Used Games: A Modest Proposal
Stephen Totilo over at the MTV Multiplayer Blog has an idea to end the sale of used games, or at least encourage users to buy new. His solution, achievement points!
Here's how it would work: the game company packages their game with a single-use card that contains a password that can be inputted and verified by Xbox Live or PlayStation Network. Inputting the password earns the player an Achievement/Trophy that acknowledges that the player bought the game.
I can see it now: Ebay auctions as far as the eye can see selling these passwords to gamers eager to fluff out their gamerscore/trophy collection. This would work well for gamers who are obsessed with these points, but for those of us who don't really mind if our Xbox Live Gamerscore borders on laughable, this is not incentive enough to buy new. Now I wouldn't dis someone's idea without offering a few of my own.
The main reason gamers buy used games is because of the price. If publishers want to encourage gamers to buy new, then they have to offer games for less money (which doesn't seem likely) or give gamers more bang for their buck. Rather than EA's plan of punishing used gamers by charging them for extra content, offer gamers rewards for buying new. I like the code idea, but have the codes give users something more substantial than points. Perhaps the code could download a game from PSN or XBLA, give users entry into a closed beta, or even new characters/weapons. Little Big Planet created a mini market with their preorder offerings at different stores. How much more incentive would gamers have if a new copy of LBP had a code to unlock an exclusive outfit of a favorite game icon? Maybe even offer some of the goodies you get with limited edition games to all purchasers of a new game.
Publishers could always just use DRM and restrict the game to one install before the disc eats itself. I'm kidding, put the gun down! The fact is, until games go digital, the used game market will continue. As long as game companies rewards gamers instead of punishing them, then loyalty will follow.
A Proposal On How To Stop Used Game Purchases [MTV Multiplayer]
TheDoctor
Posted to Video Games on 7 November 2008
· Comments (12)
Other stuff like this: downloads, incentives, used games
Buying used or renting (from something like Gamefly, which is what I do) isn't just good for your wallet, it's also better for the environment.
Imagine how many more old discs, cartriges and game boxes would be wasted if everyone had to buy their own copy of any game they wanted to play!
Digital is a good solution.
The main reason I don't buy used games its because (depending on where you buy them) they often try to sell you a game missing a case and/or the game manual. I also don't see the reason to buy a used game to save $5 or $10. While I love to save money...the game cases are usually so scratched up that unless I'm buying a lot of games from a year ago...I'll just spend the $5 more and get a shiny new game.
I take very good care of my games and hate to add some beat up game to my collection just to save money. For me its rent or buy new....no need for used in my life.
Give me a $15 or $20 discount off the price and I would consider it. It's kind of like when they say you should just download a game off steam instead of buying a retail version...WHY? I still pay the exact same price but I get no box...no manual and no disc in case I have a problem and need to reinstall. No thanks.
Whenever I think "A Modest Proposal" it makes me want to eat Irish babies. Thanks Jonathan Swift.
But yes, more games need to offer incentives for buying new games if they ever want to combat used sales. The biggest one I can remember was when Animal Crossing was released for Gamecube and came with a memory card. The memory card was useful since the game used an entire card to save, but it also came with a free gift of a random NES game that was unlocked from the start in the game. I don't know how most other games could use a similar incentive, but I do know that when I worked at GameStop I told customers that it just wasn't worth it to buy Animal Crossing used because they missed out on the free memory card and NES game, so clearly that worked.
Used games are great, most of my 360 collection is made up of used games.
Barring Mass Effect and Tiger Woods.
Games like Halo 3, Stranglehold and Assassins Creed are games I wouldn't pay more than £10, or $20 in your crappy money.
The more talk I hear about taking away used games the more I'll just pirate them, take away used console games and I'll mod my console, and there's tens of thousands who'll do the same thing.
Can't say I've ever experienced problems with the hundreds I've bought over the years, maybe we're just better at looking after things in the UK?
