and so it begins - GameStop Wants to Sell Used Digital Games

The second hand market has not destroyed any other field, why should software or games be treated any different?. The devs get the money from the first sale, after that they should not get anything. This is how it has always worked. They have been brainwashing people for the last 5+ year into thinking second hand games will destroy the world. By locking games to GFW or steam or whatever they are taking away your right to sell the item you have paid for when you no longer want it. I buy all my games retail and I would normally give them away to friends/family when I was done but now I can not even do this. I am glad the EU is trying to do something.
 
The second hand market has not destroyed any other field, why should software or games be treated any different?. The devs get the money from the first sale, after that they should not get anything. This is how it has always worked. They have been brainwashing people for the last 5+ year into thinking second hand games will destroy the world. By locking games to GFW or steam or whatever they are taking away your right to sell the item you have paid for when you no longer want it. I buy all my games retail and I would normally give them away to friends/family when I was done but now I can not even do this. I am glad the EU is trying to do something.

True, I'm not sure whether it was those huge, ridiculous game sales, or general lower price of titles, that really screwed the consumer over, I'm glad we finally have something that can benefit us! :D
 
Would you trust a car manufacturer/salesman who said that buying second hand will ruin the car industry because there will be a massive fall in (new) sales?
 
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So, soon I will be able to sell the hundreds of digitally bought games I've never really played and make a few quid back, excellent.

However, now that the consumer actually has some rights people don't want this too happen ? :eek: ?

madness !!!
 
The other industries are fairly different.
Given how PC gaming is pretty horrific with piracy now giving up rubbish console ports, the last thing we want is more lost sales.

Does any other industry have a second hand item that's no different to a brand new one (I'm speaking digital here)

No they don't.

You can't sell music you've bought on itunes can you? I'm guessing that will change as it's similar to this, again a digital album second hand will be no different to the first hand owner.

You buy/rent a movie online, you can't sell that digital copy can you? Hell, you even lose that digital copy after x amount of days (Surely this must now change too)

With the digital age things are changing.

So, soon I will be able to sell the hundreds of digitally bought games I've never really played and make a few quid back, excellent.

However, now that the consumer actually has some rights people don't want this too happen ? :eek: ?

madness !!!

I agree with rights, but not in the form of selling our digital versions of games.

Every game should have a demo (That should be enforceable) that right would allow make to be an educated choice when buying a game.
 
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So, soon I will be able to sell the hundreds of digitally bought games I've never really played and make a few quid back, excellent.

However, now that the consumer actually has some rights people don't want this too happen ? :eek: ?

madness !!!

I think people are more concerned about mass selling of 'pre-owned' by places like Gamestop rather than you or me selling on a few games you don't like/have completed.
 
does it matter if there is no difference between a new digital copy and a used one? I don't think so. For used games (unless the game is obsolete/awful) demand will always outstrip supply.

I think for everything you buy, you should be able to sell, I see no good reason why not.
 
All this talk of how big companies are making less games because less money is in the gaming industry due to sales is pretty retarded. Think of your favourite games, the first Diablo, Final Fantasy 7, the first Metal Gears and Metal Gear Solid. (Just a few, but tell me how many good games are released today compared to 10 years ago?) Back when those games were out, gaming most certainly wasn't mainstream, the gaming industry had less money.

Gaming companies are making less, and worse games, because they are looking at profit margins, nothing else, so why shouldn't I be able to look at mine?
 
mushroomsoup;22466161[B said:
]does it matter if there is no difference between a new digital copy and a used one?[/B] I don't think so. For used games (unless the game is obsolete/awful) demand will always outstrip supply.

I think everything you buy, you should be able to sell, I see no good reason why not.

Yes, thinking there isn't is ridiculously short sighted.
Why buy a game brand new, when you're likely able to pick it up second hand, cheaper, and exact same condition as brand new? And that's a lost sale.
 
As far as I know, Greenman gaming do a system where you can trade in your old key's if you bought it from them in the first place (obviously if it hasnt' been used on steam).

Pretty good system imo.
 
All this talk of how big companies are making less games because less money is in the gaming industry due to sales is pretty retarded. Think of your favourite games, the first Diablo, Final Fantasy 7, the first Metal Gears and Metal Gear Solid. (Just a few, but tell me how many good games are released today compared to 10 years ago?) Back when those games were out, gaming most certainly wasn't mainstream, the gaming industry had less money.

Gaming companies are making less, and worse games, because they are looking at profit margins, nothing else, so why shouldn't I be able to look at mine?

