Publishers and their used games gripes.

[MrPopo]

Video games are rather unique in that the turnover rate is so high for them. How many things do you buy and then sell to someone else a few months later? Gamestop has made a business out of encouraging people to play their games for a month or two and then trade it in. This keeps their used inventory stocked up (which is where they make a large portion of their profits) and gets people used to the notion that you're not supposed to keep a game long term. So now you have a large stock of used games and of course consumers in a "games are disposable" mindset are going to go for them, since they're cheaper and they don't care if a manual might be missing.

Now I know many of you feel games are priced too high. If that's the case, wait for it to come down in price and then buy new.

[Inazuma]

So if I buy some old bookshelf second hand off of craigslist, I should give Ikea some money for it? That's bullshit.

Part of the reason I buy games in the first place, is so I have the option of selling them later. If these greedy, illogical game publishers want to get rid of the used game market, they won't get any money from me.

[deathclaw]

So if I buy some old bookshelf second hand off of craigslist, I should give Ikea some money for it? That's bullshit.

Part of the reason I buy games in the first place, is so I have the option of selling them later. If these greedy, illogical game publishers want to get rid of the used game market, they won't get any money from me.

If you think else, you're nothing but a filthy thief!

[Frag Mortuus]

HOWEVER, I think Gamestop is an evil, evil corporation.

to quote Luke: we already have a http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopi ... 83&start=0 for that.

Lol, My comment is the first one on that link.

IMHO I wish I could buy everything through digital distribution. I LOVE my Steam account. I wish I could do the same with my 360 and PS3 (without the ridiculous licensing).

[ZeroAX]

Now I know many of you feel games are priced too high. If that's the case, wait for it to come down in price and then buy new.

I do that, but only online retailers seam to be reasonable about prices.

And video games ARE too freaking expensive.

And I'm sorry, the "games are more expensive than movie or books to make" thing is total crap. The most expensive game of all time cost what? 40mil? (not counting wow, since it's more like a service). The most expensive movie of all time cost 300 mil to make.


No the problem is the fucked up business plan of the gaming industry.

1) The console cycle, is really killing gaming's chance of ever becoming truly mainstream. People think it's stupid to pay 300$ every 5 years to be able to play new games.

That's why gaming should either

A) shift to cloud computing

B) shift to computer gaming, either as desktops or computers connected to your TV, with multiple controler support, and an easy OS

C) Make new consoles a lot cheaper, and more unique other than freaking better graphics (see Nintendo's excellent business plan, though imo consoles should be even cheaper if they are not going to last a decade)



2) Video games are too expensive, end of story. Why should I pay 60$ for a game that lasts 10 hours? I can see 6 movies that will last 12 hours with that money, with the bonus that I've gone outside and did a social activity. And let's us not put books into the picture (10-20 hours for less than 10$)


3) The business plan of developing clones to popular games is killing the industry. Make something new and people will flock to it. Hell I know many girls, who made fun of video games, and they freaking LOVED WoW. It's stupid how small the demographic for games really is. Males in their 20-30s. My mom would really enjoy an adventure game if it made sense ( http://www.gamesradar.com/f/the-top-7-s ... 0748283049 )




And IMO if they sold new games at 30$ a pop they would sell more copies, and that way they would absorb the loss of revenue. Ever since I found some excellent online retailers my collection has doubled at 3/4 the cost. Heck I buy some games I never play just cause they are cheap (15€ for Little King's story brand new FTW )

[corn619]

Mr Popo made a great point about turnover rates on video games. Its partly the fault of publishers. The release schedule for games is oversaturated and there is always a new latest and greatest game coming up almost every week. Hell, sometimes theres 5 major releases in a week. So people trade in what they bought a few weeks ago because their tired of it. So maybe if they spaced out releases a little and released games that are compelling for longer than a 10 hour period they would see a lower turnover rate. I realize this wouldn't eliminate the problem, but it may help a little.

[Flake]

Another grip I have about this notion the game industry has is this:

How often have you purchased a game you knew NOTHING about because it was used/cheap? And then how often have you gone on to support that game series/franchise in subsequent iterations?

