Secondhand Games Stifle Innovation?

Via GameSetWatch, an article at the Guardian relaying a message from publishers. They say that, though you may be enjoying those second-hand games, they may be forcing you to choke down the sequels that plague the industry. From the article: "'We recognise the secondhand games market is part of the revenue mix, for retailers at least,' said a spokesman. 'However, if it continues to grow, it could potentially starve us of the funds necessary for research and development, and therefore, developers will be less willing to take a risk on new and genre-diversifying titles. It's this creative diversity that makes the games industry so popular, and without sustained funding from new software sales, this could be at risk.'"

Comments

First Rant!

[Anonymous Coward]

The symptoms:
        People are buying piles of second hand games.
        It's cutting into your profits.

The problem:
        You've set your price-point too high for the duration that your games are enjoyable.

The solutions:
        Lower your price or
        Make games that people will want to retain longer.

Bitching that your retailers are against you because they can't make money selling first-hand games is stupid. Retailers adapt to what makes money. If you lower you prices so they can run thicker margins on the new product, they will push your products accordingly.

This is not rocket science. Open to the pages of your marketing book where they show that setting a jukebox to play a song for a quarter will earn twice the money as one requiring one dollar but playing four songs.

Read, think, repeat until clued.

2nd hand games have no devaluation?

[PoderOmega]

The interesting issue that I don't see brought up often is the fact that assuming the media remains in tact a video game's quality never reduces over time. Sure the box and manual can get damaged, but let's just assume we are talking about the game itself. Used games will only go down in price because of lack of demand, never because the actually quality of the game changes like most items in the "pre-owned" market does.

Just like secondhand CDs, secondhand books...

[Kelson]

So the argument wasn't ridiculous enough when the RIAA railed against stores selling used CDs, or when book publishers railed against used book stores? Somehow, because they're games instead of books, it magically makes sense now?

I imagine thrift shops are preventing the clothing industry from innovating, too?

Re:Just like secondhand CDs, secondhand books...

[badasscat]

Somehow, because they're games instead of books, it magically makes sense now?

In fact, it makes even less sense to me...

Aren't we buying used games in the first place because somebody who owned the game decided it no longer had value for him, and somebody else decided that the value of the game was lower than the cost of buying it new?

Now, assuming a company puts out an all-new game based on an innovative premise and with gameplay we hadn't seen before... wouldn't that a) force those who want that experience to buy it new, and b) provide enough value to otherwise second-hand buyers of valueless games that they would now buy a new one?

In other words, it seems to me that sequelitis is directly responsible for the surge in the used market, and the only way out of it is to produce new and innovative games. It's not the other way around. Developers need to give people a reason why they should buy a new game. Pumping out sequels is just going to do the opposite. (It also has the effect of just dumping a whole bunch of previous series editions into the used marketplace. Why keep Madden 05 when Madden 06 is now out?)

Just look at the Nintendo DS if you need an example of this. The only solution is to make games that are as fun and unique as possible, and that aren't "updated" on a yearly basis.

Call The Waaaaaahmbulance!

[NBarnes]

Oh, puh-leeze. The publishers are 'warning us' 'for our own good' than secondhand game sales are 'hurting development'.

Note: it's not crappy ass games that are hurting you, it's not mindless sequelitis, it's not buggy games that need 15 patches before they arrive in stores, and it's not the fact that Blizzard is eating all your lunches, no, it's those awful secondhand games.

Suuuuuuuuuuure.

I buy a lot of used games, since I like not spending huge amounts of cash on new titles. And you know what? I can buy 15 copies of trashy games I know I don't want, but it's often a pain in the ass to find a good used copy of something I actually care about playing, because people don't often sell good games. The secondary market is flooded with older versions of sports games, obsoleted by the industry's own revenue model for sports games, and crap. Cry me a river, EA.

I'm Sorry

[HunterZ]

I'm sorry, but it's NOT MY PROBLEM. If the game industry can't get its act together and put some games on the shelves that are actually FUN, then I'll stick to older games that ARE.

Consumers don't owe the industry any favors, especially after years of being treated like:
- criminals via abusive copy protection mechanisms and unfair return policies
- sheep via releasing non-innovative games over and over again, with poor support and quality control

Also, explain this:
- If the innovative games aren't out there, then how the HELL is buying the CRAP that *IS* on the shelves going to help any?

Answer: IT WON'T.

- How will buying the CRAP that IS on the shelves going to encourage publishers to market games that aren't CRAP?

Answer: IT WON'T.