THQ: Buying used games is "cheating".

[Purkake]

Then you can just import them from Estonia, problem solved

[Flouride]

Then you can just import them from Estonia, problem solved

 

What? They sell other products than booze and cigarettes in Estonia? Why was I not told

[Calax]

Basically this.

 

Of course, I don't think gamestop would be in business at all without used games because the profit margin is just SOOOO friggin high.

[Amentep]

It doesn't change the fact that the game publishers are apparently the only people concerned with a second-hand market (book publishers don't, music publisher's didn't, comic book publishers don't (in fact they cater to this market), car makers don't, movie producers don't, etc.)

[Hassat Hunter]

I think it's well researched phenomenon that most people who play modern big budget games don't even beat them.

What? They lowered the playtime from 20 to 5 hours and people still cannot finish them? What the hell?

I think I get far better budget out of buying a Sam and Max season for $35 than I get buying the latest Halo for $60. Especially since I don't care for Halo's multiplayer option.

That's just because Telltale are awesome. Doesn't get to mean any other company who goes doing similar things would be quite as awesome. And even TTG themselves seem to fall down with the MI-DVD release (not to mention the W&G), S&M3xx being plenty bugridden etc.

 

If only GameStop would give a part of the used sale profit as royalty we would have been spared of ME2 like tactics to prevent second-hand sales, which will creep in more games. Because it's just them all the people in the business mean when thrashing second-hand sales, believe you me... but of course they can't call names, still a costumer and all.

 

EDIT:

It doesn't change the fact that the game publishers are apparently the only people concerned with a second-hand market (book publishers don't, music publisher's didn't, comic book publishers don't (in fact they cater to this market), car makers don't, movie producers don't, etc.)

But as far as I know there isn't a shopnetwork making millions of these used sales, those are regularly more individual sellers, or second-hand shops with other things to sell. And even if they are professional, like car-dealers, it's not a keten making millions over other people's work.

Edited August 25, 2010 by Hassat Hunter

[Amentep]

Eh, I've seen chain used music stores, chain used VHS/DVD stores, chain Car dealers and chain comic book stores.

 

Apparently THQ isn't going to be happy unless everyone buys the game new the week it comes out and if the buyer ends up not liking the game to have no option other than to use the discs as coasters.

[Hurlshort]

Apparently THQ isn't going to be happy unless everyone buys the game new the week it comes out and if the buyer ends up not liking the game to have no option other than to use the discs as coasters.

 

That isn't what he said at all. He said don't complain that you aren't getting the fancy online stuff if you aren't buying new.

[Calax]

It doesn't change the fact that the game publishers are apparently the only people concerned with a second-hand market (book publishers don't, music publisher's didn't, comic book publishers don't (in fact they cater to this market), car makers don't, movie producers don't, etc.)

Books music and movies all run MUCH cheaper than games, thus it is nowhere near as easy to justify buying used over new for the dollar value. Comic books I can't comment on for the economic model but I get the feeling that anymore they are supported more by surrounding media than by the books themselves somewhat.

 

Cars and movies are different beasts all together. Car manufacturers not only are selling the car, but also the maintenance on the car. So ultimately they can theoretically earn more money as a car changes hands than if people just kept buying new ones. And movies are usually not judged by how they do in DVD sales. They're judged by box office sales, which Games have no allegory to.

[Purkake]

Then you can just import them from Estonia, problem solved

 

What? They sell other products than booze and cigarettes in Estonia? Why was I not told

We only tell that to people we can trust.

[greylord]

Well, then perhaps someone should call THQ and ask them why they are polluting the environment and are anti-green. Ask them why they want to destroy the earth so much that they have turned anti-green earth.

 

Apart from that, they were anti-recycling a while ago...they require their games to be authenticated already via steam for the one copy per customer...so meh...nothing really new. It isn't like someone is going to buy WHDoW2 used since it would be useless anyways.

[Hassat Hunter]

Eh, I've seen chain used music stores, chain used VHS/DVD stores, chain Car dealers and chain comic book stores.

Are they making the numbers (profit) GameStop is making?

It's understanding that if a company earns MILLIONS (apparently more than most publishers themselves) on a semi-black market operation the original suppliers want a cut, or try cutting the market down...

 

EDIT: And the sollutions provided now (forced reg with Steam, "new copy DLC" etc.) are much less userfriendly than GameStop paying up. So what would you rather want happening?

Edited August 25, 2010 by Hassat Hunter

[entrerix]

used games is a black market now?

 

damn. **** just got real.

[Maria Caliban]

Game publishers, and software publishers in general, seem to think they're above the free market. They've already diluted the concept of ownership in a way no other industry has managed to do.

 

If he thinks he has it bad, he should look at the book publishing industry. Retailers can return any books they don

[Purkake]

If people keep buying their stuff, who cares?

 

The book publishing is indeed crazy.

Edited August 25, 2010 by Purkake

[greylord]

THQ seems at the forefront of the persecution of gamers in recent years...which is sad. I was quite the fan of theirs...when they actually stood up for the little man and the gamer in me. Ironically they were the ones that led the charge turning me from the light side to the dark side (no, I don't pirate...I mean from PC gaming to console gaming). On the opposite end of this entire cheating thing THQ is over...you have stardock's latest release.

 

There has been some flak over stardock's latest game release...Elemental. It's convinced me WHY I'm thinking PCgamer and so much of the PC game industry is out of touch with those who play games, and why consoles are growing larger and larger in sales...whilst PC gaming is taking a back seat.

