Most of us Will Never Play EarthBound Legally: Here's Why (and a question)

The_vagabond7

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The_vagabond7 on 26 February 2009

Words Of Wisdom said:

Khuutra said:

Words Of Wisdom said:

Khuutra said:

That being the case, would you find it similarly unjustifiable to buy a copy off of eBay? Extending from that, is it now morally unjustifiable for anyone who doesn't buy a game new to play that game?

I don't really know. Up until this generation, just about every game I've ever gotten was brand new. The only time I've ever had used games (maybe 5 total from NES to N64) was when I could not find a store that carried it new.

It's a question worth considering, because once a game is out of print for good there is no way to give money to the creators - they never actually get your money, they get money from distributors. As such, even buying a new copy of a discontinued game (like Tales of Vesperia or Dawn of the New World or whichever one it was that was discontinued) directly from your favorite retailer won't net the creators any moolah, because there aren't going to be any re-orders. You're just clearing up space for the distributor.

I bought my copy of Mother 3 back when it was having its first (only) run, so it could be argued that I attempted to give money to Nintendo but failed anyway, because that first major shipment never really sold out until it fell into bargain bin territory more than a year later.

It's a fascinating issue, from that perspective.

But isn't buying from retail the same thing? The retail stores have already paid for the copies and are just reselling them with a markup for profit right? If so then you're just paying for a copy of a game that was already paid for.

The difference there is that a retailer will buy more of the game if it sells. By buying it new you give them incentive to restock that is to say, give more money to the developer. Something like Gamestop is selling used games so that they don't have to restock, they get to sell one copy multiple times reaping pure profit in the process that would otherwise go to the developer when they restock the game that you bought.