| numonex said: I'm surprised Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft haven't all pushed for second hand game / software sales to be deemed illegal purely on that point. It wouldn't surprise me at all for it to happen within the next 5 years. With the current glut of games I often see new release games drop to half price within 2-3 months, makes me wonder how the market can survive. I'm expecting another video games crash like back in the 80s. |
There is a risk of a possible crash, if current safeguards break down, and people move onto other forms of play besides videogames. I believe the Wii has shown that the path of increased production value is a no-win situation. You get ever decreasing returns on investment by pumping more and more into better voice acting and graphics and storytelling above all. The videogame market can't afford to become like the movie industry, because it doesn't have opening box office to generate sales, and then the home market. The videogame industry is straight to video deal, and that means pusing $100 million to make a game is unsustainable.
I don't see that a crash like the 1980s will happen this time, because videogames are part of life for too many people. However, one can expect a strong correction, and a reevaluation of how the game industry works. Look for more DLC, massive multiplayer, ad sponsored games, and other such approaches becoming the norm. Look for MMOs to end up being a place where high production value happens. And hopefully look for low cost novelty to pop in, with maybe more being in motion control.
Don't blame the used game market for this at all. Do blame an industry for deluding itself into thinking it needs to become like Hollywood, when it isn't able to support a Hollywood approach to entertaining people.
