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Forums - Gaming - EA's Strategy to Counter Used Games Sales

Akvod on 26 February 2010
IllegalPaladin said:
Not like it's a big incentive for me though as I don't buy a whole lot of games and I mostly rent. If you're going to lock me out of content with crap like this, then I'm just going to rent your game for a short time and be done with it.

Still, I'm not really a fan of this idea and it's another way to nickel and dime DLC since I'd highly doubt they'd release all future DLC for a title for free and now you have to pay just to get access to it if you didn't buy the game new. Heck, what if a publisher like Activision gets in on this and charges $15-20 for online access to the next Call of Duty game if you bought it used? Of course, that'd already be on top of the $10 map packs and such.

Yeah, I know! How dare EA not GIVE you DLC for FREE! How dare they! How dare they give OTHER people DLC for FREE!

 

You're being deprived ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. NOTHING. If EA decided to cancel this special offer/deal, and you drag down the people who bought new copies, you STILL get NOTHING, just like you lost NOTHING.

We, the people who are buying BC2 new, are GAINING SOMETHING, because we have been given an incentive by EA to buy something in return to get something for free. EA in turn, ALSO, gains something. It's a Win-Win for me and EA. YOU LOST NOTHING, NOTHING, NOTHING.

 

The only way you can justify that you lost something is by proving that somehow you were entitled to have gotten the DLC in the first place (how do you even claim that, when you haven't even paid for it yet?), and that EA made up a conspiracy to withold it from you. And you must do so under NO PROOF, using complete and utter skepticism and cynicism.



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IllegalPaladin on 26 February 2010
Akvod said:
IllegalPaladin said:
Not like it's a big incentive for me though as I don't buy a whole lot of games and I mostly rent. If you're going to lock me out of content with crap like this, then I'm just going to rent your game for a short time and be done with it.

Still, I'm not really a fan of this idea and it's another way to nickel and dime DLC since I'd highly doubt they'd release all future DLC for a title for free and now you have to pay just to get access to it if you didn't buy the game new. Heck, what if a publisher like Activision gets in on this and charges $15-20 for online access to the next Call of Duty game if you bought it used? Of course, that'd already be on top of the $10 map packs and such.

Yeah, I know! How dare EA not GIVE you DLC for FREE! How dare they! How dare they give OTHER people DLC for FREE!

 

You're being deprived ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. NOTHING. If EA decided to cancel this special offer/deal, and you drag down the people who bought new copies, you STILL get NOTHING, just like you lost NOTHING.

We, the people who are buying BC2 new, are GAINING SOMETHING, because we have been given an incentive by EA to buy something in return to get something for free. EA in turn, ALSO, gains something. It's a Win-Win for me and EA. YOU LOST NOTHING, NOTHING, NOTHING.

 

The only way you can justify that you lost something is by proving that somehow you were entitled to have gotten the DLC in the first place (how do you even claim that, when you haven't even paid for it yet?), and that EA made up a conspiracy to withold it from you. And you must do so under NO PROOF, using complete and utter skepticism and cynicism.

I've already said that it's not a big incentive for me as I've mostly been renting a game for a while and that's it (though since it's Battlefield, I'd prefer to buy it for PC than use a controller on console).

I'm also not completely focused on this content specifically, but about where this idea could potentially go. I don't really care if it's just a bonus, I'm not a fan of this idea. Though I suppose that leads me to be curious to know if this content is already on the disk or not.



Akvod on 26 February 2010
IllegalPaladin said:

Though I suppose I'm also curoius to know if this content is already on the disk.

*sigh*

 

Please define DLC.



JaggedSac on 26 February 2010
Kasz216 said:

Untrue.  Afterall it works that way with books, where the words stay the same and CDs... which sound the same.

To think otherwise is to not understand the basic value of the used market to new markets... there are MANY more effects than the simple one you mentioned.

 

For example, Say i'm not sure I want to buy this game that is 60 dollars... however I know if I don't like it... I can return it for 30.


Now instead of wasting 60 dollars i'm only wasting 30... because I can resell the game.

Now instead say because of this content's exclusion I can only sell it back for 15 or 20.  My risk is now 35-40 dollars.  Perhaps this is too big of a risk.

