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

[Surfer]

On the one hand the EU ruling is good for consumer/buyer rights.

On the other hand itll just mean EA/Activisian/Ubisoft and their mums will be sitting round a table with all their lawyers figuring out a way round it.

Will probably involve the product not being sold to the consumer (yes i know EULAS say this already but eulas just got **** on by this EU ruling)

And will therefore avoid the implications of 2nd hand purchased product.

Its interesting... it used to be in the old days 1 physical product = 1 sale that you could pick up keep, it was yours and do as you wished with.

When you go to the cinema and watch a film in theory they could sell a billion tickets for people to watch the film. The potential is only limited by how many can watch it. What i mean is there is no LIMITED PRODUCT.

Its not a case of you selling something = losing something but gaining money in exchange. From the view of the consumer yes there is an exchange you pay money and you get entertained briefly so you get something out of it but what does the seller exchange or lose for the money you give them? true they spend millions making the film for people to enjoy. But the power balance is completely onesided imo.

The sale potential is kinda infinite And when you sell it - it loses no value as nothing is sold you keep all of that which creates the profit. You just sell permission to see the film nothing else - its win win win win.

And when you have milked the product enough you then turn it into another medium (bluray, dvd, videotape) and sell it again....and again (cd, games, other marketing toys etc)

Hrmmm you sell something but you dont sell it AND you get money for that which you SELL....sorry dont sell coz you still have it and "SELL" it countless times afterwards.


This is the model EA and Co. would like for digital games software (all software really)

We are the product really. We press buttons in our little boxes and food comes out one... a film comes out another....what do we gain? temporary satisfaction or entertainment i guess. Helpless to just bleat in disapproval or laugh and clap our hands at the next entertainment feast served to us...

keep us happy with endless entertainments COD40 Fifa28 etc etc and we keep quiet and remain suckling the teats of the system..

And so the cycle continues .....

 

[Martini1991]

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.

The cars are a different market, there's also a lot of differences, sweeping points like that don't really help anyone, or bring much to the discussion.
Do you buy as many cars as you do games a year?


Bearing in mind with the digital sales of PC there's NO differences between the new and "second hand" unlike every other market.

 

[Kutter]

gamestop, new game $60, preowned $55. ill be giving this a miss thankyou.

 

[ZombieFan]

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.

Diamonds.

I think people are overreaching to this. We have been free to sell non downloadable games until about 5 years ago and the market coped fine. In fact, the PC went through a golden age of gaming in the later part of the 90s when people were free to resell or give away games.

There is a presumption that people will want to sell their games after they have bought them. This might apply to games which are not that good, but I'm not reselling my copy of minecraft to anyone! There are a lot of COD and Fifa players who feel the same. PC gamers do like to wave their large Steam list around

People will also still want the game on day 1 and won't be willing to wait a few weeks before second hand copies are available. The popularly of pre-orders proves this. It might even force game designers to make games longer to prevent them from being sold on too early.

 

[Shamikebab]

It might even force game designers to make games longer to prevent them from being sold on too early.

And this is the worrying part. That attitude is terrible. Short does not equal poor. Limbo was a perfectly paced 5-7 hour game, if they had to pad it out to 20 hours it would have been a disaster. Far Cry 2 was a 6-8 hour game padded out to 40 or so by making you travel ridiculous distances for every mission. If that is what we'll have to see from single player games from now on...

 

[deuse]

Good news.

 

[Omaeka]

will it kill it like it killed console gaming , the movie industry and the recording industry ?

Movies have premiers and cinema sales, thats where they make the bulk of their money, if a film flops the cinema, yet breaks even through retail (has never happened), it is still considered a loss.

Music have tours, ticket sales and extremely cheap digital distribution, with no way to preown your songs via iTunes etc.

Consoles have accessibility, and little to no pirating, they have the safety net to absorb preownership.

Their physical, old fashioned retail side has taken a battering though.

Now, tell us what PC video games have that compare to those. Nothing, just cold, hard sales. Their safety net has been molested by pirating, this'll just be the final nail in the coffin. Expect to see a ton of games missing our platform, but that is what you all want anyway.

 

[Antar Bolaeisk]

So.... does this mean I can sell my hats in TF2?

I think this is a bad move and will only encourage game producers to move towards other systems such as Free to Pay, other always online gaming as a service systems or even away from the PC as a platform and certainly away from single player experiences.

Ultimately it'll be we the consumer who will most likely suffer despite how much we may cheer at this victory over the evil of publishing companies.

 

[Evilsod]

Diamonds.

I think people are overreaching to this. We have been free to sell non downloadable games until about 5 years ago and the market coped fine. In fact, the PC went through a golden age of gaming in the later part of the 90s when people were free to resell or give away games.

There is a presumption that people will want to sell their games after they have bought them. This might apply to games which are not that good, but I'm not reselling my copy of minecraft to anyone! There are a lot of COD and Fifa players who feel the same. PC gamers do like to wave their large Steam list around

People will also still want the game on day 1 and won't be willing to wait a few weeks before second hand copies are available. The popularly of pre-orders proves this. It might even force game designers to make games longer to prevent them from being sold on too early.

