Piracy vs used games

[GinoD]

This got me thinking. In the middle of talking about the rumored UMD-less PSP 2, Ready At Dawn dude Didier Malenfant reacted to Sony's John Koller's thoughts about bringing the PSP to new direction - one which leans heavily on digital distribution.

While John Koller and David Perry are blasting each other for the UMD-less PSP 2 thing (dude, catch up with the program!!!), here's Malenfant who actually goes into some finer detail about the pros and cons of moving into digital distribution.

As far as what my personal wishes are, I'd love to see anything that can help distribution move quicker toward a 100 percent online model. It's not piracy but used games that are killing us.

I love it because he's giving us a new angle on how to look at things. And yes, his beliefs do have precedent. Because previously, Atari made a statement about the re-selling of games having an impact on their software sales. I can't pull out figures to cross check how second hand selling stacks against piracy, but it's a rather intriguing way to see the situation, no doubt.

Wish Malenfant went into specifics... but yeah. I kinda agree on his statement. Which is not to say piracy isn't killing the industry too - because that will always be a factor too.

Thoughts?

[FrozenIpaq]

Some things to note: Gamestop has come under recent criticism for their used games sales and how none of that money goes back to the publishers. At DICE a Gamestop CEO stated that only 4% of used games sales come from 60 days after a game release (meaning 4% of their total used games sales come from people who have returned new games and people have bought those returned games between the release and 60 days later).

Also it's worth noting that Gamestop's used games sales just reached the 2-billion dollar mark for one fiscal year. That's quite a lot of cash that developers aren't seeing a penny of.

I'm glad you bring this particular quote up Gino because I too am interested in Piracy vs Used Games. Those that pirate generally do so because they A) have the means and B) have little or no cash to spend on new games which aren't exactly cheap (just two games will bring you past $100). So companies aren't exactly losing sales there as they didn't have the money in the first place (and most people buy the AAA titles if they can). An interesting way to look at things

[NoEffex]

I hope developers scoot towards downloaded games, as that way the devs see the money for all games sold. I really don't like buying used games(They're almost the same price as new and aren't guaranteed to work, and are a whore to return) anyhow. Hopefully if that happens we might see an increase in game quality for most systems.

[SchmilK]

Gamestop is a total rip off on the used side.

They had a sign up last weekened when i bought my ps3
Get $25 for your used Street Fighter IV PS3 or XBOX 360 game today!

Then i go inside and start looking around and they have SFIV used selling for $10 less than the original! (or $49.99 for the mathematically challenged)

I make a point when i buy games from there (due to lack of availability elsewhere) to spend the extra $3-10 for a new game and not a used one.

My last visit when i was waiting for Killzone 2 to be released I picked up unreal tournament 3 for ps3...they had used for $17.99 or new for $19.99. I asked the trade in value of the used game and they said $5. When i got my 'new' game it had no shrinkwrap on it, only a big ugly sticker sealing the side closed that said 'Gamestop - We buy used games' and a 'Gamestop New' pricetag of $59.99.

Sony/Microsoft and all game developers SHOULD have feelings of hate towards gamestop...they apear to be making way too much profit off of used game sales....but...then walk around and look at all the money they wasted on all those shelves of ****ty old games that no one is ever going to buy and maybe things balance themselves out.

As for PSP games going digital only...if they do that we, the consumer, should benefit with MUCH LOWER prices for games considering they don't need to fabricate the box, print the manual, covers, and inserts, nor pay the rediculous license fees and production costs of the UMD.

If they keep the prices the same I think it will fail

[dark_skai]

Gamestop is a total rip off on the used side.

They had a sign up last weekened when i bought my ps3
Get $25 for your used Street Fighter IV PS3 or XBOX 360 game today!

Then i go inside and start looking around and they have SFIV used selling for $10 less than the original! (or $49.99 for the mathematically challenged)

I make a point when i buy games from there (due to lack of availability elsewhere) to spend the extra $3-10 for a new game and not a used one.

My last visit when i was waiting for Killzone 2 to be released I picked up unreal tournament 3 for ps3...they had used for $17.99 or new for $19.99. I asked the trade in value of the used game and they said $5. When i got my 'new' game it had no shrinkwrap on it, only a big ugly sticker sealing the side closed that said 'Gamestop - We buy used games' and a 'Gamestop New' pricetag of $59.99.

Sony/Microsoft and all game developers SHOULD have feelings of hate towards gamestop...they apear to be making way too much profit off of used game sales....but...then walk around and look at all the money they wasted on all those shelves of ****ty old games that no one is ever going to buy and maybe things balance themselves out.

As for PSP games going digital only...if they do that we, the consumer, should benefit with MUCH LOWER prices for games considering they don't need to fabricate the box, print the manual, covers, and inserts, nor pay the rediculous license fees and production costs of the UMD.

If they keep the prices the same I think it will fail

Great post I agree with everything you said
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[Electro]

I have nothing against Gamestop, they are business geniuses.

As a kid, all I would buy were used games since thats all my family could afford for me at the time. If you completely go to Digital Distribution, say goodbye to 3rd party sales, price matching, borrowing games from friends, selling you game to get some money back ect. Since stock never needs to be cleared out you can also expect games to be original price for a very long time. Sure digital distribution is great for rich people, but I believe piracy will grow since you are now forced to pay whatever the developer wants.

Used things are just a way of life. Do designers get money from used clothes, do car manufactures get money from used cars, authors get money from their used books? No they don't.

And that is how digital distribution will cause piracy to be the number 1 killer (also due to the fact used game wont exist anymore)