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We're dipping into symantecs and consumer personalities, but when you say people think $60 is too expensive for a game, then what are they doing in a video game store looking at new 360/PS3 releases?
You can tell me that it's right, legal, and good for consumers until you're blue in the face, but equating to piracy or not, there's no way it's good for the industry as a whole."
Either that, or we're going to see an increase of studios that release digitally (which again, it looks like Double Fine is doing), since those can't be re-sold."
There's plenty of room for a healthy second hand market that doesn't discourage new sales, and I'm all for that. The problem is that the way the industry works now, GameStop knowingly and eagerly canabilizes new sales, and that's only going to get worse as stores like Best Buy and Target get in to the action.
I'm not sure how I'd fix it, but I'd be tempted to put a moratorium on all used sales that lasts two weeks after release, or something."
What are these 'support costs' people keep referencing? I've been assuming people are talking about calls/emails from game owners who have problems with their games, but is there really enough people who need to make use of that to include it in an anecdotal single purchase? I've seen people on both sides reference this and having worked in software support I just can't imagine it really factors in that much.
@Alejandro How does it affect people?
I have no actual industry information about this, I'm just making assumtions based on my personal previous purchaing experiences for the sake of an example.
Let's assume that I run a game company and we just released a retail $60 game. You come in to GameStop and want to buy our game, and the GameStop clerk says 'I have a used copy of this game in stock for only $55, plus if you use this card you can get it for $50. You'd be hard pressed to not take the $10 discount, so you do that. As far as you're concerned it's not a big deal because you went through legal venues and aquired the game you wanted, and you even got a deal, too.
Except I lost out on profit. You have a full copy of my game, and I didn't make any profit because of it. Therefore, as far as my accounting bottomline is concerned, you may as well have pirated it. This isn't your fault, I place the blame on GameStop, though however the means, the end result is the same.
Yes, in order for someone to buy a used game a new one must have been sold initially. However, in the act of you saving $10, I got cut out of the exchange entirely. GameStop however, managed to make triple or even better than they would have their cut, which is why they push the used copies so much.
This doesn't sound like that much, but what if 20% of the copies sold in your first week are used copies? Maybe next week it'll grow to 40%. That is going to add up. This is why we see things like EA's Project Ten Dollar and other pack-in single-use bonuses. These immediate used sales really take a bite out of a developer's bottom line. You can't just tell me to 'make a better game' because I can promise you that I will be able to find a used copy of Halo Reach within the first week of its release. I bet I could get one within 48 hours.
Now, yes maybe $50 is your breaking point and that's why you didn't buy it new. However, that doesn't really change the discussion, because if I had released my game for $50, GameStop would counter with $45. And when you go to buy it, you'll be able to walk away from the deal having only spent $40. As a Developer, GameStop is always going to be undercutting you to increase their profits.
Not to mention, game development studios invest in games. They spend a lot of money making/marketing/etc hoping to make a good chunk (preferably more than 100%) of that back once it's released. Used copies of games selling so early take a large bite out of their returns.
You can't assume that every one who buys a used copy of a game is going to buy DLC either, that's just shallow. Not every game even has DLC for the developer to recoup the lost profit of the used sale, and not everyone who buys your game even has their console hooked up online, and they couldn't buy DLC even if they wanted to."
Again, when we're talking $20 vs $40, or $40 vs $60 it's a whole different discussion.
Let me also clarify that I'm not insinuating that people who buy the used copy for $54 are pirates, far from it. I take just as many tiny discounts as anyone else. I think Tycho's point (and this is what I agree with) is that GameStop leverages this market to maximize their gain, and Joe Consumer doesn't understand what's really going on here, and how it affects people down the line when they pay the $54 vs $59."
Your point about 'Bob not being able to afford/justify buying the game new' only holds water when the difference in price between new/used is significant. However, I'd wager that developers feel the sting of the used market most is when the game is recently released, where GameStop undercuts and VERY actively pushes to sell used copies at a mere $5 (and sometimes even less) discount. Not being able to justify buying a new copy over used copy can't be a legitamate point when it's $60 new or $55 used. I just don't believe it.
Sure, in two weeks on some titles it'll be $60 new, $40 used, and there I can see people who didn't want to pay $60 picking up a used copy, but by and large that big of a price disparity on a quality title doesn't happen as quickly, and GameStop is pretty damn vigilant about making sure every single person who wants to buy a new copy knows they can get a used one slightly cheaper, and that's a new sale lost."
Great puzzler!"
I much prefer shows like RebelFM where the hosts feel genuine. You feel like they are real people and do it because they want to. I don't always agree with those guys but I respect that they are personable on the show.
GameSpy debriefings are great too, but while I started off loving Scott Bromley I'm beginning to see the formula to his humor and he's quickly growing old.
Finally, I'm SHOCKED A Life Well Wasted doesn't at least get honorable mention. It's not very frequent, but it's easily one of the best shows out there. Not to be missed."
Further, 360s by default will shut down after 6 hours of inactivity. I know when I was a kid I'd leave my SNES on for DAYS if I had to stop playing in a situation that prevented a save. I'm sure the SNES's power usage is gold-star worthy in comparison, though.
However, that Viva Pinata example is spot-on. As an admitted achievement whore, that one caused me some issues. It was the final achievement I earned, and I left my system on overnight to get it. Twice. The first attempt was when I learned both that the 360 has an auto-off feature, and that I somehow played most of the creator's intent of the game while still coming more than 6 hours shy of that final achievement."