Buy Second-Hand Games, Stifle Creativity? 217
Thanks to GameSpot for its 'GameSpotting' editorial discussing why buying second-hand games could have a negative effect on videogame creators. The author points out: "You know, Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft must have a real love/hate relationship with stores that stock used games alongside their new games [since buying used games doesn't give] the game developers, or the game publishers a thin, red cent. Instead, the retailer is enjoying a nice, fat profit margin, where the markup is in the neighborhood of 200 to 1000 percent." He goes on to argue: "Buying used is equivalent to the game not selling at all in the eyes of developers and publishers, and when games don't sell, they don't get sequels and excellent concepts and, therefore, opportunities are lost."
Maybe they should take a hint. (Score:5, Insightful)
Why are business-types so colossaly stupid? The success of used games should indicate that selling games for two thirds of what they cost now would dramatically increase their sales. Instead of complaining, they could just take advantage of that trend. Losing 33% of your per-game revenue is irrelevant if you double total sales -- and since per-unit production costs are negligble, that's a pretty reasonable scenario.
Re:Maybe they should take a hint. (Score:2, Insightful)
Sorry, but no sympathy here. If games were indeed in the 20€/piece I'd own a lot more originals that I do now.
-AC
Re:Maybe they should take a hint. (Score:3, Insightful)
Rarely I buy a game new at ~ $50 (US) when it looks really good. (these are the games that stay at 40-50 for 6 months rather than dropping to $15 within 3 months of release...)
What, and lose a mere 5-10% of the used margin? (Score:4, Insightful)
What's worse, you've suddenly made used game trade ins more valuable because they can get more new games or used games for the same amount of trade ins!
Natuarally, this is why providers are trying to move to a model where you don't own the content (online). I don't like that either. There are still game companies out there, though, that can make games that are worth enough that I'll hang on to them after I beat them, even if they have limited replayability (like Beyond Good and Evil, or Deus Ex: TIW).
Re:What, and lose a mere 5-10% of the used margin? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:What, and lose a mere 5-10% of the used margin? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:What, and lose a mere 5-10% of the used margin? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:What, and lose a mere 5-10% of the used margin? (Score:2, Insightful)
And I am glad not to be your parent, having to listen to my kid complain to me how they want Santa to bring them Halo 2.
Re:Maybe they should take a hint. (Score:4, Insightful)
True, more games will be bought brand new, but these will be purchases from the usual suspects, the ones with either the loyalty, lack of patience, or high amounts of cash to be able to go out and purchase software at release. The large numbers of those who hawk second hand software will simply shrug their shoulders and wait for the even cheaper castoffs to arrive. I severely doubt we shall see a sharp enough spike to cover the massive developmental costs of games these days.
There is little the developers can do to stop this in this valued free market, except go for the big launch, as it is the sleeper hits that tend to be screwed over the most.
Re:Maybe they should take a hint. (Score:3, Insightful)
Taking your assumption and the root comment numbers as an example:
Let's say there are 30,000 people interested in the game but only 10,000 are willing to pay for the game at $60. The industry recognizes the used game industry is meeting the demand of the rest of the 20,000 and decide to cut the price by 33%. By doing so, purchases increase by 50% (according to the root po
Perhaps It is 'New Math' (Score:2)
Original Revenue = 10,000 * $60 = $600,000
New Revenue1 = 15,000 * $40 = $600,000 (0% increase in revenue)
You have more customers, but no more revenue. Considering production/distribution costs per unit, the overhead of the 5000 additional units means you probably lose money.
Re:Perhaps It is 'New Math' (Score:2)
You won't lose money with the additional overhead of 5000 units - the cost for producing the packages is generally inexpensive on a bulk basis.
In fact, if yout game sold enough units, you would begin to have fan sites that appear t
Re:Perhaps It is 'New Math' (Score:2)
Re:Maybe they should take a hint. (Score:5, Insightful)
I disagree. There is just a spot where it is worthwhile to sell your used game instead of keeping it 'just for collection'. If the prices would dramatically drop, it would be much rarer ocassion that someone would want to part from their original game for miniscule payback. Also, the demand for second-hand games would decline if the games would be reasonably priced. Say, 20 euros for the latest hit game would make me buy games just for the heck of it.
Currently I only play EverQuest and Americas Army. They have decent value for money (I buy EverQuest expansions when they hit the cheapo-bin at my local store). I'm not going to cough up 50 euros for yet-another-FPS.