@John: I'm very sorry your used experience hasn't been great, but you're not alone. Hell, I WORK at a Gamestop and still think that the 5 or 10 dollar price break is crazy, seeing as the most we'll ever give for a game (barring special promotions) is 30 bucks. I don't see why that game can't go on sale for 45 dollars, the company still profits, and more people would be willing to buy used. Everyone wins. The reason they stay at 55, 50 is because it helps us sell the subscriptions/discount cards. Realistically, an extra 10% off is nothing to sneeze at, but I think that putting games at a lower price point to start would be more beneficial than hoping everyone buys a card. Of course, no one important would listen to a lowly peon.
@Neo: It really depends on where you buy your games. At my store, we're SUPER picky, and we'll commonly send things away to be fixed ("refurbished" sounds like a bodily function)that don't necessarily need to be. Our mantra is "Would you buy it?" That being said, there are several other stores in my area who just take whatever in because they don't get the kind of volume to warrant denying trades.
why don't publishers get in the business of buying back and reselling their own games?
@Eshu
Important point there; the price structure for used games at Gamestop is a huge issue. The $30 dollar point is the maximum but that's only for a BRAND NEW game; most of the time you're going to get far less than that.
Not that long ago, I went to trade in some games. Before I went to the counter, I browsed around to see if there was anything I might want other than what I came for and noted some prices. It turned out that a half dozen newish games only netted me just shy of $70 bucks in credit and at least one of the games that I was being offered $12 for was being sold for $45. The huge gap in the price and the value is not only kind of insulting, but it kills the value proposition of even making the trade. I just kept my games and left.
If I sell my car to a dealer, they don't sell it for four times what they bought it, and those you have to actually put some work into before you can resell. I know it's not exactly the same thing, but either give me more money or resell them for less money to make it worth it. I used to work there too and I always felt like they could increase their volume if they wold just sacrifice a little bit of margin.
You know... a while ago I did the pirating games thing, and then for some reason I started buying used (I think it was guilt... or I realized that craigslist and half.com sell videogames).
What I find pseudo funny is that even though I'm now paying cash for a game, some publishers still would be mad at me for doing this. I mainly go with the used games for price, with half and craigslist I'm paying anywhere from 40-50 dollars less for the game, in great condition, never had an issue, and I don't feel like I've been bent over by EB :)
For publishers I say drop the price of their games obviously, I'd buy it then. I don't want some demo game, I don't want some freebie points or a free download off XBL, I just want the game and that's all I feel I should pay for in the first place (along with the instruction manual and case of course). The complaints given off by these people are pathetic (publishers and what not, not the other commenters :)) I don't see Ford or BMW or something giving you achievement points with your new purchase of a car and they were more or less ok before the economic void.
IF they somehow stop people from buying used games I'm out, I'll just spend more time at the gym, on the bike or on the surfboard or hanging with friends playing smash bros brawl till the disc melts... which in all honesty would be a good thing.
I really hate hearing publishers whine about used games cutting into the industry. how long does it take for a decent title to drop below the original MSRP? would it kill you to cut the price a couple of bucks after a couple of months?
since probably 75% of my collection was purchased new in stores, and some was serious highway robbery there too (Rollcage was never worth the $50 I paid, so sad) I have no real pity for an industry that has grown by leaps and bounds since I got into it, and is whining that they're not getting enough of my money.
you want to encourage me to buy the game as soon as it comes out? make a game that is worth my time and hard earned money. I'd gladly pay $30 for a copy of Wipeout HD on a DVD with a case and manual. I've spent more time with that than I have any title of recent memory, which is either really sad, or speaks to the awesomeness that Wipeout is.
The problem is, if I consider a game out of my price range or not worth it, I'll just download it, I'm an awkward guy who doesn't care if an indie company goes under.
Two things can save gaming, especially PC gaming.
Lower selling prices and cut out DRM, drop those and the thousands [Literally thousands too] I've not spent would have been spent already.
I don't understand why the selling/buying of used games is such a big deal while the selling/buying of used movies, music or books isn't.
omg i live right down the street from this store!