 

Or in general I don't think videogames are worth 60 dollars, but I can beat the game in a week and get back 30... because once I beat a game generally i'm never going to back to play it again... by making less of the initial expierence buyable you are taking away value in my resale.

I must say, this person would be better off renting games.  30 bucks is two months at GameFly, two months to finish the game with no late fees.  If they are such smart consumers, perhaps they should examine more of their options.



IllegalPaladin on 26 February 2010
Akvod said:
IllegalPaladin said:

Though I suppose I'm also curoius to know if this content is already on the disk.

*sigh*

 

Please define DLC.

It could range from getting your full content to just getting the unlock code so you can play the content.



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greenmedic88 on 26 February 2010

Not all DLC is the same.

The worst examples are simply data keys to unlock content already on disk (Capcom has done this in the past).

Most DLC that is available one Day 1 of a new game release is also a bit suspect.

But providing consistent new DLC for a given title is one valid way to keep gamers playing an older game and presumably not trading it in.

Plus, the more DLC a consumer has purchased for a given title (I'd argue any DLC they purchased) the less likely they would be to trade in said title.



Akvod on 26 February 2010
IllegalPaladin said:
Akvod said:
IllegalPaladin said:

Though I suppose I'm also curoius to know if this content is already on the disk.

*sigh*

 

Please define DLC.

It could range from getting your full content to just getting the unlock code so you can play the content.

*sigh*

 

Please define DLC.



greenmedic88 on 26 February 2010
JaggedSac said:
Kasz216 said:

Untrue.  Afterall it works that way with books, where the words stay the same and CDs... which sound the same.

To think otherwise is to not understand the basic value of the used market to new markets... there are MANY more effects than the simple one you mentioned.

 

For example, Say i'm not sure I want to buy this game that is 60 dollars... however I know if I don't like it... I can return it for 30.


Now instead of wasting 60 dollars i'm only wasting 30... because I can resell the game.

Now instead say because of this content's exclusion I can only sell it back for 15 or 20.  My risk is now 35-40 dollars.  Perhaps this is too big of a risk.

 

Or in general I don't think videogames are worth 60 dollars, but I can beat the game in a week and get back 30... because once I beat a game generally i'm never going to back to play it again... by making less of the initial expierence buyable you are taking away value in my resale.

I must say, this person would be better off renting games.  30 bucks is two months at GameFly, two months to finish the game with no late fees.  If they are such smart consumers, perhaps they should examine more of their options.

For some, it's all about having options, regardless of how stupid they might be.

I never understood the logic of rushing to complete a game you just bought so you can trade it in sooner "to get the most money back from my purchase."

Like you said, just rent the game if you're going to play it for less than a month.

If you habitually trade in games, GameFly would save you a ton of cash.



IllegalPaladin on 26 February 2010
Akvod said:
IllegalPaladin said:
Akvod said:
IllegalPaladin said:

Though I suppose I'm also curoius to know if this content is already on the disk.

*sigh*

 

Please define DLC.

It could range from getting your full content to just getting the unlock code so you can play the content.

*sigh*

 

Please define DLC.

Look you can say the full name of it, but that doesn't change the fact that just because they're advertising it as DLC doesn't mean that the content might not already be on the disk and all you're downloading is an unlock code.

 



Akvod on 26 February 2010
IllegalPaladin said:
Akvod said:
IllegalPaladin said:
Akvod said:
IllegalPaladin said:

Though I suppose I'm also curoius to know if this content is already on the disk.

*sigh*

 

Please define DLC.

It could range from getting your full content to just getting the unlock code so you can play the content.

*sigh*

 

Please define DLC.

Look you can say the full name of it, but that doesn't change the fact that just because they're advertising it as DLC doesn't mean that the content might not already be on the disk and all you're downloading is an unlock code.

 

*sigh*

Would you, you personally, define DLC as a code?

 

 

OF COURSE IT'S NOT ON DISC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OTHERWISE IT WOULDN'T BE DOWN-LOADED CONTENT. CONTENT.

 

A code isn't CONTENT.

I never thought of using a generic meme before, but this is literally, LITERALLY, how I'm typing this: