Why is buying used games such a big deal nowadays?

[Michael-5]

Last I checked, the used game industry was larger in the past then it is today, but I hear more and more about how used games are bad for the industry. Why? The industry did perfectly fine with used games for the 30 years between 1983-2013, and we even had corporations make money of "renting" games for a fraction of the price of the game now. Plus back then games didn't have online multiplayer, and more games were single player, so it was very common for people to spend $5 on a brand new game, beat it in a rental or two, and then return it, and never play it.

Yet the gaming industry grew, significantly over the last 30 years. Why is it a problem now?

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I think it's greed, publishers like EA and Microsoft know they can now get more new games sales by making online passes and consoles which require you to buy the game now. Technology like this didn't exist even just 5 years ago, but now that it does, publishers are taking advantage of this, and gamers, and whining that they don't get all the money they want.

If you want people to keep your games, and not sell them to Gamestop, and cut your profits, then make a game which people will want to keep and play over and over. I'm not a big fan of Call of Duty, but I can tell you that it sells so amazing because people who do play Call of Duty, tend to play it online regularly, which means that they have to own the game, and not sell it. People who buy Zelda, or FallOut, typically take a long time to beat the game, and then often keep it since it's good and they don't want to part with it. Some games don't sell well, it happens, especially when most new games now are so completely unoriginal, and release onto a shooter saturated market.

I mean Square-Enix exists today because of their "Final Fantasy" to make a quality game that would either make or break their company. You never see devs make risks like that anymore, not even the big publishers.

So I think people should stop whining, buy used games if they feel to, and let the bad devs die out. Too bad for EA, they can't hog all the money they make off franchise rights (NFL, Porsche), and then complain that used games are killing the industry. What about them? I would like porsche in Gran Turismo, and I'd rather have EA make a proper racing game, to attract my attention then get Porsche exclusivity.