| Player2 said: "Unconfirmed reports on ConsoleDeals.co.uk suggest that retail’s slice will be as little as ten per cent. That’s a significant cut from what it has become accustomed to from pre-owned sales and more in line with what they would receive from the sale of a new game – hence, the value of the pre-owned market to the retailer is effectively destroyed." "These same unconfirmed reports also suggest that the activation cost for consumers buying or borrowing pre-owned software will be £35." £35 (~40 euros) for a second hand game? And this kills competition from ebay or private sellers so people have to pay what they ask for. Retail gets ~10% of £35 =£3.5 per game. I'm sure stores will be happy with this improvement. I have to assume MS and the developer pays to the stores per game they get traded in, otherwise this smells like bankrupcy.
Now the reaining question is how much money they'll pay to people for their second hand games.
Edit - With this they can charge higher prices for second hand games, and with that first hand games can keep a high price for a longer time. At the ned, only the consumer loses. |
If this is true - Retailers will only get 10% of used game sales, expect a lot of dedicated video game stores to close. They are already losing sales to digital sales on PC and now consoles plus console sales bleeding to mobile and Android devices. There's a very small margin on console sales and not much on new games so they really depend on used games for their proceeds. Cut that down to 10% and it's probably no longer a viable business for many locations.