Re:Maybe they should take a hint. (Score:2)
1) I rarely returned my college books because the payback was so low and I enjoyed the books more than the possible return.
2) There were still USED University books at the bookstore.
There will always be a used market and there should be. People should just be aware that the USED item probably returned for a reason. The only University books I returned were for the classes I hated.
Re:Maybe they should take a hint. (Score:2)
Nah. The local stores offer me $15 for a used game (which they subsequently sell for $35). If the prices dropped 33% then they'd be offering me $10 at which point I'd rather just keep the game than sell it.
Re:Maybe they should take a hint. (Score:2)
Re:Maybe they should take a hint. (Score:2)
$30 for a new game would be a 70% reduction from what they currently cost. That seems unlikely.
Re:Maybe they should take a hint. (Score:2)
Re:Maybe they should take a hint. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Maybe they should take a hint. (Score:2, Insightful)
Where's your fat wad of cash?
You know, why should any CEO or any type of manager 'take a hint' from you? Before you go and spew total BS, maybe you should try and give us a reason to believe you.
"The success of used games should indicate that selling games for two thirds of what they cost now would dramatically increase their sales."
Why would it? What is the marginal costs of creating a more units? Is the demand for the game elastic? Inelastic? Let's not forget about R
Re:Maybe they should take a hint. (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh wait, maybe not. Maybe you just over simplified the situation and assumed everyone else is an idiot. Hey, you think if they dropped the price for games, then maybe people would start selling used games cheaper so it really wouldn't help their sales that much? No... that's crazy talk. Or gee, maybe they've done a little marketing research that suggests they wouldn't be able to double sales by cutting the price in half. Nah, "business-types" are colossoly stupid as you so aptly put it. They must have just not thought of it because they aren't smart like you.
bullshit. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:bullshit. (Score:5, Interesting)
Whats wrong with that?
Re:bullshit. (Score:2)
besides, how would it stiffle CREATIVITY??? by giving them less money for titles that already sold enough(and are bad enough for people to get rid of them) to actually be available as used in large numbers?
Re:bullshit. (Score:2, Insightful)
This is stupid. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:This is stupid. (Score:2)
It's even dumber than that because indirectly, the makers do get some of your money. If my friend bought, say, Wind Waker for $100 (Aussie money), and I bought it off him for $40, then effectively the store got $40 of my money, via my friend.
If they want to compete against that, it's pretty simple, they have two choices. They could:
Re:This is stupid. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:This is stupid. (Score:4, Insightful)
The cycle generally goes:
If they only worked for 3 months or so, I'd hardly finish anything!
EULA dissallowing resale (Score:2, Interesting)
And like microsoft, they can choose not to honor any of their obligations in the EULA (RE refusing promised refund mentioned if you disagree with the EULA, forcing opensource buyers to buy windows with their laptops)
Re:EULA dissallowing resale (Score:3, Informative)
Right of distribution is usualy (in most countries copyright laws) consumed after the first sale, hence you are allowed to resell, for example, a book, a music CD, or some computer software as much as you want.
You're problem is what exactly? (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, unless they license it otherwise. (Score:2)
Re:Well, unless they license it otherwise. (Score:2)
That's illegal, they can't restrict that. Moreover, if they include something illegal in their licence, it invalidates the whole thing (effectively dropping their rights back to just the standard ones a copyright owner has). This arguably makes it illegal to play the game be
Re:Well, unless they license it otherwise. (Score:2)
Oh? Which law prohibits them from doing that?
arguably makes it illegal to play the game because that requires that a "copy" be made in the machine's RAM.
Well, if an enforcable EULA attempted to limit later disposition of the game, and said nothing, or specifically exempted, copies and adaptations needed to run the game oneself, how would it touch on this.
Though I maintain that a running copy is not a true copy.
Well, the restriction is on reproduction. Co
Re:Well, unless they license it otherwise. (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Well, unless they license it otherwise. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Well, unless they license it otherwise. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Well, unless they license it otherwise. (Score:3, Insightful)
Nintendo, Sony or Microsoft could always include in the license for all games, a clause that you may not resell the product.
Except that that would be illegal in a lot of coutries. Microsoft tried to enforce reseller restrictions onto their OEM versions of Windows etc. The German courts decided that this practice (which forced bundling) was illegal. You can therefore buy (new or used) OEM Windows without being required to any hardware. I believe this is not so in the States.
