I hate COD but isn't it kinda interesting the pricing of COD?

I mean no doubt it's a popular franchise and by Activition being so protective about the price, first they charge that $10 premium for a new COD, and they don't even seem to allow COD games that are 3-4 years old to hit bargain bin level, by doing this they keep the brand in high respect.

What this suggests to me is that publishers need to start thinking outside the box in terms of generating revenue and business models rather then complaining when about used game sales. Other industries have found different revenue streams over time so that used DVD, book or CD sales aren't that big a problem for them. It's really time the video games industry found a way to do this that is consumer friendly.

Unlikely. In reality the used copies would just be even cheaper.

Big budget games still launch for $50-$60 on the PC.

Cheap Steam prices haven't killed piracy either.

Ok solid argument. I still feel that not all games need to cost $60, the big blockbusters its fine but devs have started thinking every game needs to try being the next big thing. Weve seen so many companies go under or lose money because they have huge budgets and need to sell millions just to break even. Maybe instead of trying to make every game have top of the line graphics and tacking on mp when its not needed and selling it at $60, they could focus more on solid gameplay and sell it for $40 thus selling more copies and making more profit.

no, it's not a weak argument. used books clearly look used. they don't look like a brand new book which was never in the hands of someone else. especially as more people owned it. that alone differentiates a used book from a new book. and you also don't see every book store throwing used books on you like game stores do. and if the average joe will go to a gamestop and see "cod for 60 dollars new or 50 dollars used", chance is not so low that he will buy the used game because he knows it will be exactly the same. even after playing 1000 times through the campaign, the campaign won't get worse graphics.

and yes, 50m was very high and that is only for some big games but it's easily 20-30m nowadays for many games and next gen won't be cheaper. what is the risk of a publisher for books? they don't have to pay 100 people for 2-3 years to write one book. they have some big names where they know it will sell millions or they will sell books of smaller authors where they first try with a first small batch and if those sell well they release more. no "we invest 20 million before we even have our first disc (or let's say 10m) and then we have to sell minimum 1m to be break even with a little bit of advertisement"

it'S a big difference and game publisher have a big disadvantage compared to the music/movie/book industry. that's why skylanders was a really smart idea, they have at least one new revenue stream now.

So WiiU isnt an option for Forbes confirmed lol

reminds me of the GC era, which is great!

One thing people here should think about is that some games have high production costs and thus requires a high price point to pay off the costs to make the game. Of course there are plenty of games where that isn't the case, but there are more and more games where a higher price point is actually needed. Plus, pricing the games 50% lower will only yield higher profits if they sell MORE than 2x the amount they would have at full price and I'm pretty sure that for most games that wouldn't be the case.

Look at that. Not everyone in the industry is a moron. There is still at least one person that understands consumers and the market in general.

We're not going to stop the comparisons because the comparisons are apt for the points everyone's discussing. Of course you can distinguish gaming from other industries. You can distinguish anything from everything else if you want to: that's part of being unique. But it's mere sophistry to say selling a used game shouldn't be compared to selling a used movie because the movie's producer already got some money from a theatrical release, and you should be smart enough to see why.