Ethics of trade-in/second hand

Cars and homes are a different market all together and would be unsustainable without second hand sales.

Isn't displaying of second of hand bluray / dvd next to brand new ones banned in this country? Hence why you don't see HMV and the like placing watched once copies of the latest blockbuster at RRP -£1 right next to new ones. I'm pretty sure there was lobbying to get this extended to games.


Uhh they just have a different stand for the preowned stuff.

Dont like the idea of not being able to share or sell offline games if i wanted (means i dont own the game the publisher still owns it...he just lends it to me i guess)

I'd be more willing to swallow a system that means that all new games within 4 months are not eligible for being traded in/sold etc.

This would guarantee income for publishers/developers and yet still allow consumers to trade in games they no longer want. The exact cutoff date to be determined. Everyone knows theres a fall-off in games sold after X amount of time. Its not worth full retail price after a certain amount of months.

Currently it can be the case that gamer A buys a £40 game completes it within a week then trades it in. This scheme i guess would put paid to the end of that. not sure if thats good or not. But u reckon £40 is a good deal for a weeks worth of entertainment? e.g. if game is only around 8 hours long.
 
Uhh they just have a different stand for the preowned stuff.

I'm not sure how that's contrary to my statement?

I didn't say they were banned from selling second hand. They're not supposed to promote second hand films right next to the new copy. game do this in abundance, and go as far as having the staff offer you a second hand copy every time you try to buy a new one.

Advertising and sales technique go a long way, game wouldn't sell nearly as many games second hand without their forceful tactics. Why should we have one regulation for films and music and a different one for games?
 
Last edited:
I tell you what is unethical, developers charging you for content because you didn't buy it first hand. Mass Effect 2 blocks off two whole characters if you didn't get it first hand for example. That is utterly ridiculous.
 
it's swings and roundabouts, i doubt it makes any difference tbh, as if there was no 2nd hand market, i doubt many more games would be sold.

I would imagine if anything, less games would be sold, as it would in effect be significantly raising the prices of all games. E.g. buy a new game for £40, trade in for £20 - the game has only really cost you £20, I think people would be far more hesitant to pay full price for games if they cost twice as much! :(
 
sigh

didn't we have this a few weeks ago

no one gets a cut form second hand anything, if I buy a second hand Ford do you think they get a cut, no and they don't whinge about it like games developers do
 
But the car market is completely different.

Why do people keep using this rubbish analogy.

Ok. How about the second hand book market?

You don't hear Homer moaning about how great great grandad handed his copy of The Illiad down through generations while he never got a cut from it?

In fact there are whole government run buildings dedicated to this kind of behaviour! SHOCKING! :mad:
 
But the car market is completely different.

Why do people keep using this rubbish analogy.

+1. It's a retarded argument that doesn't add anything.

Ok. How about the second hand book market?

If I pop into Waterstone's I wouldn't expect them to pester me into buying second hand.

I don't have a problem with second hand sales per-se. I have a big problem with Game's forceful second hand promoting sales tactic designed to direct as much sales profit as possible from developers to themselves though.
 
+1. It's a retarded argument that doesn't add anything.



If I pop into Waterstone's I wouldn't expect them to pester me into buying second hand.

I don't have a problem with second hand sales per-se. I have a big problem with Game's forceful second hand promoting sales tactic designed to direct as much sales profit as possible from developers to themselves though.

you can normally buy online for cheaper than 2nd hand in game, only fools go into game to actually buy a game these days, they are so ridiculously overpriced.

if you want 2nd hand members market or auction is always the way to go.
 
What a flawed argument. You ignore the repeat sales of second hand games.

Then the person who sold the second hand game would have more to spend on new games... or alternatively purchase more second hand games from purchasers of new games, giving the latter more funds to buy new games. The money always flows up the chain.

You assume that 100% of money spent on trade in gets spent on new games... Not the smartest when it comes to scenarios I guess? ;)

And game devs (and apparently you) assume that people who buy second hand games would happily suddenly start spending more on new games, not the smartest yourself it seems ;)
 
Then the person who sold the second hand game would have more to spend on new games... or alternatively purchase more second hand games from purchasers of new games, giving the latter more funds to buy new games. The money always flows up the chain.

Only if they spend their trade in money on games ;)
 
And game devs (and apparently you) assume that people who buy second hand games would happily suddenly start spending more on new games, not the smartest yourself it seems ;)

Where have I stated that assumption even remotely? :confused: Stop jumping to conclusions. :rolleyes:

You keep saying that people that trade their games in will buy more games with that money? Why can't the spend it on films, or food or anything other than a new game?

So if pre-owned game sales were limited to certain shops who didn't sell the same item new (e.g. CeX) then it wouldn't be a problem?

I've no problem with them selling second hand, but I think they should be restricted to the same regulations as films and music. Promoting second hand sales right next to new, and getting staff members to force it down your throat.

you can normally buy online for cheaper than 2nd hand in game, only fools go into game to actually buy a game these days, they are so ridiculously overpriced.

I agree completely.
 
Last edited:
Only if they spend their trade in money on games ;)

Then you could equally assume that the people who purchase new games would purchase less should they not be able to resell their game, as they lose the income from the second hand game sales, giving them less disposable income.
 
My friend owns and runs an independant games shop and its only the 2nd hand market that keeps him in business.

The supermarkets often sell games at BELOW cost just to get people to shop there, its insane and if something is not done soon you can kiss goodbye to highstreet games shops. The only place you will be able to buy is online or in supermarkets. Of course some people dont care but i for one will be sad to see the end of games shops.

The funny thing is just how little profit shops actually make from NEW games... people used to say to him comment like "wow bet you made a killing on BF3" etc etc... when in actual fact he was making about £2 per game! A local supermarket was selling it for nearly £7 less than my friend could BUY it for from his official UK supplier!
 
I don't really buy second hand games, but I rent almost all of my console games, so if that was threatened by this any second-hand stuff then I'd be fed up.

I kinda of dislike how these things work already. I bought BF3 for £45 when it was released, redeemed the codes to play it online, realised after a couple of days that it wasn't for me, but couldn't return it because of the used codes.

In reality, I don't care about the economics of video games sales. There are 2 or 3 titles a year that I will go out and buy on release date without regret, but for most other games I wouldn't be happy to shell out £45 for. I recently rented Space Marine and played through it in 8 or so hours and considered it to be pretty average. There's no way I'd have paid full RRP for it though.
 
But the car market is completely different.

Why do people keep using this rubbish analogy.

why is it rubbish, take second hand anything, CD's, DVD's etc, do the studio get a cut from the guy at the car booty, no,

games are no different from any other item you can buy/sell second hand, why should they be
 
Back
Top Bottom