Some markets are absolu
Re:Well, unless they license it otherwise. (Score:2)
Sounds like a lot of bull to me (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Sounds like a lot of bull to me (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Sounds like a lot of bull to me (Score:2)
Now also banning... (Score:4, Funny)
Be thankful... (Score:3, Interesting)
Community support (Score:5, Interesting)
Furthermore, the reason used game prices are so high (besides EB's fat profit margin) is that not enough people sell their games. People become attached to them, like good books or movies, and don't want to give them up. Also, because they retail for 50 and sell for 5, people understandably are shocked by the depreciation. If you want to support gaming as a hobby, go third party. Sell back any games that you don't play anymore, and sell them to the smaller local stores that haven't been gobbled up by the major chain.
Cry no tears for Nintendo. It is true that their profits were cut in half this year, but that was cut in half to a half billion dollars. Used games are necessarily a diminishing-returns phenomenon. Most games launch at a rediculous price, and are quickly reduced as demand subsides. Very few people resell their games, and the few that do generally plow that money right back into the hobby of gaming. Does that mean the copy of Metroid Prime you picked up used for 20 bucks from a local mom-and-pop videogame store doesn't pay Nintendo a penny? Yes, but the same could be said of reselling movies, cars, furnature, or anything else in life. Nintendo made their money. Sony made their money. Microsoft made their money. If the person who paid for that game wants to sell it to plow even more money back into their hobby than I can't see how this hurts the gaming ecosystem.
As a game developer, I welcome the practice. Heck, I own a used copy of one of the games I helped develop, which I picked up for 11 dollars.
Re:Community support (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Community support (Score:2, Insightful)
The extra $5 isn't worth the time it would take to package/ship a single item. Heck, the $5 isn't worth the time/hassle of just driving to the UPS store to ship.
If I'm headed to Gamestop anyhow, and have a few clunkers to unload, might as well bring them.
Re:Community support (Score:2)
Sell 'em on eBay, or the like. You get more, they pay less, you both win. I don't understand why anyone would sell games to used game store, unless it was a game that nobody out there wanted anymore and I could get store credit for it.
--trb
I buy used games... (Score:5, Insightful)
That's the bottom line. Ebay, Gamestop, EB Games or local independent game shops, it's all good. Saves me money and allows me to buy more games. If they want to sell more copies of newer titles, I see two options:
1. Make the game worth $50
2. Make the game cost less than $50
Re:I buy used games... (Score:2)
3. Make the game worth playing through again and again
Re:I buy used games... (Score:4, Insightful)
I buy used games all the time. At $5-$10/each I don't mind if I find myself spending much time with only one out of every 3 or 4 titles. Games are a funny thing, you often have to own them for a while before you know for sure if you really want them. If I drop $50 for a game, it better be something really special... and I'm no starving college student anymore. I can afford those games, but I just don't feel it's worth it. Most of the games I've spent the most time with lately I picked up in bargain bins, and I can never predict if something that gets me hooked will be one I picked up for $20 (or occasionally $30 or 40 or more), or some obscure or older bargain I get for $5.
People don't get it.. (Score:2, Insightful)
In any case, there's no difference to the producer if you purchased a used game or stole/pirated it outright.
There is absolutly no difference. Now, I'm the first to say that's the way our economy works, tough tiddles and all that...
But at the same time, the sale of used media is a bigger problem for media producers than any amount of piracy could ever be. Personally, I don't think it's that much of a problem. But at the same time, if you'
Re:People don't get it.. (Score:2)
That's not true. If I buy a used game from a friend, two things happen. That friend no longer has the game and will have to purchase another if they wish to play it again. Also, that friend then has some of my money that they can use to buy something else, say another game -- possibly by the same producer.
The secondary market is not an island, detached from the primary market. Each affects the
Re:People don't get it.. (Score:2)
First, when you buy a used game, someone bougth that game originally, so they end up selling one game, even though two players use the game.
Secondly, I imagine it's very common to do like I do. I buy my games something like 50/50 new and used, new games I tend to buy new, but older ones that I never got around to buying at their new price, I may buy used.
