Ready at Dawn Lead Developer Says Gamestop “Exploits Developers”

"Something needs to be done."

Posted By | On 22nd, Jul. 2013

Ready-At-Dawn

Gamestop hasn’t exactly made itself a whole lot of fans. The video game retail giant, the last standing dedicated video games speciality retailer in a recessive economy marked with scaledowns and bankruptcies, seems to draw the ire of the gaming media and consumers alike, thanks to what are perceived as its exploitative policies. Today, it seems that this displeasure with Gamestop has extended to the development industry as well.

Ru Weerasuriya, the head honcho of Ready at Dawn, doesn’t seem to be too fond of the video game retail giant. Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, he talked about how the Gamestop used games business is unhealthy not just for consumers, but for developers as well. “I walked into a GameStop, asked for a new copy of a game and without telling me he tried to slip me a used copy and wanted to sell it to me for $5 less. I flipped out in front of the guy. I was like, ‘Dude, wrong guy… You’re doing this to the wrong guy.’ I don’t think people realize, and the guy was trying to justify it to me. I was like, ‘You have no idea.’ There are developers out there who are making games for years and some of them will go down purely because the revenue stream is basically flawed and creating this place where developers don’t see even a little part of it,” he said.

The argument sounds suspiciously like the arguments that are used to justify console DRM; in the wake of the recent Xbox One fiasco, these arguments should be familiar to everyone in some capacity. Weerasuriya is quick to point out, however, that he does not believe that penalizing the consumers is the way to fix this problem.

“I don’t think we should stop used games, but we should do something about getting part of the revenue back from GameStop and places like that. That’s not penalizing the consumers; they’ll still get what they want. But I don’t know who’s going to address it.”

The full article is illuminating, and it talks about multiple issues in addition to this one, including the escalating costs of games for consumers, so be sure to check it out.


Tagged With: ,

Amazing Articles You Might Want To Check Out!

Share Your Thoughts Below  (Always follow our comments policy!)



Keep On Reading!

15 Things You Shouldn’t Avoid in Dragon’s Dogma 2

15 Things You Shouldn’t Avoid in Dragon’s Dogma 2

Make life in Dragon's Dogma 2's harsh world easier for yourself by paying attention to these 15 things.

12 Things to Do in Dragon’s Dogma 2 After Completing the Game

12 Things to Do in Dragon’s Dogma 2 After Completing the Game

There's plenty of reasons to keep playing even after you've hit the credits in Dragon's Dogma 2.

Tekken 8 Adds Eddy Gordo on April 4

Tekken 8 Adds Eddy Gordo on April 4

Those who own the Playable Character Year 1 Pass will be able to start playing as Eddy ahead of his global rel...

Dragon’s Dogma 2 Update Adds Motion Blur, Ray Tracing, and 30 FPS Options on PS5

Dragon’s Dogma 2 Update Adds Motion Blur, Ray Tracing, and 30 FPS Options on PS5

Capcom notes the update "won't affect frame rate significantly", with future updates to improve performance st...

Cyberpunk 2077 and Phantom Liberty Have Generated Roughly $750 Million in Revenue

Cyberpunk 2077 and Phantom Liberty Have Generated Roughly $750 Million in Revenue

In 2023, the action RPG and its expansion raked in roughly $206 million in revenue, CD Projekt has revealed.

The Witcher 4 Has Over 400 Developers Working on it, Still in Pre-Production

The Witcher 4 Has Over 400 Developers Working on it, Still in Pre-Production

Meanwhile, Cyberpunk 2 and Fool's Theory remake of the first Witcher are both in the concept stage of producti...