Game developer: Pre-owned games are worse than piracy

Wow, I'm not getting this one at all. Implying that the buying and selling of pre-owned games is "worse than piracy" is akin to saying this is an illegal activity. It also ignores the basic principles of supply and demand. If your title is only worth $40 used and you are trying to get $60 new, then you, the publisher, are simply charging too high a price for the benefit of a limited warranty that protects the user against, say, a cracked disc, or one-time-use codes that let the new owner do something the used owner can't. It's selling a physical product with protected code that lets one owner at a time play it.

I don't hear the furniture industry crying out that the sale of used couches at flea markets, garage sales, and second-hand stores is killing them.

The auto industry has never banned the sale of used cars, but, again, when one buys a used car for less than the cost of a new one, one also gives up a good deal of warranty and hand-holding that the new-car buyer received.

Now, granted, I'm a naive PS3 owner, but I sure have never seen anyone selling any product that lets me crack a PS3 DVD game and make free copies of it to sell to my friends for $5 each. We've also sold old titles bought at full price new, at an expected loss to buy other titles. So what? If the game publishers want to sell only new games, then match or undercut the used titles' pricing. Anyone with half a brain will pay the same or a small amount more for something new at almost the same price.

The entertainment industry is the only one I know of that wants to sell something and still have it. If that's the case, then fine, let's make it fair - I bought a copy of Superman on VHS decades ago. If the majority of my money was paid for licensing a single-use copy and a small amount for the physical medium, then how could I sell it to buy a laser disc, then sell a laser disc to buy a DVD and finally sell the DVD to buy a Blu-Ray of it? I did not see the studios trying to help me out there by making it cheap for me to upgrade what was essentially a single-unlimited-use license of their intellectual property. But if so, then the studio ought to offer me a near-zero-cost trade up program, say $1-$2 of media cost per trade up, at most, so that I can keep seeing the movie I never really completely owned (just a license to watch it as much as I want on one player at one time) in the most state of the art manner possible.

The entertainment industry wants it one way - theirs. And they want you to pay top dollar for minimal product. Gosh, maybe that's why people find piracy so attractive after all...

hello ...

used game can't really hurt the industry because:

1 - most hardcore gamers would pre-order & keep their copy
2 - some less sure would rent or play a demo then buy a game new
3 - the one selling a second hand game would certainly go buy a new game, otherwise would wait far longer
4 - the one buying one second hand game may become a fan of a franchise & pre-order future releases

So piracy may hurt any industry, assuming the 1 owning illegally something was going to buy that item in the first place, 2nd hand purchase looks more like a "manque a gagner" so to all developers & publishers, do your job right & stop going after our hard earn money.

cheers!

Its painful seeing all you people over seas whining about how much a game costs over there... On release date a game down here in Australia is anywhere from $80 up. and you are all whining about 40 pounds. Gaming is incredibly expensive over here and pre-owned games are the only way many people are able to continue gaming.

You have to take exchange rates into account there. Well not when it comes to Americans because they actually pay less than the UK (Average game being $49.99-£59.99 which is about £29.99-£34.99)

well, i'd just like to say that the cost of some games, because it just seems like they are priced as console games and not quantity games, just doesn't justify the price. I mean seriously when a game developer charges $40 for a game like Nier or Skate3 when they've released the same content, on the same engine, with the same graphic's as their previous game is totally unjustified. That kind of a game i'd buy pre-owened. I feel its on the company to make high quality games so people will be inspired to own their own copy. Because game purchase is completely based on pride. If a game is really good your gonna be proud to own a copy. These days kids can just download games by torrent and burn them to disk within 5hrs of the games release. I have both consoles and my xbox360 is hacked due to microsoft's useless customer care and repair service, but i still got my final fantasy 13 on my ps3. Why because i love the franchise, i love square soft, i know they make good games, so i wasn't worried or troubled shelling out $75 buying it. Which is how much it bloody cost here in Kenya and when i can find a copy of heavy rain i will buy it full retail. Because i'd be proud to own these games.

So that's that then. Motion carried virtually unanimously. Andrew Oliver is a ****.

This is just crazy. Ok, first games, then movies, music, cars, houses, t.v..... If i buy a new t.v and then sell it a few years later, should Sony get a little of the money for the t.v? Should Ford get some of the money for my old car i sell. If i build you a house and you sell it, are you going to give me some more money? This is just crazy. Wake up people. If they keep pushing, homebrew will be the way to go and everyone wins. happy gaming.

what is the big deal with buying pre owned games. trading old or used stuff have been done for ages. - we trade our old cars, furnitures, appliances, jewelries and no one dare mind The point is when we buy especially expensive things we ought to get our hard earned money's worth.

like how it was broken down. you'll buy new, used and pay a fee or pirate it. i plead the 5th on my chosen methods. the cut and dry of it is people are going to do what they want regardless. ea had better hope it doesn't affect their sales to much while they are trying to make more money. if they sell 2 million copies, and a few get traded around, it's still 2 million people using the ea games and servers. whether or not the game was used when who ever gets, it shouldn't matter. the previous own payed for the full use and when it's passed down the line, the new owner should have the use also. think about this one people. if you buy a used car, would you like to pay a dealership/company to activate the engine/tranny? no when you buy it, you expect it all. well i do unless something is broken when i get it. i think it might help to lower prices.... joking of course. they are just as greedy and the next guy and more money is more money right/wrong doesn't matter. lastly, you give people enough time they'll figure out ways around it. i say, let your wallet do the talking.

i can understand the companys don't want lose money but they must remember who are there biggest consu mer gamers of the age of 10(or younger) to 30something (or older) not everybody has cash to buy every game they want.so if i can buy it later for cheaper......man it is my f........ money!!!!!

One thing most people will side with is the fact that most "online" games qon't be sold. Most second-hand stores don't allow trade-ins of games that allow online play as CD keys, passcodes, registration, ect. of the product is limited to one person (while CD keys are not, they're easy to keep by the previous owner making it useless to the new owner as they don't have exclusive rights to it). This may effect more console based games that are just plug and play such as Madden, but it won't have any effect on an actual online game.

Those who buy used games typically will buy single player games used.