This week THQ made some bold statements about used game sales. It’s a point that’s been made many, many times before, and not just in reference to games but in other media as well, like the used software, CD, and DVD markets.
I’m a fan of used media because it’s inexpensive. I’m cheap, I’ll admit it. I don’t believe it’s piracy because I am purchasing a transferrable license to use something. The manufacturer has already sold the product and has received payment for it. The original buyer is no longer using the product and I am now using it instead. Nothing has been stolen, copied, or otherwise.
I read the stance of Tycho from Penny Arcade and it made some sense. You’re not buying something from the creator of the product, you’re buying something from someone reselling, and how is that not hurting the creator? But isn’t that the nature of buying anything used?
This paradigm isn’t really new to media, though, when you think about it. We buy used cars, used clothes, used electronics and appliances. How is that any different? Those used products are in direct competition with the new products.
In my mind this is just the natural order of things. I find nothing inherently wrong with the idea of purchasing used items, even media, it’s a financially sound thing to do as a consumer. There’s a trade off, usually the warranty is not transferrable, the product is not in perfect condition, pieces can be missing, etc.
There is, however a few unique things about several of these items, and that is “extra” features that are outside the realm of just a physical item, and that is access to other systems. When you buy a new GM car, you get a year of OnStar for free, but in a used car you have to sign up and pay for it. When you buy most games, you get an unlimited online experience as well as an on-disc experience. That part, to me, is questionable when it comes to used games, particularly. If I had to buy a used copy of Call of Duty, and it was $20, but I couldn’t play online, while the new copy was $59 and I could play online I’d spring for the new copy.
So what is a reasonable way to handle this? I think that crippling the on-disc experience for used-game buyers is a lousy way to go and will end up hurting the developer more in the long run (because the game experience to the end-user would not be of the intended quality). But what about cutting out the premium options of the game, online multiplayer, or very limited multiplayer (less maps, limited game types, timed games) then letting the used-game-buyers purchase a license for those premium services. That would also force the used-game retailers to drop the price of used games significantly, making the new games more appealing and possibly opening a new market for allowing the used-game retailers to sell pre-purchased premium-content cards.
Realistically, I see this problem solving itself in the near future. I’m really expecting the next generation of consoles to have an all-digital-distribution model or a subscription model. While that will kill some of the old-day fun of bringing a game to your friends house to play, it will certainly solve the issue at hand and models like NetFlix, Steam, and iTunes have proven to be wildly popular.
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