Fun Stuff > CLIKC
The Ultimate Hi Def Next Gen Console thread (internet connection required)
LTK:
TotalBiscuit brings some interesting views regarding used sales for video games to the table. Summary: Video games are not subject to wear and tear, and their publishers do not receive any additional revenue streams, making used game sales a no-win situation. This, to me, at least makes Microsoft's choice to impose additional forms of DRM on the console justifiable from a business standpoint, because unlike the traditional PC game publisher's reason of 'piracy!!!', it is substantially harder to circumvent if you control the hardware it runs on, and it is equally inconvenient for people who buy games new or buy them used.
It still leaves the question of what our consumer rights are and why the product you paid for isn't yours to sell, and what happens to your games once your internet connection dies or the authentication servers are shut down, but I think a method of selling used games that's mandated or authorised by the publisher would be preferable to retailers squeezing them for all they're worth.
de_la_Nae:
Games are subject to wear and tear, albeit not always in the usual sense so I think I get why someone would say that.
snalin:
I know used games sales is a pretty big deal in the US, but I've never seen any stores that would buy used games here, so for me it's a non-issue. Is used game trade usual wherever the rest of you live?
Valdís:
Not really from what little I've seen in my city. There used to be a place that did trade-ins and stuff, but they weren't really a shop that focused on games, so more like a side thing for their selling computer parts and repairing things. The bigger places don't, though, to my knowledge.
Parkour Lewis:
--- Quote from: LTK on 31 May 2013, 15:59 ---TotalBiscuit brings some interesting views regarding used sales for video games to the table. Summary: Video games are not subject to wear and tear, and their publishers do not receive any additional revenue streams, making used game sales a no-win situation. This, to me, at least makes Microsoft's choice to impose additional forms of DRM on the console justifiable from a business standpoint, because unlike the traditional PC game publisher's reason of 'piracy!!!', it is substantially harder to circumvent if you control the hardware it runs on, and it is equally inconvenient for people who buy games new or buy them used.
It still leaves the question of what our consumer rights are and why the product you paid for isn't yours to sell, and what happens to your games once your internet connection dies or the authentication servers are shut down, but I think a method of selling used games that's mandated or authorised by the publisher would be preferable to retailers squeezing them for all they're worth.
--- End quote ---
The guy's argument is BS. Games are subject to "wear and tear" in the form of age. A game released a year ago isn't worth near as much as a game released last week much less two or three years ago. Almost the same example is true regarding his car comparison. A car that's a year old may have depreciated, but not that much, and you can still get a decent price for it if you decide to sell it. A car that's five or six years old has greatly depreciated in value, just like a game that's that same age goes for five or ten bucks even sold new from Wal-Mart.
The problem isn't with the sale of used games itself. The problem is that the value of the game to the individual consumer can go way down after the game is finished, or even before finishing it if it's a bad game. If the game was good enough that the player knew they might want to play it again later, they'd keep it around and not want to resell it for ten or twenty dollars a week after they just paid 50 bucks for it. The point being: if you want to stop people selling your games a week after they bought them, try making games that people don't want to get rid of immediately after they're done playing them.
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