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Game Devs and the second hand market.

AWB70
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 1,197
Thanks: 20
Fixes: 3
Registered: ‎28-08-2007

Game Devs and the second hand market.

I notice these days game devs are clamping down on the second hand game market, the console games have pretty much got things sorted out with piracy with the threat of banning accounts and even consoles if found infringing copyright laws. 
Game devs have actually accused the second hand market as being on a par with piracy the games can change hands on many occasions with the developer losing out on sales and not making anything on after market sales. It would now appear they are tackling this with the likes of BFBC2 where you need the original disc to get the add ons to the game rather than bringing out a totally new engine instead by tweaking the one they have and by selling exclusive game codes that can only be used once.
I noticed MOH has a game code as well so if you were to buy the game used you would have to pay EA/Dice for a new code to get online.
What are your thoughts on it? Mine are that it's a bit of an unfair system, if you were to buy a second hand car would it be right that the original manufacturer kept the keys until you gave them some money as well?
On the other side of the coin I also think that trade in shops like Game etc do need some form of regulating, the mark up on the second hand game market has always been ridiculous in my opinion. When I gave up PC gaming after getting sick of having to spend a fortune on more equipment to get the releases to work I moved onto a ps3 for my gaming and use the PC for what it is. I took a load of titles in some new some not so and got something like £7.00 for them all knocked off a new ps3 game, one of the titles I took in then appeared on the shelf for £19.99  Shocked  Making it worse is the fact that if I had shopped around for the new title I was after I would have got it cheaper win win for the trade in store.
Now it would appear that if you bought the game second hand and needed a code from the developer at £8 then the game store would have to reduce it's price by at least that much to make it a worth while buy. Fair play I say.
It does have it's uses I suppose, my nephew is one of them who has to have every big title the day it comes out so when he gets bored with it I just buy it off him for a little bit more than trade in, win win me  Grin
I don't trade in shops any more for this reason, I would rather swap with a friend, ebay it or just keep it for one night when I'm bored and fancy a change rather than have my pants ripped off by the likes of game, play etc.

9 REPLIES 9
Steve
Seasoned Pro
Posts: 6,853
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Registered: ‎13-07-2009

Re: Game Devs and the second hand market.

I reckon Plusnet should have a forum for gamers to trade, Swap with other members of Plusnet, Could be good?
If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
AWB70
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 1,197
Thanks: 20
Fixes: 3
Registered: ‎28-08-2007

Re: Game Devs and the second hand market.

You know what m8 that was my thoughts exactly today.
http://www.swapshop.co.uk/
PN are already on it notice the advert at the bottom, I wonder what the honest yorkshire terrier will do when it eventually dominates the world  Wink
artificer
Grafter
Posts: 1,850
Registered: ‎11-08-2007

Re: Game Devs and the second hand market.

i'd tell them to go forth and multiply.  how dare they have a go at the only available market some people have?  what next, no charity shops selling the clothes i could never afford to buy new?  how greedy can people get?
this software patent nonsense needs knocking on the head.  it's counter-productive.
Steve
Seasoned Pro
Posts: 6,853
Thanks: 336
Registered: ‎13-07-2009

Re: Game Devs and the second hand market.

Microsoft Is trying to go down the download route for games, No disc, No box, No nice smelling new manuals, No trading, I personally hope they FAIL. As seen on Dragon's Den.....http://www.gaboom.co.uk/
If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
Gus
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 3,236
Thanks: 26
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Registered: ‎31-07-2007

Re: Game Devs and the second hand market.

@Steve Steam beat them to it, ok its a distributor now seeing as the HL/CS chain has died.  But getting annoying to find games that do Not require steam to play it offline even when I do buy a Boxed game.
As for reselling If they won't price console games lower can't see why they are complaining if people sell on old games they no longer want.  They have had more than their wedge from gamers buying them, just glad I'm a PC gamer £19-25 for a game is ok but paying £35-50 not a chance
FTTP 500 regrade from Tues 28th November
zubel
Community Veteran
Posts: 3,793
Thanks: 4
Registered: ‎08-06-2007

Re: Game Devs and the second hand market.

The problem is that the mental transaction suddenly becomes a lot higher.
I buy a new game, thinking that when I'm bored of it, it will have a residual second-hand value.  Therefore a £40 game suddenly becomes £20-£25.
If games are unable to resell them, they will have zero residual value and gamers will suddenly start thinking that games are too expensive.
B.
SilentBoBuk
Dabbler
Posts: 22
Registered: ‎12-10-2010

Re: Game Devs and the second hand market.

All games for consoles in the near future will be download only to help prevent the resell/copyright of the product purchased this is a ongoing thing at the moment and or may start to take affect from late 2012, this was raised back when the ps2 came out when illegal copys of games had hit an overall high,

so look out in the future as internet may be a requirement when buying a console
AWB70
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 1,197
Thanks: 20
Fixes: 3
Registered: ‎28-08-2007

Re: Game Devs and the second hand market.

Quote
  i'd tell them to go forth and multiply.  how dare they have a go at the only available market some people have?  what next, no charity shops selling the clothes i could never afford to buy new?  how greedy can people get?
 
I don't have a problem with the 2nd hand market as such but rather the margins involved, I myself am not in a position to just go get every title that comes out the day it's released I usually pick the one I will be wasting the most of my life on and any others I pick up when they're at a price I can afford when I can afford it. If the likes of game were genuinely helping us out they would have better deals, my friend took Haxw2  back because they didn't like it and wanted something else, they gave him £25 for it trade and put it back on the shelf at £37.99 the original was £39.99 what help is that to the skint gamer? Then to compound that they charged him £39.99 for MOH which was only £34.99 over the road in Argos  Shocked not a bad 5minutes work for Game. Roll_eyes
Long story short if they passed on the savings to the punter then yes I would say they have a purpose but what they are doing is making as much margin on the title without having to provide the back up, updates or servers to play it on so I can see where the Devs get miffed.
A few of my friends are now using love film for their gaming, they pay a £10 month and can have any title they want for as long as they want, you are restricted I believe to how many a month you can get but it might be for you. your entire gaming budget for the year is £120.00 and you get whatever you want when you want it. Undecided
Azagoth
Grafter
Posts: 661
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Registered: ‎01-08-2007

Re: Game Devs and the second hand market.

Of course it's unfair.  After all, the games companies have already received their monies from the sale of the game originally.  It just smacks of total greed to try and make money from the 2nd hand market.