[quote name='Rocky071']My main concern regarding used games is for a couple reasons:
1. I dislike buying a used game at one place and wondering if I could have got it cheaper at another place.
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Can't the exact same thing be said about used games? What if, two weeks ago, you had bought Guitar Hero: Aerosmith PS3 from Toys R Us for $40?
2. Used game market is hurting the gaming industry as it's taking money out of developers pockets...
You're right, there is no evidence for that, aside from some whiners who can't figure out that to make a profit, you need to make a good game.
The faulty concept of "used game = lost sale = stolen money" is just that-- faulty. Authors have tried to make this argument against used book stores and libraries, and have failed. Movie makers have tried to make the same argument against used video stores and rental places and have failed. Car makers have... well, you get the point.
Just because someone buys a game used does not mean they would have or COULD HAVE bought it new at full price. And even if you manage to find a way to restrict a game to only being sold new to a single user, it'll either be broken, or you get Steam. Or you get some sort of monopoly that controls the only source of what everyone wants. What do you think will happen to the prices then?
Every Canadian and American (and most of the est of the world) has a right called the Right of First Sale. Basically, when you buy something, it's yours to do as you see fit. Use it, ignore it, destroy it-- or resell it. Ownership is yours, and whoever sold it to you can take a flying leap if they don't like it-- they shouldn't have sold it in the first place.
If the second-hand market was the anathema that entertainment produced claim it was, every single movie, book and game publishing house would have been out of business year ago.
And really, would you want a game that was tied to only working with the original owner? You'd constantly be praying that the company never went out of business. 18 years later, and I can still play Target Earth on my Genesis, and I always will be able to. Come 2027, how many people will be able to play Portal on their PC? And even if it still works, how are you going to get a copy?
3. Game recycling gives people incentive to buy up titles just for the sake of re-selling, therefore redistributing them to another source which will charge higher....
And not having a secondary source of a product gives companies incentive to charge anything they desire (ie: a higher price). There would be zero competition.
And no matter what the market may be, there'll always be assholes/rfd people.
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As for regulation being realistic, probably not likely, though I don't think it's an entirely unrealistic possibility.
Impossible. See right of first sale above. Even if EA and Microsoft try to buy some legislation, BBV and EB are just as powerful and can fight back.
I don't know the economics behind it, but I have to imagine EB is losing money giving out all this store credit for titles that are clearly never going to re-sell for much, if at all.
Then, quite frankly, that's EB's problem, and not one of the tax payer. If the used game market isn't profitable for them, then they can easily get out of it. Stop taking trade ins, sell off their current used stock, and go new games only. It is not the responsibility of the government to create legistlation to protect their business.
I could see a voluntary organization emerging that establishes a standard price for used games, with companies using it more and more.
They have that. It's called the free market. EB can chose to charge whatever they want for a used game. But if the majority of people won't pay that much, then you have your price point.
Break even point is (SELLING PRICE * NUMBER OF UNITS SOLD) - FIXED COST PER UNIT > 0
Or in EB's case, (Used game price * number of people willing to buy at that price) - Total amount paid out in TIV for that title.
If it's > 0, you're making profit. If not, re-evaluate one of the variables. Since they don't limit the number of copies they take in, they either:
a) Charge more and hope the same number of people buy (sell 1 at $20 is not as good as 20 at $2)
b) Charge less and hope more people buy it
c) Lower the tiv and hope people provide enough stock to sell enough units
? ( i doubt it..)
