Comments on: Should we stop the sale of used video games?

Video game publishers say the sale of video games is bad for everyone. Should used games get tossed?

[Brian]

I recently bought a (new) Nintendo DS with only one game.

I plan on keeping it -- with NO PLANS for buying any other games.

The execs of ATARI deserve what happened back in 1984.

[Brian]

An incentive to get people to stop selling their games is simple --- make BETTER games!

If the games were made better, no one would sell them!

[bknowledge]

Used games make money for the gaming industry. I'm a casual gamer and don't buy a lot of games by any means, especially not full price new. I once bought a used copy of Ace Combat 4 because I never played the series before. After that I bought AC 5 & 6 the day they came out, plus a second copy of AC 6 because the 1st one got scratched. I was ready to buy a PS3 just to play AC7 on what ever day that that would have been released but they went with xbox.

So for the lost of $20 they've made over a $150 and a least one developer has another early adapter. But if they ban used games then I'll get them from another source and maybe I'll just all of my games from there too.

[iampav]

For me, this is a weak debate. The industry is always crying poverty, but compared to other entertainment media, video games are incredibly overpriced. Sure, you can factor in development times, investment in new technology, risk, etc, but other media - film, music, theatre, even board games, all take risk and have investment before revealing their loving creation to the public.

For comparison, take a game such as Turning Point vs a game in the COD series. On the shelf, to an unwary Joe Public, he could pick up either game (assuming this type of game is his favoured genre) and be incredibly stunned by the quality, or be incredibly disappointed - not in that order!!

Why then, should the consumer be prevented from immediately reselling if that game is incredibly poor, or when he's enjoyed his fill and wants others to share that experience?

I see where the development community is going. Currently, if you purchase a game from say XBox Live, you have no recourse or retail value when it turns out to be poor. You rely heavily on word of mouth, reviews from official and unofficial sources, reputation, etc. But if you're wrong, you can't sell it on. You now own it.

It seems that the favoured direction is download on demand, which will remove the ability to sell on. But, consumers must be compensated for the savings in packaging, distribution, in-store marketing, and most of all, the inability to sell-on their cherished or despised new title.

As a final example, I have purchased the last 6 in the FIFA soccer series (2003 - 2008). Some have demonstrated marginal improvements whilst others have been technological breakthroughs for the game. But once the season is up, the new version inevitably released, the resale value sinks massively.

For the community to be rewarded, rather than penalised for owning an older game, there should be more continuous support. Fifa 2008 for example could easily have received an update of features (5 v 5 to 10 v 10, squad updates) to make it equivalent to Fifa 2009. I'm yet to be persuaded that '09 is markedly different from 08 in more respects that I can justify the 30 GBP outlay at this time. But the trade in value of the previous instalment has facilitated my purchase of the next version. Each time, the publisher receives my 30 GBP. How can they complain?

Perhaps I'll purchase '09 when it becomes widely available in January as a used copy for more like 15 notes?