Topic: Are second-hand games killing the industry?

There is no second-gand game market in Asia and I don't mind that one bit.

An interesting related article, discussing how a lot of games are $60 for 8 hours of play and what that's really worth: (warning foul language and adult humour) http://www.destructoid.com/oh-no-sixty-dollars-for-eight-hour...

I don't see a problem with used games. It really comes down to life style choices and the attitude of every one involved. I buy my games new and usually close to launch and I never trade them in. That works for me. I also lend games to family and it helps save them money and I'm ok with that because it is my game. I refuse to rent because I am rarely home and have little time so a console game can take me months to play and finish.

I also have a friend who buys a game at launch and plays it and trade it in a week or two latter towards the next game. he has few games on hand but with the number of games he goes through I can't see it hurting the industry either.

I think the publishers have a bad attitude towards trading in and should have taken the opportunity to capitalize on it.

I bought my car used. I bought it from a dealership after some one traded it in. Why don't publishers offer a customer loyalty program? Look at Madden. It comes out every year like a car. Why not offer a trade in program where if you buy a game new from them directly that you can trade it in next year towards a new game? This is a proven model in the software industry. If you own a computer and have Windows XP on it Microsoft will sell you the upgrade version of Windows 7 at a reduced rate.

It is up to the Publisher to make ownership more valuable. Why they don't understand a used market that has been around for years before the gaming market existed is beyond me.

Yes, its definably hurting the industry severely. Look at the developers failing left and right. One bad game can potentially shut the doors to large companies nowadays and this makes taking risk for large companies almost near impossible if they plan on staying in business. Yes, it's given rise to more great Indy titles on the download services, but loosing great IPs such as Mirrors Edge is just depressing.

Probably. Won't stop me buying all my games second-hand though.

I think the publishers have a bad attitude towards trading in and should have taken the opportunity to capitalize on it.

When they try and do that (EA/ THQ's "you need to buy a new code to play this second hand game online"), they get slammed by the gaming community, because it's wrong for a publisher to try and capitalise on a second hand game.

So damned if they do, damned if they don't. I personally sit on the side of "I hope retailers all fall over and the industry moves to digital downloads so publishers don't have to compete with themselves."

I think the approach that they take would make a difference. That is why I talked about increasing ownership value. One way is though an upgrade approach.

Let's say you buy a game from them they give you the option to use it as a discount to the next game in exchange.

For example. EA puts out madden and sells it to you for $60. they then say they will sell you the next game for $30 if you give back your old one. In the end you get a new game half off and they get an old game back that they can destroy to reduce the number of used games out there. Both ends are satisfied and the franchise maintains its value.

The great majority of games I see on the second hand shelves are not last year's FIFA games, though. What does the publisher do about Final Fantasy XIII? Red Dead Redemption? Super Smash Brothers Brawl? These games are not a yearly update, and it's likely, when someone's trading that game in, that they're looking to use the credit towards a game from a completely different publisher.

I only used Madden as an example because it is easier to follow. My argument has been from a publishers perspective. I would not expect a cross company loyalty program. To use one of your examples I'll look at Red Dead Redemption. If it were from a RockStar Games perspective they could have an upgrade path of GTAIV -> RDR -> L.A. Noire. Even though they are not apart of the same franchise they spread out their games pretty evenly to get away with it.

Also the upgrade path is an option and not for every one. Nintendo took the path of Club Nintendo. This made me inclined to buy new games over used because in Canada EB Games/Gamestop marks used games as $5 to $10 below the price of new and then ask if you want to pay $3 to insure the game for a year (Not enough difference for me to care). I would rather have new so there is no question about the Pin for Club Nintendo. I enjoyed receiving the Platinum reward for the past 2 years.

It is still up to the publisher to add value to make me want to buy a game new over used.

@Rob_mc_1 I don't think your plan is a good one, nor is it really looking at the issue from the publisher's perspective. Publishers don't want to sell all of their games at half price. If they offer you an "upgrade path" then that means only your first purchase will ever be at full price.

Also destroying games is never a good idea, even if you're trying to spite the second-hand market. At least used games give them some free marketing, where destroying old games is an pointless waste of resources and money.

The question is: why do you think games are not worth their full price? Why are they not worth the $60 price tag? It's not just "I'm not willing to spend $60 on a luxury item", since I know there are plenty of people who buy 4 DVDs/Blu-rays at once for ~$70 and only get a maximum of about 6-7 hours of enjoyment out of that $70. Not to mention movies don't offer nearly as much as games do in terms of interactivity or replayability.

I thought it was technically illegal to resale a game that says "Not for resale" on the box. I don't see how places can sale used games. Couldn't they be sued or something? I'm being serious.

I thought every game said that on the box. Maybe I'm mistaken.

@y2Josh Not many games have that printed on the case. Off the top of my head, I can remember seeing games like Wii Sports, Wii Play, Even Mario Kart I think.

@HolyMackerel That method would create a larger install base. If I buy a game and trade it in then that is one sale. The next person who buys it won't count as a sale towards the publisher. A game can be traded in a few time and if 2 or 3 people who purchased the same game will only count as 1 sale. If they encourage people to keep the game then there are less traded in copies. I would rather sell 3 copies for $30 then 1 copy at $60. I've never herd of a shop selling used copies of Windows.

There are still many ways to increase sales for new games with out this method too. Some Publishers do it too. Collector Editions are a good example and so are pre-order gifts.

I've only ever seen maybe a couple of games marked that way, they might've been demo copies or something that wound up in circulation on accident.

Gamestop in Winnipeg is really bad for that. They will dissect anything. The Wii zapper is $24.99 and I have seen them sell just the cross bow training disc for $20 after someone traded it in. When I asked about the zapper they said it is just the disc because that was the game. Same goes for other bundled games too like Wii Play.

http://www.gamestop.ca/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id...

My bad y'all

They're definately worth their full price, no doubt about that. But what games are worth and what I'm willing or even able to pay for them is a different matter. They're worth £40, but it's rare I'm able to spend more than £15-20 without keeping a careful eye on my bank balance

Gamestop was giving away the Monster Hunter Tri demos ONLY if you preordered the game, which was complete bull imo. Luckily, Capcom's website had a form you could fill out and they'd ship the game demo to you for free

@irks: i didn't mean 'demo copies' as in straight-up demos of the game, i meant 'demo copies' as in copies given gratis to retail employees so they can play the games and then recommend them to consumers or as in copies of games meant to be played in demo kiosks installed at stores. you never know what they were actually intended for :3

I honestly don't think anyone would care if you resell a game that's "Not for resale". I sold my Zelda Collector's Edition to Gamestop just fine. Nintendo's not really losing any money in that deal

Didn't know I was able to sell my Zelda Collector's Edition, other then eBay.
I know it a Collector's Edition game, and it still looks brand new but, there not really worth anything, since, your able to get it on VC, with out the Load time.

I wonder if I can still sell it now?