I believe people selling their legitimately purchased games is a basic consumer right, and no one, should think otherwise. It is also a fact that used games make it hard for developers to recoup their investment, and while we can argue about the benefits of used games for the industry as a whole – the bottomline is that the immediate impact is mostly negative.
Volition developer, Jameson Durall recently blogged about this issue, and mentioned how harmful it is for the developers who basically make no money from this, and only the re-sellers benefits from this, as most of the profits go to them.
“I think what most consumers don’t realize is that every time they buy a used game, there is ZERO money making it back to the Game Developers,” he said. “All of those profits are going directly to the re-seller and making it more and more difficult for us to continue making higher quality products.”
“In the end, I fully believe that we have to do something about these issues or our industry is going to fall apart.
“People often don’t understand the cost that goes into creating these huge experiences that we put on the shelves for only $60.
“They also don’t seem to realize how much they are hurting us when they buy a used game and how pirating a copy is just plain stealing. Maybe something as simple as educating them could help solve the problem…,” he explained.
Well, Mr. Durall, there is going to be a significant opposition to your idea, as used things have been a cornerstone of trading since the dawn of time.
This is certainly a good topic for discussion, though. Massive corporations like Gamestop make a killing with used game sales, and while the publishers cannot piss them off due to their reach and power to get a lot of pre-orders, there is no doubt here that there is absolutely nothing they can do about this – other than telling consumers to buy new and support the industry of course.
Tell us what you think in the comments section below. Will you give up your rights to sell the games you purchased?