Today, I want to go over the subject of pre-owned games – and why I am torn on which side to be on. There is points for both sides, and there is points against both sides. Let’s dive into it and see if we can hit a conclusion.
Games are expensive. Especially where I live, it’s around 100 USD when they get on shelves. Yeah, it’s value of money if you look on how many hours you can spend on a single game, but it’s still too much money to use at once for something like this – for me it’s a week of food.
Sometimes I buy my games used down in the local Gamestop store – there’s not many regular gamers that don’t. I just wished I were supporting the developers more then I am when I’m buying games pre-owned. One thing if I buy or just get a game from a friend, another is if a company is making profit off of it. And companies such as Gamestop, Games, Gamestation and Blockbuster are making huge money of it. They thrive on todays market with the financial crisis supporting them, because they get more customers – more people sell their games and consoles to them, and more people come to buy them.
I get the idea. Both as a consumer, but also the stores point of view – and even the developers point of view. As a consumer, I can save a bit of money by buying a game used. The store can make profit by purchasing used games for very little money and then sell them for a little more. And the developers don’t get a cent of those money, and recently Lionheads combat designer Mike West is quoted for saying that pre-owned console game sales is making them loose more money then piracy on PC games is.
As a consumer I would be happy to pay 5% or even 10% more for a used game if I knew that those money went into the pockets of the game developer. I know this isn’t as easy as I’m putting it right now, but it’s a simple plan and sketch. The developers deserve this money, and frankly I think this would save many developers for turning their keys in, and we would see many more different games hit the street. Granted we would experience crappy titles, but we do already, and developers quickly get they mark of approval by gamers around the world.
Is this as simple as I think it is? Do you know more about it, work in the industry maybe? Comment with your viewpoints and tell me if there’s any big problems regarding this.
Would you pay those extra money if they went to the developer and making that market stronger? What if you got the option when you buy a used game?
