PlayStation 4 boss: Microsoft's Xbox One policies surprised us

[Euphoria14]

fighter said:

Ok, getting the money that would otherwise go into second hand gaming is also a big objective.

Steam, Origin, and now Xbox and Sony are nonetheless trying to gather the valuable marketing data of user behavior.

Which users play which games at which time and consuming which other content (the latest part being more console oriented). The benefit is huge on targeted marketing and effective gathering of data.

A gamer is not really understood by the hype generated on the web as much as by the way he plays the games he did buy.

Also, when you gather partners who provide you with exclusive games/content also BECAUSE you are able to give them user data you have a huge advantage on your competitor.

There is no way to prove that if people don't have used game to buy that they will instead purchase the titles at full price. Believe it or not there are plenty of people who think $60 for a video game is too expensive.

This is just like how devs always like to say "We lost X number of sales due to piracy", which is also not true because how do you prove those games would have otherwise been purchased?

Point is you cannot prove it for either case. However, if has been shown time and again that 2nd hand sales actually help fuel future game purchases from those who do in fact like to buy games when they release due to being able to search for the best return on their product to fund the next title they wish to pick up.

I can only speak for myself, but if there was no 2nd hand market for me to sell to I wouldn't buy nearly as many games as I do, which is about 75 titles on PS2, 56 on PS3, 12 on Vita, 30+ on Wii, etc...

Take that away and those numbers will dwindle BIG TIME, while not ensuring that those who purchased my titles at a dicsounted price would otherwise walk into a store and pay the retailer/publisher's asking price.