What Happens To Your Used Games?

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What Happens To Your Used Games?

Posted by samzenpus on Monday August 6, 2012 @12:08AM from the gently-used dept.

silentbrad writes "GameStop's bosses are obviously tired of hearing about how used games are killing gaming, about how unfair they are on the producers of the games who get nothing from their resale. One astonishing stat is repeated by three different managers during presentations. 70 percent of income consumers make from trading games goes straight back into buying brand new games. GameStop argues that used games are an essential currency in supporting the games business. The normal behavior is for guys to come into stores with their plastic bags full of old games, and trade them so that they can buy the new Call of Duty, Madden, Gears of War. GameStop says 17 percent of its sales are paid in trade credits. The implication is clear — if the games industry lost 17 percent of its sales tomorrow, that would be a bad day for the publishers and developers.'"

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Absolutely! Down with 'used' products! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-06 00:15 · Score: 5, Interesting

Just as used car sales are bad for auto manufacturers, and home resales are bad for builders, and garage sales are bad for retailers, ... and ..., ... and ...
1. Re:Absolutely! Down with 'used' products! by arth1 · 2012-08-06 00:43 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Cars and houses are a little different though. The extremely high cost means that the market wouldn't be viable without reselling.
  
  Just like with games, then.
  What, you don't think $70 for renting a game that's simple enough for your grandmother to play (although she might not like chain mail bikinis) is extremely high cost?
  In the past, the pewter figurine, book, packet of pocket fluff, cards and and a cloth map made you feel you got some value. Now you pay four times as much for way less content. Sure, you feel entitled to spread the pain of the high price around by re-selling it after the four hours it took to get tired of it.
2. Re:Absolutely! Down with 'used' products! by jank1887 · 2012-08-06 01:10 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  "But it's irrelevant."
  how on earth is it irrelevant? It doesn't matter if I'm buying a $10 watch at Walmart. If it has resale _value_, that is something that will and should affect the initial 'price that the market will bear' for the good.
  Things have value. Houses have value in the fact that they are still good for their intended purpose after many years of use. When you move, you sell them instead of abandoning them because they still have value, and you can trade on that value. The 'price the market will bear' for your house is based on it's value to the market.
  A used car has value in proportion to its features and how much useful life it still has. It wears down over the years, and by the time mileage reaches 100k it has significantly less value than it did at 20k. But value has not reached zero, hence I can find someone to buy it for a few thousand dollars because to them, it has value worth paying for.
  If publishers are insisting that people throw away the value left in the good that they would normally resell, then the prices better come down to reflect that loss of value in the product.
  Cars and houses have high prices because of the value present in the resale market. The fact that there is Value left in the items is the cause, the prices are not. The used game market being what it is shows that there is still value in used games, just as there is in used books, electronics, cars, houses, etc.
3. Re:Absolutely! Down with 'used' products! by nedlohs · 2012-08-06 03:10 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Banning used car sales sets the supply of used cars to 0, at which point supply and demand are irrelevant as there is no market, assuming we are ignoring illegal markets. If we aren't ignoring illegal markets, then it would depend on the details of the law and whether selling or buying was "worse"
  It would not affect the supply for new cars. It would affect the demand for new cars though. For many people if they can't sell their old car they won't be buying a new car as often, so the demand for new cars will go down. So the price of new cars will fall, or the supply will then fall (or both of course - which or the relative amounts will depend on how much profit magin and cost cutting potential there is).
4. Re:Absolutely! Down with 'used' products! by Cute+Fuzzy+Bunny · 2012-08-06 03:30 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  And the point OP was making is that used goods are bad for manufacturers in any market. And it still stands. So...congratulations on your pedantry?
  The funny part is, this is completely wrong. A used market serves the customers who can't afford new, and is an entry point for a customer to become a new product purchaser. It very rarely harms the manufacturer as the used market 'customer' would rarely be a new product customer due to the price points. In fact, the manufacturer often benefits from the used market in terms of spare parts, add-ons and so forth.
Every single industry that sells tangible products by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-06 00:15 · Score: 5, Insightful

I'm tired of hearing it as well - because other businesses with narrower margins have survived some form of First Sale Doctrine for literally centuries at this point.
When people buy stuff, sometimes they sell it. You don't get that money, because you already sold the product. Suck it the hell up.
But...but...but by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-06 00:19 · Score: 5, Interesting

Don't all these Games players have infinity deep pockets and can all afford to buy new and just throw away?
1. Re:But...but...but by ZeroSumHappiness · 2012-08-06 00:28 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  This needs some modding up. I would never have gotten into video games if I could only afford one once a quarter. Used games meant I could buy a game every month when I was a teenager. This broadened my experience and helped cement gaming into my life experience. I probably wouldn't be buying a couple games a month nowadays if I couldn't buy a game a month back then. Luckily, games commonly sell on sale for $5 or less nowadays so new gamers will still be able to experience a wide array of games if they so desire.
  The industry can't just assume that they'll be able to sell all of the AAA titles to all of the gamers every time one goes on sale.
A 2yo's idea of copyright by David+Gerard · 2012-08-06 00:23 · Score: 5, Insightful

Artists and companies both share a toddler's idea of ownership: "if I thought about it, it's mine."
The syllogism goes something like:
1. Someone, somewhere, is making money from something I am tangentially involved in.
2. Therefore, THEY STOLE IT FROM ME!!!!!!
The economic notion that you can't capture all the value you create if you want to maximise your take appears a bit complicated for them.

--
http://rocknerd.co.uk
Failed business model. by RyuuzakiTetsuya · 2012-08-06 00:29 · Score: 5, Insightful

In 2010, the video gaming industry made 66 BILLION. Saganesque billions and billions and they can't turn a healthy enough profit?
The business model for gaming has failed. The answer isn't digital either. Digital distribution only makes it easier to fail in the market place and do it faster too.
The problem is management. Management is failing in a big way. Even with Valve, Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Google and Apple's pound of flesh, there's no way in hell margins so thin that used game sales threaten it can be considered "healthy." Even in volume. Maybe especially considering the volume that some games sell at.
Where the fuck is all that money going? Is it a matter of creative Hollywood accounting or is there bigger costs involved with pushing pixels through silicon?

--
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
Re:Every single industry that sells tangible produ by wild_quinine · 2012-08-06 00:36 · Score: 5, Insightful

I'm tired of hearing it as well - because other businesses with narrower margins have survived some form of First Sale Doctrine for literally centuries at this point.
Of course, some of them have not. And, crucially, that's a good thing, too.
Re:Every single industry that sells tangible produ by arth1 · 2012-08-06 00:51 · Score: 5, Insightful

Well, the counter argument to this is that the, let's call them 'informational', goods don't depreciate with use like a tangible product does. A (pressed) game disk will be just as functional in 5 years
And so will a book. In fact, a book will easily outlast CDs and DVDs. That doesn't mean that if I sell a book I have read, I steal from the author (or his publisher's grandchildren, more likely).
First sale. It's not just a good idea, it's the law.