David Jaffe hates his customers. Does not want used game sales to continue

[mike_intellivision]

Some thoughts.

Jaffe -- along with several other "big name" developers are known for having big egos and big opinions. Nothing wrong with that. They are "great" and they know it. However, sometimes it can lead to feeling that their vision is always right -- and that is a problem.

I am going to preface this by saying I buy a lot of used games -- many if not most at Gamestop. So I may be biased for that.

But it seems to me that what many of these developers want -- including Jaffe -- is a console world closer to the PC world. The PC world has virtually no used market because you do not own the game, only a license to play the software. But that also usually comes at a lower price (console games cost 1.5x-2x PC games). Also, there are sometimes Internet registration requirements. The former limits profits. The latter limits the market. And of course, there is much more piracy.

Also, digital distribution is not the panacea some make it out to be. The Internet backbone in the United States is relatively (5.1 MBs average download speed). And console companies moving into this area think that they can charge full (or higher) price for download versions of games also available at retail.

Finally, Gamestop contends that gamers trade in games to buy more games. To the degree that that is true, preventing such actions would also take money away from game purchases.

Mike from Morgantown