"What’s that you say? Evil used games are on the way? We’re on it!"
There are many ways to approach how the used game market is fast becoming the enemy of the developer/publisher. Truly though, it all boils down to money. More specifically, where are your hard earned dollars going to. Everything else is just flak and silliness.
Wait you say though, the used game market, what does that have to do with developers and publishers of games? If they have their way, a lot. You see, there a lot of dollars involved in the second hand market. Most of those dollars go to Gamestop and their ilk with their often annoying (at best) business practices. Developers and publishers see all of those dollars generated by their games and want to double dip. As a matter of fact, if you believe some of these guys, they want to a cut every single time you touch their game.
You know what I say to that? Fair enough. That’s right. More power to those power hungry, money grabbing, bastards. It’s the way of the land, of capitolism, and of business. Fine, that’s great. I can’t be happy enough for them that they found this whole new market as of yet untapped by them. That’s just awesome.
How are they going to get their dirty little grubbers into it though? They aren’t. They aren’t deciding to take the way of the auto manufactuerer and start selling things to go with the used cars (see toyota certification on used cars as a good example). Nope, that would take smarts and business sense. Instead, they are going to try to fuck you, the person that they want to buy their games. Yeah, that’s right, they have declared war on you:
Michael Capps: I’m not sure how big it is here [in Europe], but the secondary market is a huge issue in the United States. Our primary retailer makes the majority of its money off of secondary sales, and so you’re starting to see games taking proactive steps toward that by… if you buy the retail version you get the unlock code.
I’ve talked to some developers who are saying "If you want to fight the final boss you go online and pay USD 20, but if you bought the retail version you got it for free". We don’t make any money when someone rents it, and we don’t make any money when someone buys it used - way more than twice as many people played Gears than bought it…
[...]
Michael Capps: I’d hate to say my players are my enemies - that doesn’t make any sense!
No worries if you don’t know who Michael Capps is. He’s your basic idiot company president over at Epic and not many had heard of him until more recently when he started whining about how awful the used game market is. That’s his big claim to fame…you know, other than rolling in money as the president of Epic.
Epic isn’t alone though. They aren’t even really the driving force here. It’s EA, Microsoft, and others. The big boys of the game world. That’s actually some cause for concern. Well maybe not, what if it’s not that big of a deal, as many have claimed. What if this just a simple thing that people are getting too worked up about… Well, lets see what Tom Chick thinks:
But you might have missed the more notable bit from those comments. Without any segue or distinction, Capps conflates renting games with pirating them. He goes straight from "buying used games" to "PC games are dead because of piracy". Amazing.
As a gamers, we’ve lost so many of the battles with publishers. Multiplayer games with a single copy, thinner manuals, strategy guide sales, and copy protection all come to mind. I hate to see the used game market and rentals become another casualty of gamer apathy.
That whole post of his is spot on…but what does Chick know anyway, he’s just a game reviewer (maybe the single most known game reviewer in the industry, but anyway). What about Soren Johnsen? You remember him, the master of all things strategy (or least a really smart guy that works on AI and strategy games). Since he’s in that industry, maybe he sides with them? I think not:
Many factors come into play when a consumer decides if a specific game purchase is worth the money, and one of those factors is the perceived value from selling it back as a used game. In other words, people will pay more for a new game because they know they can get some of that money back when they trade it in at the local Gamestop. Importantly, this perceived value exists whether the consumer actually sells the game or keeps it. Wizards of the Coast has long admitted that the existence of the secondary market for Magic cards has long helped buoy the primary market because buyers perceive that the cards have monetary value.
Again, a great read. Go there, read the whole thing. He brings up a really good point. Value of a game. And that’s really the whole point of this article. The value of a game.
The real problem is that these publishers and developers have no long term vision.
That’s the trick that the idiots at Epic are forgetting and geniuses at Microsoft Games and EA are hoping you don’t realize with their new found war. They are actually devaluing games with their little tricks. Think about it.
If you’re looking at buying Gears of War 2, but aren’t sure if it’s going to great or worth the $60 you’re going to have to shell out for it, what factors into your decision? Worth of mouth for sure, reviews maybe, hype (i.e. - money spent on advertising) almost assuredly, but what about how much you can get for it if you decide to sell it used? Oh yeah. I know I bought GTA4 because I knew even if the game sucked (which it did, sadly enough) I could get $20-30 back for it. What if when considering GTA4 I knew that the game was mine forever or I could sell it for $5 used? That would definitely influence my decision and definitely convince me to buy less games. You can even see above, even Hasbro/WotC know that having a vibrant used market helps prop up the sales of new games.
If these jackasses have their way though, we won’t have a used game market at all anymore. You won’t be able to rent games, you won’t be able to buy cheaper games, you won’t be able to buy used games and you definitely won’t be able to sell games you don’t want anymore. What a bunch of idiots. I wonder if I’ve said it enough yet…idiots! IDIOTS!
Lets be serious for a moment and solve this problem
Ok, so publishers and developers see this big untapped market. What can they do about it? Well, how about digital distribution? I admit I don’t buy everything from Steam, but when it’s a Valve game, I do. Why? Because I trust those guys. They make games I like, the support the games long term, and they don’t dick me around. Worth every single penny. But…what if they sold them for less, as Soren suggests in article above? They’d be helping us out, the customer, and themselves (since they got almost all of that sale price then, instead of percentage they get at retail now).
