| Twistedpixel said: I have never seen any indication that the used market was significant for PC games. PC games can often be had for a lot lower price than console games, especially when considering Steam sales or equivalent. I don't see how this individual case warrants special attention here when it is common for multiplayer games especially. There have been games that for years have had a unique key for online play and once used thats it for being used except for perhaps the single player part of the game. You can give away the username and password to the game as well if you sell it. There have always been cases where the terms of sale have proved to be unacceptable for some, take the iPhone for instance. Even a desirable physical product can be saddled with terms and conditions which are unsavoury for many people. I don't see how these terms and conditions are an affront to you, the games they sell can be classified as a service which they have deemed to be non-transferable. I cannot see how your rights are affronted here in that they are delivering the stated goods under the terms and you are free to accept or decline their offer. As a counterpoint to the people without internet, there are also many people who cannot easily pack a disc with them when they want to play games. It may be limited space, lack of an optical drive or a desire to share the game with another person. These people are already excluded, but you address no time to discuss their needs because their needs have already been affronted as the status quo? As a publicly traded company Ubisoft has a mandate to give the maximum profit to its shareholders that it is capable of. Since they have invested likely considerable time and effort in producing this scheme, it must stand to reason that they also believe that it will increase their profitability. Outside of an assumption, is there any evidence to contradict the assumption that they are carrying out their mandate in the best way they see fit? |
I don't know what the used market for PC games is like, though I agree it's not as prevalent as that of the consoles. THat said, I cannot imagine what other reason they would have for this RM, since it's certainly not to stop piracy. And no, you can't give away your name and username for these games - they're tied to your Ubisoft account, which is said by Ubisoft to be impossible to sell because it contains personal information. I don't know what personal information would make it impossible for you to sell it outside of your credit card info, bu I'll take their word at face value until given reason to do otherwise.
The terms and conditions are not acceptable to me as a person who holds the status quo of consumer rights to be superior to these new proposed terms.
Concerning solutions for people who cannot easily pick up discs: there are already solutions for those problems, such as purchasing games through Steam. The status quo already addresses the needs of people who cannot abide by the need for physical media, because that is the nature of the market.
I have no doubt that they think this is for the best, of course, but you will forgive me if, after similar fiascos throughout the past few years (Spore is worth mentioning and has been brought up before) I anticipate them as being wrong.
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