J_Allard said:
The goal of the publisher in either case is to make more money. For the person actually playing the game, there is a monumental difference between pirating a game illegally, and playing a perfectly legal used game that you paid money for. To a publisher though, there is no difference. It's two people playing a copy of your game for which you saw absolutely no monetary reward for them obtaining it. |
And that's where their thinking, as well as those who agree with it, is flawed. With piracy, the publisher sees no payment whatsoever if thousands, even millions, pirate the game. With used games, there has to be the initial purchase of a game for there to even be a used copy. And that game will only realistically change hands a limited amount of times. I would imagine a good estimate would be 2-3 times per copy. Also, considering the original purchaser is a gamer, he is very likely to use the money he made off the sale to purchase another game. The 2nd buyer is also more likely to purchase DLC for the game than the guy who just wanted to get rid of it after playing it, whatever the reason.
So, what happens when you block, or make it much harder to purchase, used games? The original owner is stuck with every game he buys. This means he is going to be much more careful in his purchases, which will decrease impulse game sales. This also means that many gamers who may have purchased the used game will not be purchasing any DLC for the game, hence a loss in possible revenue. In the end, blocking used games will only hurt the industry, not help it.