Last month I picked up Dragonball Z Tenkaichi for the PS2. Yeah yeah, groan at the licensed anime game. It was used for $2.99 and I'd liked the show as a kid. Still, it sat on my shelf for weeks. Last week I popped it in and a few hours of gameplay turned into a week long marathon where I ignored everything except that game. And you know what I did three days ago? I went online and bought the most recent game in the series brand new.

That sale would NOT have happened if I hadn't come across a cheap used copy. And as someone else already pointed out, the Video Game Industries business model should END at the point of sale of the new game. They've already made their money.

[AppleQueso]

I think that the mega stores like GS and Play n Trade should be required to give some cash back to the developer. Actually I think that if a certain percentage of your products sold are used games (say 75%) then you should be required to give a little back to the developers. This will do two things: 1. Give fledgling developers more revenue to continue making games that we all love and 2. Hopefully drive business to the smaller mom and pop independent stores and help them to grow their business.

You'd pretty much be giving mom and pop game stores a death sentence you know.

[MrPopo]

And video games ARE too freaking expensive.

Video games are much cheaper than they used to be, at least in the US. Back in the SNES days I was paying $60-80 for a new game. Now we're 15 years later, and the standard is $50-60 for a retail release. And that doesn't even account for inflation (which is significant).

And I'm sorry, the "games are more expensive than movie or books to make" thing is total crap. The most expensive game of all time cost what? 40mil? (not counting wow, since it's more like a service). The most expensive movie of all time cost 300 mil to make.

It's not just how much it costs. It's how much it costs vs. how many units it sells. And movies are a special case, as they have a large number of vectors to sell in. First you have the theater run. Then they sell it to TV networks to show. They sell it to airlines. There's the home DVD release (which costs very little per unit). With video games there's just one place; it gets sold in a store. Sometimes they might sell it later digitally.

2) Video games are too expensive, end of story. Why should I pay 60$ for a game that lasts 10 hours? I can see 6 movies that will last 12 hours with that money, with the bonus that I've gone outside and did a social activity. And let's us not put books into the picture (10-20 hours for less than 10$)

Except the big difference between a movie and a game is that a game has interactivity.

[ZeroAX]

Video games are much cheaper than they used to be, at least in the US. Back in the SNES days I was paying $60-80 for a new game. Now we're 15 years later, and the standard is $50-60 for a retail release. And that doesn't even account for inflation (which is significant).

dear lord

It's not just how much it costs. It's how much it costs vs. how many units it sells. And movies are a special case, as they have a large number of vectors to sell in. First you have the theater run. Then they sell it to TV networks to show. They sell it to airlines. There's the home DVD release (which costs very little per unit). With video games there's just one place; it gets sold in a store. Sometimes they might sell it later digitally.

that's why the industry shouldn't have pushed arcades into irrelevance (closest thing the industry ever had to "theater" release and home release). But this is another problem. The industry needs to find new ways to sell their games.

Also a major gripe I have with the industry, is that excellent games from previous gens are hard to come by. It's stupid that the PS3 is not backwards compatible with the PS2 (I know the launch model was), and it's stupid I can't find a new copy of FFX in stores. It's a universally acclaimed game. It's gone to sell a few more copies if people can find it. Book stores can have endless shelf space for old books, why can't video game stores?


Also I remember Disney developed some DVDs that after 1 week lost their data. The idea behind that was to use it in rental stores. Now imagine the game getting released as data to stores, where you can go and "rent" it for 1 week for 10$, and they see how well it did, and later publish proper copies at 30$. So they will have a better knowledge of how many copies to make before hand. That will be close to the theater-release home release as well, no? And more people will be willing to try a game they haven't heard for only 10$

Except the big difference between a movie and a game is that a game has interactivity.

true. But there is another problem with the industry. Some games are like movies. You play them once and then play them again. Those games can't cost the same as a huge RPG or an online multiplayer game.

Other games you can play them for years for multiplayer, like Mario Kart and TF2, so those games are worth a higher price, if you promote them as experiences like a good board game (I don't know what the prices are like in the US, but here good board games can cost as much as a video game) you can sell them for more.

Another problem with the industry yet again. The prices are not scalable.