used copy you have to pay an extra 20 dollars to read the second half of the book. I don't see why vidya gaem makers should crack down on gamestop any harder than book authors should crack down on amazon.com. Unyuu~!

[otosaretatenshi]

That's an extremely good point, and one I have a hard time arguing against, because really, that's the way I viewed this initially. Really, the same could be said for any used item. I'll comment back with more later; my attention is focused elsewhere at the moment.

[gunlord]

*smooch!*

[otosaretatenshi]

Read my reply to Samu.

[burning_phoneix]

Ever bought a DVD that locked out the special features if you bought it used? Or a car where the dealer removes cruise control if you buy it used? Or a music CD that locks out the bonus tracks?

The comparisons are endless. But I don't think videogame companies are the only source of greed but for them...they're the only one who has the means to control their product this way.

Book authors, car dealers and music labels don't have the luxury of DLC and internet registration to control their consumers the way videogame corprations do because if they did.....oh boy. :(

[otosaretatenshi]

It could be the horrid decrease in sales over the past 2 years. As I told Gunlord, I'll elaborate some more when I'm done modding my new nerf gun.

[otosaretatenshi]

The problem arises, because no matter *how* you look at it, it's revenue generated from the sale of THEIR product. Up to this point, they had no real control over this, and simply overlooked it because they didn't need to worry about it. Now, with profits sharply dropping, they need to look for a new source of income. Rather than continue turning a blind eye to this matter, they now have come to terms with and decided to do something about this matter. With the percentage of consumers they have that have access to the internet, they've acquired the tools to do something about this. As BP said, if those other things had the ability to utilize such methods (and who knows, maybe someday they will), don't you think they would? One could think of it simply as a form of royalties. This issue may be the tip of a yet to be seen iceberg.

[butter_building]

I don't know precisely why EA and Sony feel so entitled; literally all other industries have to deal with the secondhand market. You don't have to unlock the ending on a used DVD by dropping a few dollars in the producer's coffer, and you shouldn't have to spend a fucking dime to fully unlock a used game.

It's absolutely fucking outrageous.

[otosaretatenshi]

The fact they feel special enough to try to get around it is indeed outrageous. Honestly, I wish they'd just shut up and put up with the used market, like every other industry. Unfortunately, technology has given them ability to actually control the matter to an extent, and if they have the ability to use it, and it's not illegal, they're going to do it. And complaining about it results in progress, but it's not going to make it go away entirely; Otherwise, our complaints would have made Game Publishers/Developers completely ditch DRM by now, if that method worked.

[angeling]

I only skimmed through the article (just got back from a trip) but I read the comments, and I have just one comment...

EA has been queen of inane policies with their products lately, and I'm pretty sure that's a lot more detrimental to their sales than the fact some people are making small profits from selling used games (considering that for the 'used' game to exist someone has to have bought it new at some point).

I don't know about you, but if I had to pay some tacked-on price on a used product because the company says so, instead of buying it used OR new, I'd stroll on over to the internet, download it, find the crack that inevitably exists, and play it for free.