6 Reasons Why Blocking Used Games Will Never Work

Game development studios and publishers have whipped the debating post of blocking used games for a long time. It’s a contentious topic: gamers want to be able to buy and sell their games as they see fit. After all, they did buy them and developers realize the same game is often sold multiple times without any of the additional revenue generated going to those who made the game. GameStop’s entire business model rests on buying and selling used games. And the latest rumor over Microsoft’s upcoming XBox 720 made a sharp hit on the stock of the top used game reseller.

[GribbleGrunger]

I look at the picture provided with the article and wonder why people don't understand why Sony and Microsoft have considered locking games to one account. I'm not saying it's a good idea or a bad idea, I'm just looking at that picture, remembering what it's like in the stores near me and thinking: 'perhaps they have a point'.

[AngelicIceDiamond]

The game industry will succeed alright. Succeed in causing a gigantic backlash from their consumers. This crap will never happen trust me. Its not economical right for the game industry. Consumers this gen will find any excuse not to pick up a game/consoles anyway.

right http://127.0.0.1:1886/start...

And believe that 60% will rise. gamers no matter how passionate, will not support this.

[Tvensky]

the thing is.... I suffer from high prices this gen already, many gamers didnt buy many great games because of the price, and if they block used games, can you imagine what will happen, people like me will suffer even more, we will pass on so many great titles since we just cant afford to buy every good damn game, and thats bad for developers also, since people will just skip theyre products.... this is no good for no one, I even consider not to buy next gen consoles (at least at start) if used games will be blocked and next gen consoles will be all about earning money (and actually it wont, since they will make less money due to fact that people will just skip many games, and continue to do so..) it could actually kill gaming softly and make it very separate, since every player will play its own games, online will be awffull................

[Tzunoy]

agree man, only stupid people will embrace the idea. not to mention that developers loose money because the games will be acquirable only via psn or xbl and what about stores where people come and go every day, what about a present? is like hiding the games for no one to see leading to poor sales.

[hazelamy]

maybe they don't understand why the games industry feels it deserves something no other industry gets.

why their fair share isn't enough for them, they want to profit from our purchases even after we've paid them for them.

maybe they like to own the things they buy.

ever heard of something called first sale doctrine?

it says that once we've paid the publisher, their right to dictate what we can do with our purchases ends.
so long as we stay within the law, they no longer have the right to tell us what we can do with our purchase or profit from any subsequent resale.

you ever thought, maybe the reason why this industry got so big was because of the thriving trade in market?
where people could trade in old games to get a hefty discount on new games.

because i do, in fact i think if they did succeed in destroying the preowned market like they want to, they may find they're a whole hell of a lot worse off without it.

you know why they've got this hard on for destroying the preowned market now, when it's been part of the industry from almost the beginning?

because they finally felt the pinch from the worldwide recession, a recession that affected just about every business, and that gaming weathered better than almost any other industry, after years and years of growth and they want the old boom times back, so they're going after the preowned market.

it's short sighted, short term thinking, led by greed.

[nugnugs]

Exactly. The point ive made many times, being that the used market has always been there. Its not new or unique to recent times. With the old Commodore and Spectrum tapes you could just borrow and copy, yet the gaming market was built on those systems and games and didn't crash or dissapear.
This is the business now. Micro transactions, network passes etc. profit, profit, profit.

[muttley65]

i rather walk in used game store pay 9.99 than 59.99 +tax 64.00 gamers will not support this.

[landog]

why do people think you cannot buy used games on pc??

i do it all the time, and i sell my pc games occasionaly
the only ones you cannot sell are steam/origin games

i sold my copy of lotr bfme2 for $85 a while ago....lol..wheni bought it it was $20

you can buy TONS of pc games used, you just need to know the drm behind them, if any....

many newer pc titles use steamworks as a way of curbing the pc used sales, but got to amazon and click pc games then look at the 10's of thousands of used games

there are more used pc games to buy than ps3/360/ps2/wii and xbox combined!