Not mainstream? Everyone and their dog had a PS1 and/or N64 when they came out. Not to mention the fact that over 110 million SNES and NES units have been sold worldwide. Hell, there were over 6 million Atari 2600s in American homes alone in the early 80s.

The fact that there had been 6 (Yes SIX) Final Fantasies before Final Fantasy 7 should indicate enough that there has been plenty of money in the gaming industry for years. Higher costs of development and increased expectations are also a key factor in why modern games aren't looked at as highly as older games. Looking back at FF7, it isn't really that good of a game when compared to other games that came before it.
 
i see more games using steam from now on tbh, this ruling is stupid really, sounds amazing but will have nasty side effects.
I will not be weeping at more games using steam however :p

I only say this as steam etc use subscriber agreements instead of proper ownership. If this is still covered aw the legislation then just skip this!
 
Maybe it was a local thing. But in my school, there was maybe 4 or 5 of us that had consoles in the late SNES early PS1 era, towards the mini PS or whatever it was and early PS2 era it was most certainly more popular, but nothing like it is these days. Even between my year and my brother's year the difference was massive, all of his mates played on 360s etc. Suggesting it wasn't mainstream was possibly too strong, but it wasn't as big as it is currently. And even if you want to say that sales of games (Which is far more relevant than sales of consoles, my point here being, while people may have had these consoles, I can imagine they didn't play them as much or buy quite as many games) has stayed static, I don't think the big console sellers like FIFA and CoD progress at all from game to game, they just throw a few more modes in and a few new maps. That's hardly big spending on their part.

I wasn't comparing FF7 to predecessors, I was comparing it to current games. Apart from the likes of Skyrim, I can't say there are many really good story driven games anymore, I do understand that the games of my youth are viewed through rose tinted glasses and probably aren't quite as good as I remember. But Resident Evil 1, compared to Resident Evil 5? The original CoD compared to whatever rehash is currently out?
 
Businesses that deal in second hand games are nothing but a parasite on the back of the gaming industry as a whole, sucking money out of the industry whilst providing no added value whatsoever.

Being able to sell second hand digital games between private individuals - ok, I think it will have a negative impact still but nothing horrendous. Businesses getting involved to exploit it for a profit will have a catastrophic effect on the industry though as less and less people buy new games because the same product is available cheaper.

I think someone needs to seriously look at some sort of buy back scheme to try and keep the money within the developers/publishers, rather than being siphoned off by retailers. Sell a game for £30, offer £25 buy back (or credit?) after a X weeks and sell again for £30, thereby limiting the potential for retailers to undercut because people won't sell to them for less than £25 in the first place. Big stumbling block being it effectively massively reduces your profits on the 'first' sales.
 
Businesses that deal in second hand games are nothing but a parasite on the back of the gaming industry as a whole, sucking money out of the industry whilst providing no added value whatsoever.

Being able to sell second hand digital games between private individuals - ok, I think it will have a negative impact still but nothing horrendous. Businesses getting involved to exploit it for a profit will have a catastrophic effect on the industry though as less and less people buy new games because the same product is available cheaper.

I think someone needs to seriously look at some sort of buy back scheme to try and keep the money within the developers/publishers, rather than being siphoned off by retailers. Sell a game for £30, offer £25 buy back (or credit?) after a X weeks and sell again for £30, thereby limiting the potential for retailers to undercut because people won't sell to them for less than £25 in the first place. Big stumbling block being it effectively massively reduces your profits on the 'first' sales.

Still limits profits in general even on the second sales, as they could have sold 2 separate copies.
 
Still limits profits in general even on the second sales, as they could have sold 2 separate copies.

As far as I see it though, the only real alternative is to provide a market to allow direct person to person reselling, possibly taking a small cut, otherwise you're just left with letting the third party retailers suck the lifeblood out of the industry.

At least limited profits in the developers pocket are better than half the profits going to a retailer who are doing nothing more than exchanging a string of text across the internet. Without the buy back idea the developer has no 'second sale' to make at all, it will be done by someone like Gamestop.
 
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As far as I know, Greenman gaming do a system where you can trade in your old key's if you bought it from them in the first place (obviously if it hasnt' been used on steam).

Pretty good system imo.

I was thinking this when i came into the thread.
 
I find this "second-hand sales are a lost sale" talk interesting. I bought my car second hand. Does this mean this shouldn't be allowed because it is a "lost sale" to Ford? Shouldn't we be allowed to trade things people have paid money for? In any case, games devalue as they become older anyway and after a year most sales have been made.
 
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