 

One of the big things is something that you don't find everywhere, but you'll find from Stardock, and from Obsidian. They actually TALK to their fans. That's right, you can find people who work on the actual games in their forums and in their communications...even if it's just occasionally. Most places have some lacky called human resources or something that has NO idea about computers or the programming of a game to respond now days...or even worse...no one at all.

 

I used to be a hardcore PCgamer, and a hardcore PC Gamer magazine reader. In the past year I've let my subscription drop, and as many know, I'm actually more of a console gamer now than a PC gamer. I don't have to worry about being online as a console gamer for starters...and the entire flap of THQ's idea that I'm cheating them by buying a second hand game (which normally means I either thought the game was not good enough to buy at their prices to begin with so they didn't lose anything that way...OR they stopped publishing the game in a form that I can buy...so they don't get it from me that way either) makes me think that something like Stardock's Gamers Bill of Rights should be made law instead of just a stance.

 

It would be nice if companies had to start thinking about their customers instead of simple advertising and the bottom line. Anyways this is the other item that means that despite any qualms some people are making about Elemental, now that I've been reminded it's out...despite the bugs...I'm buying it.

 

http://www.gamersbillofrights.org/

 

Now it should be interesting how Stardock responds to #1 of the gamer rights with the latest release of Elemental...

 

However, THQ it appears doesn't like #10

 

#10 Gamers shall have the right to sell or transfer the ownership of a physical copy of a game they own to another person.

 

I see it as fundamental as anything else...such as books, dvd's, cars, etc.

 

Thank goodness the console market is still sane (and by the way, I actually rarely sell my games either, but occasionally I'll find out about some older game that is no longer published...if it weren't for the second hand copies...I'd have never gotten them to be able to play them!).

[Maria Caliban]

I don't know anything about Elemental. What issues does it have?

[Wrath of Dagon]

A book takes may be 6 months for one person to produce. A game could take years and a team of 100+ in addition to outsourcing. The economics are just completely different.

[LostStraw]

I don't know anything about Elemental. What issues does it have?

 

Apparently the launch has been plagued with technical problems.. bugs, crashes and what not. There's a patch for it out already but I have no idea what the current state of the game is as I don't own it.

[Amentep]

Apparently THQ isn't going to be happy unless everyone buys the game new the week it comes out and if the buyer ends up not liking the game to have no option other than to use the discs as coasters.

 

That isn't what he said at all. He said don't complain that you aren't getting the fancy online stuff if you aren't buying new.

 

Perhaps I'm being a bit of an alarmist, but I can't imagine that this is going to stop at online content. Once people have had to live for awhile with online content being locked away, or not being able to access online features at all (per the EA model), I think the companies will start looking at ways of applying the model to the whole game content.

[Amentep]

A book takes may be 6 months for one person to produce. A game could take years and a team of 100+ in addition to outsourcing. The economics are just completely different.

 

Michael Chabon's Pulitzer Prize winning The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay took 4 years to write, I think, this after spending 5 years on a novel he ultimately put aside, unable to complete.

 

(Yeah its still one person, but you make it sound so easy).

 

Still not sure the expense of producing a game means one has to be forced to use the disc as a coaster because the game publishers decided that the used game market was affecting their bottom line (which I should add, I'm not sure is actually the case; I think the majority of people who buy used games wouldn't have bought the game if it wasn't used so I don't think they'll see the upswing in consumers from killing the second hand market for games.)

Edited August 26, 2010 by Amentep

[Gorgon]

I'm sure the game makers would rather get paid twice than once but that's neither here nor there.

 

Does a TV maker have any control of who his flat screen get's re-sold to, does he expect to get paid again. I don't care that a game cost almost nothing to duplicate once it's finished. The game producers might get an enormous bulge in the gentleman's region over earning potential only to be depressed by reality, but they are hardly alone there. The law says fair use includes re-sale and its not even a tiny bit unfair to anyone when people do it.

Edited August 26, 2010 by Gorgon

[Calax]

Uhhh, GDM, I'm fairly certain that they're talking about console games given gamestop doesn't resell PC games at ALL due to legal reasons. In California at least it was literally illegal for us to puchase and sell computer games used because they could be locked out of content due to a key code being hooked into the interwebz. To complain about computer games resale is... interesting given the sheer amount of anti-piracy garbage you have to go around now a days that often winds up with you being locked out of online if you're the second (or third/fourth/fifth) user.

[kirottu]

A book takes may be 6 months for one person to produce. A game could take years and a team of 100+ in addition to outsourcing. The economics are just completely different.

 

I don

[Thorton_AP]

Game publishers, and software publishers in general, seem to think they're above the free market. They've already diluted the concept of ownership in a way no other industry has managed to do.

 

If he thinks he has it bad, he should look at the book publishing industry. Retailers can return any books they don

[Maria Caliban]

A book takes may be 6 months for one person to produce.

 

I know novelists can write a rough draft in a month, but outside of some Harliquin lines with 50k word count, I'm not aware of any living novelists who've claimed to write a final draft in six months. Can you name one?

 

I know Kerouac claimed that he wrote On the Road in one three week period, but that was after seven years of writing out various scenes in notebooks. James Patterson appears to finish four books a year, but he's hired 6 other writers to write under his name as well as having 2 personal assistants and editors. VC Andrews published 5 books in 1999 despite having died in 1986 thanks to a talented team of ghostwriters.

 

Brandon Sanderson is a well known fantasy novelist (he's finishing Jorden's The Wheel of Time) who's been known to crank out 5k words a day. However, he does significant background writing and outlining before hand, as well as editing afterwards. He

Edited August 26, 2010 by Maria Caliban