That's simply because some games are for me simply not worth the $50 or whatever they demand for them, at that price, I'm simply not going t
Game sales (Score:5, Interesting)
Used equivalence to not selling (Score:3, Insightful)
If people are selling games after playing through them, it is usually long enough after the release that these purchases would not affect the company's income very much. {Another case is that the game has little-no replay value, and here the company is paying for it.}
On the other hand, the author of the article makes good points and I do agree with him about supporting the companies {or local bands!} that one likes. Also, much of his arguements are about console games, which i feel have a larger used market than PC games {and I am almost entirely a PC gamer}.
"Trigonometry is good for your soul"
- [themathematicians.net]The Mathematicians
This is true. (Score:2)
The game does not factor in a $30 second-hand markup. The original retail markup is at least $20. For a $50 game, that's all calculated markup, and no profit (!) Not good.
In that situation, nobody wins, when compared to online auctions or smaller boutiques that have
What if used game sales are good? (Score:2, Interesting)
When a consumer eventually sells the video game that she/he purchased, they signal that they've exhausted all the entertainment value for themselves in the game and have chosen to use the money they've devoted to that game into another product that gives them more happiness. However, if the game is made well enough that the consu
Game companies complain? They fix prices! (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Game companies complain? They fix prices! (Score:3)
That has nothing to do with the price elasticity of demand or price-fixing. Rational consumers will always choose the "better deal," period.
"the morality of the issue" (Score:2)
It's not my fault if someone's dodgy business model doesn't work within the law and socially accepted behaviour.
Developers are crying to the wrong people (Score:5, Interesting)
One point... (Score:3, Insightful)
Greased Up Jesus On A Pogo Stick! (Score:5, Insightful)
First, creativity will always exist. If it flounders, an opportunity will emerge. There will always be people for whom the "work" is more akin to "love" and will do it not only cheaper but better than the competition. Linux*cough*linux.
Second, if old games were $15 and new games were $25, would this problem exist?
Believe it or not, I'm fairly tolerant of self-indulgent Slashdot posts. But this one takes the cake.
And in a world just around the corner... (Score:2)
He goes on to argue: "Buying books is equivalent to the game not selling at all in the eyes of developers and publishers, and when games don't sell, they don't get sequels and excellent concepts and, therefore, opportunities are lost."
Seriously, where is the complaint? You
How can I not? (Score:2, Insightful)
You know, I'm a Poor Student. This is not an excuse to buy second hand games, but rather, the fact that I can't afford all games I want every month is. Why?
The new games don't stay on store shelves long enough!
The game retailing seems like an extremely cut-throat thing. There's zillions of new games coming out all the time and the stores just won't keep up long.
I recently wanted to buy one (just released) game. It took a few months for me to scrape up the money for it. Went to the store. "Well, we h
Re:How can I not? (Score:2)
Take Disgaea. Where I live, it's now next to impossible to find a new or used one because word got around about how good it is. When there is a used one, it's $44.99. And they know they'll get it because it had such a small initial shipment and there's nothing more coming. The companies would rather develop and release the new games (La Pucelle, and yes, I realize it's not released by the same com
Here is a novel idea... (Score:2)
Game companies have no right to complain because their game gets bor
Who the hell are they trying to kid? (Score:4, Insightful)
For every one "Deus Ex" (Not TIW), "Beyond Good & Evil", or "Castlevania: SotN", they bury us in steaming, greasy piles of rehashed "Starwars: Episode 3.14159 Racer", "Final Fantasy 34", "Super Mario Strip Poker", and the "[sport name] [year]" EA crap.
Add to that underestimating demand for a game (Suikoden II, anyone?), a general "Screw the customers" attitude (That's right, SquareEnix, I'm talking to you, bitches), and you've got a right mess. Boo hoo. Stop trying to fleece me for $50 for a 10 hour game, and I'll stop buying it used.
Re:Who the hell are they trying to kid? (Score:2)
Makes Games Worth More (Score:2)
As for the enormous markup, that's what
In other news (Score:4, Insightful)
Seriously, how does this stifle creativity? If X people want a game, and want to continue playing it then X people will do so.
All resale prevents is from a game selling wildly upon high expectations, and not backing it up with long term playability. It sounds like it actually encourages creativity, because it makes them need to have an actually solid game
Good (Score:4, Interesting)
I could care less if they make a profit on it
If the game sucks
In my own opinion only the game developers hurt themselves with used games... if the game was that kickass, then there would be no reason somebody would wanna sell it back.