What else though? Hmmm…what about making games that people want to buy new instead of games people feel they should rent or wait until they can buy it cheaper because the game just isn’t that good. Quality might be a damn good thing at this point.
How about long term support? Burnout Paradise? I didn’t sell it when I sold GTA4 and a couple of other games…because they keep releasing new stuff for it. How can I get rid of it when I’m just going to play it again soon?
So we’ve got, quality games that are worth buying at full retail price, digitial distribution (it’s also a threat to the used game market, but I only use it for things I know I won’t be selling in the future) and long term support. What about sticking it to the actual enemy (Gamestop) and make them either divy up some profits or pay more for games or any one of a hundred different things they could do? What about approaching this from a rational, well thought out point of view that involves working with the current markets and not fucking over customers?
Yeah, I know, I said rational and suggested Epic would have any idea what that means, my bad. The others though, maybe they can pull their heads out of their collective asses and see the light of day. Or maybe they’ll talk to their marketing guys and have branding and customer loyalty explained to them. Or maybe they can call up WotC (or any of the other industries that manage to not fight with their secondary markets) and find out how a good used market is good for them too.
Maybe they’ll even have an ephinony and start treating their customers like people…
What Would Matt Do: You know what I’ll do by this point, support those companies that treat me well. On a somewhat interesting and maybe insightful note, do we notice the solution to both the DRM/piracy matter and this one breaks down to treating people right? Weird, I know.
5 Comments
“Ok, so publishers and developers see this big untapped market. ”
Actually, more like a stolen market. Less people buying new games = less money made by the game industry = less return on investment = studio layoffs, downsizes, closures, and less games. Especially less innovative games, as less money means less taking chances.
Blame the industry if you want, but professionally marketed used games represent a dangerous downward spiral.
Matt, you hit the nail on the head with the ‘devalue’ comment. Why are games $50? Is there any sense to it? I would argue they are $50 because that is what we (the consumer) are used to, and what we are willing to pay.
I am willing to pay $50, one time, and hey, that should cover any initial AND ancilliary ‘profits’ for the company. They shouldn’t need second hand sales, that’s covered already.
Back to devalue, they can cripple the second hand market instantly. Sell their games for $25. That drops the used value to $5, and heck, hard to keep a store open on $5 sales. I would reckon the demand would increase significantly at $25 - you bought GTA for 50 knowing you could sell it for 25-30. Look at the magic difference there.
I do bet that they will push retailers for ‘royalties’ - IE - you sell my game used, I get X% of the sale, or you won’t get my new games. Or worse, threaten to make all their games online authenitcated with a one time keysweep giving that used game zero value.
Games are moving from commoddities to services, but what ’service’ are we paying for? And for the record, I buy 75% of my games through digital distribution. Saves me $10 a title.
Actually, more like a stolen market. Less people buying new games = less money made by the game industry
That assumes that everyone has the same price sensitivities, assumes that everyone who buys Fallout 3 from a guy on Craigslist would have - had the used market been rendered impossible - spent $60 on a retail copy. Absolutely untrue and ridiculous to expect. Everybody’s got their own “acceptable” price for a game they haven’t played yet. Mine happens to usually be somewhere south of $60, which explains why in the year I’ve owned my 360, I’ve bought 10 games, only 2 of them new (Mass Effect & Force Unleashed). Spending ~$450 got me 10 games, where the same $450 spent on new titles would have only got me 7 and change. The difference between new and used, for me, was essentially 2 free games.
Would my “acceptable” price point go down if the “new” retail price were magically made $50? Maybe - who’s to say?
Actually, more like a stolen market. Less people buying new games = less money made by the game industry = less return on investment = studio layoffs, downsizes, closures, and less games. Especially less innovative games, as less money means less taking chances.
I let this ride for awhile because I wanted to see what others thought… From my point of view, you’re being ridiculous. Used games != piracy nor theft. It just doesn’t make sense. Used games expand the video game market dramatically. Just because Gamestop has figured out how to game the system doesn’t mean the used games market is bad. It means as your biggest retailer, and hence really dependent on you guys, the developers, you need to talk to them about it. Quit punishing the end user because they don’t want to shell out $60 for a new game.
This is the same short sighted mentality that Epic, Microsoft and EA are taking. Listen to this… The video game market is BETTER and BIGGER because of used games. It’s a simple fact that the more you get people playing games, the more games they will be on a general basis.
So, continue to think the used game market is thievery if you want, but if you do, that leaves most of your potential market wondering if you guys even remember what it’s like to buy games….
Let’s not forget that the profit margins are so slim on new games (perhaps as low as $5 per title sold) that Gamestop might not be in business if they couldn’t make $25 per used copy. We know from retailers who shuttered their game business that unless you are Gamestop, your profits can be less than $1 per title.
Basically if the industry wants more money, then they have the power themselves to adjust their prices to the point where they sell the most copies. If they really didn’t like used game sales, they’d have done this already.