Pre-owned market is "defrauding the industry"

[Ail]

rocketpig said:

starcraft said:

rocketpig said:

starcraft said:

rocketpig said:

Secondly, where are the complaints about how consumers are getting fucked through digital distribution? No disc, no packaging, no retailer to split profits... Yet we get charged the same price for it. In typical form, these business owners are profiting from the new business model through digital distribution and then complaining that 100% of things aren't going their way because they also lose money from used sales.

I'm largely going to stay out of this argument.  But I will just say that one reason online distributed games cost the same as other brick and mortar copies and other games completely is so that retailers don't get undercut and have a bitch.

Oh, I fully understand that.

With that said, why are developers looking out for retailers over consumers? Oh, that's right, money. They don't seem to have a problem screwing the consumer when it helps them financially.

Yet they bitch when the consumers get a leg up through a different method...

Really, I can't believe anyone would defend this attitude. Sure, Gamestop charges too much for some used games. I fully acknowledge that and GS will not get a dime from me in situations like that. Also, selling used materials as new is illegal in pretty much every country I know of so that company should be reported on ethical grounds. Still, at the end of the day, Gamestop and their ilk provide a valuable service to consumers in an industry that often forgets they serve the customer by putting out redundant, short, offline games that offer little value for our $60 buy-in price. If developers don't like that, they can go fuck themselves. Period.

But thats just it.  I care about gaming retail.  In my country, I could download one game a month and stay below my download cap.  The download itself could take days.

Not to mention the self-defeating nature of this particular part of your argument.  If developers undercut retail and retail disappears, so does your right to sell your game, and buy your new games second hand.

 

Why do you believe the used market will die if new retail slows? If anything, it will flourish.

Anyway, my point isn't that DLC games should be cheaper... I'm fine with developers looking out for new retailers by keeping DLC prices in line with retail. What I'm not okay with is developers looking out for new retailers and then bitching about used retailers eating into their hypothetical profits.

They can't have their cake and eat it, too. You take the good with the bad whenever a new business model pops up. Attempting to squash the "bad" - especially when it hurts consumers - reeks of short-sightedness and immature business practices. Unless you actually agreed with the RIAA and their shenanigans of the late 90s.

 

If downloads pick up there will be less retail copies sold so less copies available to be resold through the used market so the used game market should slow as downloads pick up.

Once download become prominent , the customer most likely to still pick up retail copies will be collectors and those aren't likely to resell them either..