In fact i'm glad some game developers lose money cause i sell back games or buy used games
Businesses fail
Yeah, and buying used cars is immoral too! (Score:2, Funny)
here's an idea: (Score:2)
But I still haven't picked up a few of the "really really good" games of 2003 a
Replayability (Score:2)
I remember back in the days of my Atari, before used game stores, you looked in the paper, and people were always selling used games in the classifieds. If it isnt in a store, people would still go about it this way.
Ripping off Kids Too.. (Score:2)
Basic Economics says "nonsense." (Score:4, Insightful)
Instead of whining, publishers should work on making games that continue to be interesting after you've played them through once. Consider books, or movies, CD's. Although there is a used market for each, the market is not nearly as robust as the used games market. This is attributable to a couple of factors: first, the ridiculously high cost of games and, second, the fact that most games are worth playing only once if that. If games, like movies and books, were enjoyable to reuse and were not quite so expensive, people would be much less inclined to trade them in.
It's nice that you know economics... (Score:2)
There's nothing wrong with the secondhand sales market.
What's wrong is choosing EBGames as your marketplace.
Oh the humanity! (Score:3, Insightful)
Seriously though, the outcry on used games and piracy often assumes that if these options to get a game/cd/book at lower or no cost did not exist, then people would pay full price, which is a fallacy. I know that when I buy a used game, it is almost always because it is cheap. If it was full price, I would not buy it. Maybe I'm just cheap, but if I really want a game, I'll buy it when it first comes out, otherwise, for 90% of the games I buy I just wait untill they are around $19.95. I imagine that I'm not entirely alone on this. So when I buy a used game, the manufacturers aren't losing out on anything because I wouldn't buy it at full price anyway.
Or (Score:2, Interesting)
Real solution right here baby! (Score:2)
The publishers would prefer this as the price of games doesn't drop off too much other than the ones that don't sell well or are really old.
And another thought - publishers could come out with new versions every year. No one buys NFL 2003 after 2004 comes out and the inventory at EB becomes worthless.
Hidden value in new games (Score:2)
Take Out Library Books, Stifle Creativity? (Score:2)
What buying used *really* means... (Score:4, Interesting)
* The original owner didn't find the story satisfying enough to keep
* The original owner sold it to buy a newer game
* The original owner's younger brother needed ca$h fa$t and those rich nigerian people with slight banking problems won't put out to a 12 year old
In either of the first two cases, the game publisher's shouldn't continue the series - it was good for a few weeks/months of game play, but wasn't a classic, or is not good for group play.
-Adam
Short-sighted whining! (Score:2)
The resale market serves a number of critical functions -- it support high release prices because many aficionados will get first-day releases, beat the game and resell. These resales will capture new game addict^H^H^Hfans.
Total Bunk (Score:3, Interesting)
1. Purchased new at one point. 2. Sold back to the store.
So, the game has to have been purchased new (note the article says nothing about clearance games) and the person who originally bought it had to tire of it and decide they didn't want it anymore or that it was mistake to buy in the first place. This should be obvious.
Now, if games were like the used car market, this might not be enough to destroy this argument. I drive a 1990 Honda Accord, and I'm not planning to upgrade anytime soon. It's still a solid car. So, at some point, with games, there might be enough floating around that no one would buy new games, in theory.
But this would ignore certain facts about games:
1. The console lifecycle: Used games for consoles that don't boast backwards compatibility have a fairly short effective lifespan. Basically, they have whatever time is left in the lifespan of the console to be a major threat, because when the next generation of consoles come out no one will want to buy them anymore unless they are too poor to upgrade or collectors. On the other hand, Playstation II and Gameboy Advance are backwards compatible because the positives (keeping control of their respective markets) outweight the negatives (that people will occaisionally choose cheap, old, graphically inferior used games over the latest offerings).
2. No marketing: Games are only marketted when they are new, and this include reviews except for the occaisianal "classic reviews" in magazines like Game Informer. This means that you have to already know that you want the used game and be able to research information about it before you decide to buy it. I recently decided I wanted to buy the game "Splatterhouse 3" for my Sega Genesis for nostalga purposes. Considering it is a rather average game it was fairly expensive and difficult to find. It isn't competition for the new Silent Hill game in any sense for anyone but monomaniacal game collectors like me.
