Used Games going to become more difficult to buy...??

[Impulsivity]

nordlead said:
@impulsivity

used game sales actually help new game sales (not directly)

Let's say all I do is pirate games. No money is transferred and devs don't earn anything. No new copy was ever bought. No other people have extra $ in hand to buy new games. Nothing is stimulated.

Let's say all I do is buy used games. Money is transferred from me through the trading facility (ebay/amazon/gamestop) where they pay for their copy. The person who handed in the used copy in the first place probably bought it new (at some time a new copy was bought). Now with extra cash in hand, he goes out and buys another new copy to keep himself entertained.

Now, gamestop may rip you off when it comes to buying used (buy back for $20, sell for $55), but Amazon/ebay only take ~10% of the price, and the prices are typically significantly lower than new. So, while I may not be willing to spend more than $20 on a game, someone else may want that $20, add it to his $40 and buy a brand new game.

The only thing destroying the used game market will do is slow down the people who buy loads of games and then trade them only to buy more new games. It will also stop people like me (who don't generally buy used anyways) from buying a game. I can't say it will encourage more people to buy games.

  Most people who sell games use things like that gamestop card that adds 10% to used game values when you sell.  That card, not coincidentally, lets you also take 10% off used games.  This encourages people to sell 2 used games for say 50 bucks (25 each) and then buy a discounted different used game for 10% off (or around the same 50 bucks).

   In effect they are doing constant 2 for 1 trades in Gamestops favor and GS is taking endless 50% "fees" for the transactions.

   I asked the guys in GS about this when I was buying FFXIII when I saw the guy in front of me trade in games and they sold him on that 10% card.  They said most people trade used for used since its "the best deal" and you can usually find new releases used just a few days after release (when the power gamers beat them).