Publishers overestimate their necessity.

[Euphoria14]

JayWood2010 said:

It is a very opinionated piece with a biased way of looking at it.  No i dont mean biased as in Microsoft of SOny biased, but a very directed approach at things without looking at the whole picture just to prove a point.  Something I see on this site way too often.  Right now most people are viewing things in there own eyes and that is it.  They dont take into consideration what the developers/publishers go through, so ok sure use your two examples of Nintendo/Rockstar.  Let's just ignore every other developer out there that has to struggle and aren't lucky enough to hav GTA or Mario under there belts.  So games like The Witcher and Heavy Rain has to have just as many used copies sold as new copies yet there games are just as good as Mario and GTA by many people's opinions.

And yeah you can take The Last of Us back tm, which is the problem.  This does not happen in any other industry.  This would not be an issue if they were being sold months from the release date but the fact is brand new games are being sold used within the first week.

Now I would prefer not to comment on this subject anymore as I guarantee you that the majority of the people who reads this will not change there minds about things because they have already set there mind to believe in one thing. So if you want to talk to me about this then pm me.

What the developers go through? The devs are getting paid plenty of money and they are doing a job, just like any other. They don't deserve some special form of treatment. They create a product, then we buy it. That's where it ends. Just like when I buy a car or a book or a music CD or a DVD/BD movie. None of them get money from second hand sales, so what makes game devs (Or more accurately the publishers) so special? This also goes for your point about not happening in any other industry. That is simply not true. People read a book, then lend it to a friend or throw it up on eBay. People watch a DVD/BD, then the next day lend it to their friends or if they want, sell it. Some even just rent them. Some do neither and just take advantage of libraries for books, movies and games.

Just because The Witcher, Heavy Rain or Metro doesn't sell as well Mario or GTA while being just as good of quality does not automatically mean they deserve as much sales or as much money. They know this, which is why they work to a budget. They do a good job at it too. They know that every game doesn't sell as well as the other, so they start out with a small budget and see where things go and if all goes well they increase the budget next time. Why does The Witcher 2 cost 8.5M to make while similar games with much less graphical fidelity cost 2x as much if not more? It's called not allocating your resources properly and project takings too long to create. Why does Assassins Creed need 1,200 employees to create?

As for your TLoU point again, it circles back to what I said in the first paragraph of this post.

 

It is already proven that second hand sales are healthy for the industry. They help finance new game and someone who buys a game used on the cheap might become a fan and buy the next release. Anything that gets more of your product into consumers hands holds a better chance for the future of your product/franchise than a short term solution of "let's see how much we can possibly get on the initial new game sales and screw anyone who relies on cheaper alternatives" or a position of "What, can't afford the game new? Too bad and screw you. You can't play my game". I can assure you that no second market and no lending will not cause many franchises to grow.

There is a whole lot more proof out there that it helps than you could ever find to show that it hurts the industry.