Frankly, another thing that makes this silly is that isn't it just as damaging to creativity to buy games like Namco Museum for Playstation, Super Mario Bros III for Gameboy Advance or Megaman Anniversary Collection for GameCube Used or not? After all, none of those are anything but compilations of older, popular titles. Any money they make will be a sign to the game companies that people want rereleases of older titles and not new titles that "push the envelope." Actually, isn't it worse, since precious marketing and publishing funds are "wasted" on these rehashes which isn't the case for a mint copy of "Super Mario Brothers III" for NES.
Oh, and one last thing. I don't care if games are creative, I only care if they are good and entertaining for me. Maybe the author of the article wants to establish a NEA of games... that's his business.
Used audio CDs (Score:2)
And this is exactly why you should always buy used CDs of bands you like. Legal music - and no additional money for the industry.
Too bad that most eBay CDs now come from powersellers who sell new ones.
Did you read the article? (Score:4, Interesting)
This is not about games that are no longer in release.
The retailer knows that it can make a lot of money by placing title "XYZ" used for $45 next to "XYZ" retail for $50, while only giving the seller of the used title a pittance in exchange. That markup is pure profit for the retailer, which helps neither game producer or player.
Here's my test to know whether your money is going to the right place:
1) If a used game is being sold for more than 75% the retail price, STOP, buy the game retail.
2) Ask the clerk how much the store would give you if you SOLD them a copy of that game. If the difference between that price and the used price is more than 50% of the retail price, STOP! Buy the game retail.
3) If the game isn't available retail, then it doesn't matter, buy it used.
The tests in 1 and 2 make sure that the store isn't ripping you and the publisher off. You'd be better off looking through ebay listings for that kind of markup.
Re:Did you read the article? (Score:2)
2) Ask the clerk how much the store would give you if you SOLD them a copy of that game. If the difference between that price and the used price is more than 50% of the retail price, STOP! Buy the game retail.
3) If the game isn't available retail, then it doesn't matter, buy it used.
Do these tests apply to video cards too? And to kitchen appliances? Are you "ripping off" NEC when you buy your office phones sec
Re:Did you read the article? (Score:2)
--Mike
Re:Did you read the article? (Score:2)
Retailer buys game for $x, sells for $y + n%
Somebody buys game for that price
Somebody sells the game to another retailer
Retailer resells game for a price depending on the condition
Now, if you got some game you know you won't like or can't run for your birthday, you could perfectly go and sell it, and I don't see how your pos
Re:Did you read the article? (Score:2)
2) Ask the clerk how much the store would give you if you SOLD them a copy of that game. If the difference between that price and the used price is more than 50% of the retail price, STOP! Buy the game retail.
The tests in 1 and 2 make sure that the store isn't ripping you and the publisher off. You'd be better off looking through ebay listings for that kind of markup.
That's total BS.
How it is ripping you off?
You'd get a better deal... (Score:2)
Used cars are one thing. Used books even. They take up space and you have to spend a lot of money up front. The seller also nets a SIGNIFICANT percentage of the market value for each of those items to nearly anyone they sell it to.
But used video games?
You rarely get more than 2/3ds the market price, and usually the only reason why a gamer would sell a game is to get money to buy more games, usually at the same establishment. The retailer is cashing i
Re:Did you read the article? (Score:3, Insightful)
1. The money doesn't disappear in the retailer's hands. The retailer (at least the retailers that do used sales) has a vested interest in gaming. They aren't taking all the money and spending it on giving crack to children. They're investing much of it back in the company (more distribution, more stores, etc). With your reasoning you should try to bypass the publishers and reach right to the developers because there's no guarentee that the publishers
Re:Sorry, (Score:4, Interesting)
The reality is, piracy doesn't actually take that much money away from the publisher, because people who pirate would generally go without instead of shelling out $99AUD for the latest cludged console converted catastrophy for PC. Much like the MP3 market where it's shown time and time again that if people don't pirate MP3's, it doesn't mean they'll buy more CD's.
But the person who walks into a game shop and shells out $99 for two used games would otherwise have spent that money on a brand new game and given that money to the publisher instead of the shop owner. Again the RIAA/ARIA are pretty livid about the second hand CD market. This market represents an even bigger threat to the RIAA than 2nd hand selling computer games... because SimCity 2000 looks awful by todays standards, but The Beatles still sound as good as they did all those years ago.
Re:Sorry, (Score:2)
Maybe they're not aging as well as hoped. (Or maybe I'm aging better than expected!)
Re:Sorry, (Score:2)