I see it all the time at gamestop people asking if a game is used so they can use there edge discount card.   They won't buy it brand new and is willing to wait for a used copy.   Games are just too costly.

I think that if you don't pay for the game new you shouldn't have access to the servers that the publishers pay of their own money to mantain, it just isn't fair that people that don't represent a benefit for the publisher can leech of them by using the servers that cost money. I also believe that if incentives are provided to people to buy the game new, they shouldn't complain if they have to pay to get those free items that you can get for free when you buy the game new.

Also people will say games are too expensive and then turn around and buy a used game for 55 dollars at gamestop. That's just stupid when you can usually get the same game new for that same price at amazon and with free shipping, and you also get game credit. Also at amazon you can get new games for as low as 15 bucks and games that are mostly a year old for 19.99 with free shipping. Stop complaining, you can buy/preorder the new games and avoid paying full price for the game plus get cool incentives while you are at it open your eyes and reach for the light.

Great singleplayer games can be replayable.  I've replayed tons of single player games... not to mention adding better post games. Like say.  Disgaea.

stop being peasants and buy your games new.

Ok fine not just game companies but software companies in general. They are a bunch of geeky annoying Comic Book Guy-like man children who whine about going out of business because the big bad gamers won't buy all their shit for $60 (computer software is obviously the worst. Adobe is worth how much? At that price, I have zero sympathy for them for all the piracy coming there way. Though Adobe gets a lot of business from companies so they'll never go out of business anyway.)

I never once said I felt we deserved free online MP. What I did say was "If game companies want to give out incentives for those that have new copies, that's fine. Consumers will vote accordingly with their dollars."

The real problem is not pre-owned sales. This has existed since the beginning of time with video games. The real problem is the overly-inflated budgets that these game publishers are burning on HD games. This is why lots of game publishers are losing lots of money and laying off a lot of employees. Investing heavy resources into popular franchises like Halo, Call of Duty, Assassin's Creed is one thing but it's not smart to make big investments into stuff like Dead Space and Mirror's Edge that aren't popular enough to sell all that much at $60. Companies should consider significantly lowering budgets for non-profitable franchises like Dead Space and Mirror's Edge or put them on the Wii instead (where development is much cheaper) so that they can make some sort of profit. Then they wouldn't have to whine about used sales so much anymore. I consider it entitlement when game companies blame gamers for mistakes that are their own damn fault. Companies that blow all sorts of money on unprofitable franchises and then blame the gamer for their failures have no one to blame but themselves for losing money. Good riddance.

The current publisher model (not just in games but also music) is broken. Game and music publishers lose money on the majority of the games/music albums they publish and they cross their fingers that their money makers are going to make up the difference. Publishers mainly taking a throw shit on the wall and see what sticks approach. With all the money they are losing, it's not working out for them. If game publishers like EA, Sony, whomever, want to deliver a profit to their shareholders, they need to be a lot more responsible with their investments. You don't see GM, Ford, etc. whining about used car sales when business is tough for them! Everyone acknowledges that the major automakers are losing money because they are incompetent, not because those evil thrifty consumers are buying used cars.

@splooge - How was EA to know that Dead Space and Mirror's Edge weren't going to be the 'next big thing'? They were both met with critical acclaim and I even remember Mirror's Edge being voted as the 'game of show' for one of the big game conferences before its' release.

All game projects are big gambles, you can't predict what's going to be successful - but more often than not it is the big budgeted games with shiny graphics that are successful, so in that sense I don't look at it as an issue of being more responsible with their investments when they believe that consumers demand big investments to make big sales.

You obviously don't work in the software development field - can you imagine that you're best friend was just fired because you were told that 2 million copies of your game that you poured your blood and sweat into have been pirated resulting in less than expected sales? It does suck and I believe that they have the right to complain about it.

That's not actually how it works.  They could complain about it... but they may as well be complaing god is bowling way to much when there are too many storms.

That's exactly how it works or offered as a part of the explanation.  When it personally affects you it's harder to accept as an inevitability.  Farmers still complain about the weather don't they?

There's too many analogies used for comparisons' sake going on - can we please discuss this problem facing this industry.

Ah, you don't seem to get it.

That's not how piracy works.  According to economic theory people are social creatures who are preconditioned to wish to buy things at a fair price.  Piracy by in large occurs when people view the product is not worth the money it's charged.  The vast majority of acts  of piracy does not result in lost sales.

Additionally there are some positive factors that inflate sales when it comse to piracy that is similar to things like when you lend a game to a friend of yours etc.

As such, the majority academic studies more or less point to the effect of piracy on industries as statistically insifignificant.

People may offer that as the explination, but it holds no bearing on reality then your parents telling you it's raining and thundering because god is bowling.

Can't say I'm convinced with your economic theory in this instance. Especially with the availability of pre-owned games and accessibility of pirated games. I would bet you that if all the torrent sites went down tomorrow that game sales would increase.