How is it an overreaction? Publishers have been pressing towards eliminating second hand sales for a while now. Just look at the console second hand market and the way several publishers brought in 'New Copy DLC' that requires you to buy another code just to allow you access to part of the game so the publisher still gets a cut.

Your belief that it might make games devs make longer games is nothing short of being totally naive. If you honestly believe the likes of Activision or EA are going to allow more time and money for game development on the off-chance people won't resell there copies sooner you are living in cloud cuckoo land. What they would rather do is spend that time figuring out how to get money from second hand sales by restricting content and the like.

 

[kedge]

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.

Personally i haven't used greenman gaming but it doesn't sound right, it's really not such a good system if the key is unique and can only be activated once and only on one account like uplay, rockstar social club, steam, origin, how is it possible to trade in an old key that has been activated already?.

 

[kedge]

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.

Who cares about the video game publishers profits?, i know i wouldn't, people want to pay less not more, or at least want a better deal, especially when you take into consideration the amount of rubbish and poor content the video game industry pump out on the windows platform, imho.

 

[Evilsod]

Who cares about the video game publishers profits?, i know i wouldn't, people want to pay less not more, or at least want a better deal, especially when you take into consideration the amount of rubbish and poor content the video game industry pump out on the windows platform, imho.

We don't have to care about them but you can't ignore them. A lot of people on the forums would be happy if EA, Activision and Ubisoft crashed and burned but its never going to happen. If they start losing money on games, they stop funding anything but 'sure things'. Anything that is remotely risky like new IPs or different genre's will be passed over so they can fund another CoD, or Fifa or Assassin's Creed. Or they start cutting corners or releasing more content as DLC.

 

[G J]

All Gamestop is going to do is sell the used digital game within £5 of a new boxed game so the hope of cheep used games is going to be short lived anyway.

Also this is going to encourage more of the release of poor quaility unfinished beta/broken games with missing content only for the patches/content to be dragged out as long as possible so the person who bought it new keeps it as long as possible.

 

[Nemeses]

Not going to work is it GFWL/Steam/Origin all forbid selling the account few notable games do not use these services.

Publishers/Developers are not going to let this happen they will put more DLC in & or withold game content for registered accounts only there are many way they can stop this altogether.

You wrong the EU courts will go after them now non stop if they try that, and I still do not see this as a bad thing.

 

[Simi]

We don't have to care about them but you can't ignore them. A lot of people on the forums would be happy if EA, Activision and Ubisoft crashed and burned but its never going to happen. If they start losing money on games, they stop funding anything but 'sure things'. Anything that is remotely risky like new IPs or different genre's will be passed over so they can fund another CoD, or Fifa or Assassin's Creed. Or they start cutting corners or releasing more content as DLC.

This is a big concern of mine, too. It seemed like they (producers) were moving to digital distribution to at least make up some of the losses from second hand sales (in the console gaming market too) and now the rug has been pulled from beneath them and I totally agree with Evilsod that this could mean that original and new IP's will be passed over in favour of 'sure things' and even more DLC than we're already being drowned in.
If I was in charge of a games company and my bottom line was being hit badly then there's no choice but to only green light (already) big titles, it's business 101 and they are a business first and foremost.
As a consumer, this could mean I save a few quid ( ) but it could also be the deathknell of originality and inspiring new IP's ( ).

 

[edscdk]

With all the cheap games though, to want to sell your digital games on to others is dirty. Its worse than pirating, much worse.

so when you have finished with your house / car you will burm them because it hurts the builders / manafacturers if you resell them? infact I assume you burn everything you own once you have finished with it...

 

[Simi]

so when you have finished with your house / car you will burm them because it hurts the builders / manafacturers if you resell them? infact I assume you burn everything you own once you have finished with it...

I even sell my underwear when I've got too many blowholes in the back. Would hate for underwear makers to lose out on sales.

 

[Omaeka]

so when you have finished with your house / car you will burm them because it hurts the builders / manafacturers if you resell them? infact I assume you burn everything you own once you have finished with it...

Bit different comparing a game to a bloody car or a house in that respect, a game sets you back very little, especially with the sales.

People who are pro-preownership are so spoilt. Replies like that confirm this, grow up.

 

[edscdk]

Bit different comparing a game to a bloody car or a house in that respect, a game sets you back very little, especially with the sales.

People who are pro-preownership are so spoilt. Replies like that confirm this, grow up.

so it should only be ilegal to sell cheap items... so car boot sales sare morally wrong? think of all the lsot revenue to the government and business...

 

[Omaeka]

so it should only be ilegal to sell cheap items... so car boot sales sare morally wrong? think of all the lsot revenue to the government and business...

Can't remember the last time I went to a carboot sale with a particular item in mind, well I do; Pokémon cards, hardly the same thing, though. That was also about 10 years ago.

Cheap item sales are fine, the thing people don't seem to understand is that you don't own the intellectual property of anything you buy, so the premise of selling it on without giving a cut to whoever created it should be ilegal, yes.

The only reason courts and governments allow it, is because it frees up money that people will spend on other things, increasing the tax revenue, fact.

To think governments want what is morally righteous on the part of the consumer is bloody naive.