and you can bet ms and sony are going to find a way to seriously stifle the used market, it is inevitable

the best way to do this is not by force, make digital games available for $29.99 at release day, i'm talking AAA ps4/nextbox games, $29.99 for the digital version and $60 for retail

then everyone who wants the box, and wants to be able to trade it in and get ripped off at gamestop can, and then everyone else can just buy the digital version for half off

if you want me to pay $65 for a game, you bet your ass i want a box, a COLOR manual, and some damn fine artwork on it too

i own over 300 steam games, but there is not one digital download i have ever paid full price for, if i want a game bad enough to pay $50-$60 for, i want to own the copy!

i also have over 400 boxed pc games, i love them, they are my prized collection, also own about 80 ps3 games, 40 xbox games, 100 ps2 games, 30 ds games, 50 psp games

i almost never sell any of my games, unless it goes rare and i can get a ton of money for it....then i may if im not in love with the art or the game

sometimes i like the box of the game better than the game itself...lol

[ziggurcat]

there's no need for 6 reasons because it's never going to happen.

[hazelamy]

i hope you're right, but common sense seems to be in short supply in this industry lately.

[delboy]

Diablo 3 says hello.
Now wait for a Diablo port for next gen consoles and you will become a believer.
Or wait for a new CoD game with always online like Diablo.

It's inevitable believe it or not.

[talisker]

I think we might get something in the middle. If the cloud service for PS4 is as I think it will be, you will be able to register your game with your PSN account and then you'll be able to download it digitally along the physical copy. You may sell the copy but the next owner won't be able to download it digitally, of course. But I think he will be able to play the game from a disk.

Just a speculation. What do you think?

Amazon's just announced they're going to sell pre-owned media files. I can't even imagine how it's going to work legally but gives you some thoughts.

[exsturminator01]

I don't think that would work. If what you're describing means the first buyer gets a digital copy forever, then it would be the equivalent of each Steam sale coming with a free copy of the game they could gift to a friend. If the original buyer got to keep playing even after they sold the game, you'd effectively be selling two copies of the game...though now that you mention it, I guess that's what a lot of DVD's and Blu-Rays are doing now, so who knows. Good thought either way.

[CrescentFang]

What if the PS1 had something to block used games? Or the Saturn? It would throw away all my hopes of buying Suikoden II or Panzer Dragoon Saga one day.
I buy new games always, but most of them aren't AAA games by big publishers. This would definitely kill small game developers and publishers. I am forced to buy a lot of games used since no game can be manufactured forever...

[coffinxnails]

I would not mind them doing this as long as they kept games in print and started at a lower price point as well as dropped in price quicker than normal.

[jagstatboy]

Corporate greed will never allow for compromise. If we gamers bend over and take this up the rear willingly, there will be no end to the new ways they will attempt to screw us.

[lazytechguys]

How do publishers know when and what price to drop its games if there are no trade-ins? With no used market they will never have a solid gauge on dropping price - that is, IF they do.

[strifeblade]

i would not mind if they did an online access pass system, where every brandnew game comes with a pass to play the game and brandnew games would include it. used games would force you to have to buy the pass otherwise the game is locked. the access pass would cost maybe 5$ for single player games that dont normally have online and maybe 10$ for multiplayer games), that way devs can still make a small profit on used games and we can still enjoy buying used games at a fair price. similar to this gen 's online pass system but that passs only locks multiplayer games(great for games that have multi but single player games suffer since we always have access, I'm suggesting devs put a 5$-10$ pass system for all games and without it the game is locked.

For this to work however we have to live in an age where evrey consumer has access to internet in the household, otherwise it would be disasterous to enforce since you would be cutting the market out that does not have internet. The only thing i can imagine is they region lock the system, so areas of the world where there are gamers with no internet would have no pass system and be unaffected, but areas of the world where the user base has almost everyone that owns the console have internet, can be enforced.

Im not against consumers since im one myself but i would hate to see good franchises/ dev studios go out of business where a system such as the one i suggested could save them and generate some profit and allow them to make single player experiences we enjoy instead of forcing devs to design uninspired multiplayer games so they can charge us for an online pass in order to generate profits.