In a recent interview with Develop, Blitz’s Andrew Oliver discussed some of the main issues currently plaguing the gaming industry as a whole. While many believe that piracy has been running rampant and is the driving force behind millions of dollars of loss revenue, Oliver believes that one other form of game’s sales is a bigger threat to the industry itself. Oliver is of course talking about the used game market.
“Arguably the bigger problem on consoles now is the trading in of games,” he said.
“I understand why players do this. Games are expensive, and after a few weeks of playing you’ve either beaten it, or got bored of it so trading it back in to help pay for the next seems sensible when people are short of cash.”
Though understanding the reasoning behind the decisions gamers make and completely agreeing with them to an extent, Oliver adds: “money going back up the chain is a fraction of what it was only a few years ago.
“This is a much bigger problem than piracy on the main consoles.”
Whether or not this is true and used games have become more detrimental than piracy is hard to prove. However, with companies like GameStop, eBay and Amazon making so many sales in that very market, it’s hard to argue otherwise. Though Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 saw a ridiculous amount of piracy, it’s safe to say that not many other games run that high in downloads as well.
Do you guys think the used game market is making this much of a dent or no?
@Tokyo_GorePolice, It is no ones right to tell you what you can and can not do with a item you have paid for, yes you own a copy of the game not the content as in buying the games doesn’t give you rights to sell Halo, dandy! However you did buy a copy in full and you have every right to sell it, trade it or destroy it /whatever.
Everything will eventually crash and burn…
I think we need more shooters, more DLC let’s not forget movie to game cross overs and a remake of every game you can shake a stick at since 1987!!
No matter what you do they will want want want, every one in the world bought brand new copies of every shitting game they made guess what? The 65 dollar price point would to low, they wouldn’t be able to “turn a profit” and the next thing you know your buying every POS 85 dollar game they make.
Btw that gets hard to read because it’s 4:30am, my English sucks and I have to get ready to start my day.
I never said anyone has the right to tell you what to do with something after you’ve bought it. However, I did say they’re allowed to ENCOURAGE you to buy it new.
Comapnies will only do what they see profit in. If people want remakes of 1987 games and more shooters, that’s what a company will make. Companies don’t work like “Hey, let’s invest tens of millions of dollars into something we don’t even know if gamers are going to like or not!”
No, the price would not go up, because videogames are elastic. There is a threshhold at which people are not willing to pay for something and will seek alternative entertainment, and this is something gaming companies will not cross. We will most likely see a price jump in the next gen as well, but it’s due to other factors. What will you say when next gen you’re going to have to pay 70 dollars for a game? Arer you going to give up gaming? Most likely not, so you’re part of this just as much as everyone else.
“I never said anyone has the right to tell you what to do with something after you’ve bought it. However, I did say they’re allowed to ENCOURAGE you to buy it new.”
In order for a game to be bought used, it had to be bought at some point in time new. If no one bought used games you could not sell them to any one because they would have zero value right? Back in the day I had very few titles of my own for the NES and even less for Sega, most of them I’d rent from a small town video store where maybe 1000 people have played 1 copy to death. How on earth did this industry grow so massive off everyone buying used, trading, and clearance bins?
“With over two million user-created levels uploaded since the game’s release in late-2008, most believe that the game’s sales must be around that number or even lower. The fact is that not all LittleBigPlanet players created levels, which is evidenced by the game’s worldwide sales. Sony today confirmed that Media Molecule’s first PS3 game has sold over three million copies.”
Is this a good thing or a bad thing?
“70 dollars for a game? Arer you going to give up gaming? Most likely not, so you’re part of this just as much as everyone else.”
Probably not, however I am 1 and every one who plays video games can go out and buy all these great new titles that come out in droves. Seriously some times a few really good games come out all in the same month.
When a game first comes out sure it’s worth 65 dollars 5 months down the road it’s not, sorry but a good game is a good game for ever but the value is opinion based and nothing more.
Ironic that most of the developers and publishers have employees that own used cars that were traded in to CarStop (i.e. car dealers, carmax, etc). I don’t here them complaining about the lost money to the auto industry.
And the cost of a car, even used, DWARFS that of any game.
Hypocrisy my friends.
@xbotman
99 percent of people just don’ttrade in their cars for cash. They either upgrade to a newer model through a dealer or buy last years model of a car at a slightly discounted price, but the dealer is still making a profit. Cars have one of the highest depreciation rates of anything reuseable you can purchase, so companies won’t really see a loss in cars bought from lemon lots.
Its a bit silly isn’t? unfortunately alot of games aren’t worth the full price.
Used games are great if you find a new copy of a certain game.
Can’t see why piracy would be under used in Mr Blitz threat indictor?
@Ryan
“In order for a game to be bought used, it had to be bought at some point in time new. If no one bought used games you could not sell them to any one because they would have zero value right?”
You’re right. A game is used if it was bought before. However, EA is encouraging everyone to buy it new. If nobody bought a used game, it does not mean it has no value. It means that there is not a market for which it is available. The game is still worth how much you paid for it (60.00), but there would not be a price point at which someone would be willing to buy if from you. These are different things. If you buy a new game, EA gets paid. If you sell that game to someone else, EA does not get paid for that. They would rather have both of you buy the game new, so there would be two sales instead of one.
“Is this a good thing or a bad thing?”
Without taking into consideration how many people rented the game and created levels or bought the game from an outside source(friend, ebay, etc) and created levels, we cannot determine if it is good or not. The company may have sold even less games when considering these two demographics, due to the fact that gamers did not buy the game new.
The rest of your post is incoherent.
@lordalucard
(This is a very simplified overview)
It’s because of the rate at which both piracy and used game sales occur. Piracy is a fraction compared to the used game market, so the rate at which piracy occurs does not affect a company at the same rate as people buying a used product. Here’s an example:
Let’s say out of 100 people, 10 people pirate a game(free). You still have 90 people paying full price for a game. Tax excluded, and with a price of $60.00, the company will earn a net profit of $5,400.
All things equal, if 60 people buy the game new ($3600) + 40 people buying the game used at $40.00 ($1600), you now have a net profit of $5,200.(This is an adjustment assuming at least a majority will buy new).
This may seem like an insignificant figure, but if you stretch this into the millions of consumers buying a game, and the price at which the game is sold as used varying, this gap becomes extremely large.
So…many companies don’t see piracy as that large of a threat because it doesn’t have a widespread effect in the gaming market.
Great post! Nice work =)