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

[nordlead]

Hawk said:

nordlead said:

Again, all those "powergamers" are buying new, and selling used. You just proved my point.

I don't deny there are people who buy used games, but they fund the people who buy new games.

True, but I think the publishers will gain more customers overall.  I think more used game buyers will decide to pay the extra $5 for new and become a new customer to the publisher, than new game buyers will decide not to buy at all.  And anyone who buys new with the idea of selling it used soon after, would be better off and save more money by renting or going with gamefly.

while you may gain some new customers, you may block other customers from entering the market cheaply and growing into buying new. You essentially make the market less accessible by forcing everyone to buy $60 games. And true, renting makes more sense, but people are stupid. Now, I don't know which would be more beneficial to gaming overall, but I do know that the used market isn't as bad as pirating.

I also know that Nintendo never complains about the used market and their games hold their value better than pretty much anyone else (check out videogameprice charts for some actual analysis), but they do find piracy to be a big problem. They also turn a healthy profit without having to worry about the used market.

Out of the "techniques" listed, I think going with the "bonus" content for a new purchase is the best method. They slightly hurt the used market without resorting to totally destroying the value of the game you bought or resorting to extreme DRM.