Blocking used games on next-gen consoles would be awesome, says Crytek

[OmegaFenix]

And just because you can't afford the buy every new title released every month doesn't make it over priced.

We can argue about this until the end of time. I say again if the prices was an issue you would see a larger decline in the overall sales, something we dont see. Also gaming isn't a necessity, its a recreational activity and if you can't afford to play for it.... well lets not repeat ourselves (again).

[Graal]

And just because you can't afford the buy every new title released every month doesn't make it over priced.

Exactly. Now that we've established that neither my nor your finances resemble whether games are overpriced or not, we can move on.

Also gaming isn't a necessity, its a recreational activity and if you can't afford to play for it.... well lets not repeat ourselves (again).

Yes, the argument for the ages. Don't look at why the average household struggles to afford videogames, tell them that if they can't afford it, fuck off. Ignore the fact that there are thousands, if not millions, of people who want to play your game, but can't because it is unreasonably priced. Ignore the fact that your unreasonable prices is what led to the second-hand market becoming the powerful force it is today.

Ignore the fact that DVD sales soared when movies started going for reasonable prices. Or that the music industry basically got saved when they started selling songs for ridiculously cheap on iTunes. No, ignore all that and tell people to fuck off if they can't afford your product.

Makes sense.

[Kryptyk]

And just because you can't afford the buy every new title released every month doesn't make it over priced.

We can argue about this until the end of time. I say again if the prices was an issue you would see a larger decline in the overall sales, something we dont see. Also gaming isn't a necessity, its a recreational activity and if you can't afford to play for it.... well lets not repeat ourselves (again).

I completely agree with you on those points. That sort of thing applies to every aspect of my life which is why I live debt free. If I cannot justify the cost, I don't spend the dosh! You are also right, gaming is not a necessity, just something to pass the time. It is why most people prefer to put food on the table and a roof over their heads instead of buying every title out there. But they also want to be entertained, and don't mind liberating data from the internet as it is not "physically stealing".

We have gotten a bit sidetracked from the topic - people want to pay - hence second hand games. They just don't want to pay full price.

[Graal]

I completely agree with you on those points. That sort of thing applies to every aspect of my life which is why I live debt free. If I cannot justify the cost, I don't spend the dosh! You are also right, gaming is not a necessity, just something to pass the time. It is why most people prefer to put food on the table and a roof over their heads instead of buying every title out there. But they also want to be entertained, and don't mind liberating data from the internet as it is not "physically stealing".

The problem is, the gaming industry keeps crying it doesn't make enough money. When we state what the issue is, people like Omega tells us if we can't afford, go away.

I mean, it's not like countless studios close their doors every year, and 100s of people in the gaming industry loses their jobs all the time. Oh no, then they blame this on second-hand sales, instead of trying to fix the issues that lead to second hand sales in the first place.

[Basjohn]

People don't have money?

Modern Warfare 3 made a billion dollars in the first weeks of its release.
Skyrim made $430 Million in the first 2 days.
Mass Effect 3 sold 890 000 units in the first 24 hours in the United States alone.

So yeah, people don't have money for the games. I think the real arguments should be "make the games cheaper so I can buy more".

I am perfectly fine with paying £40 for a new release & I can manage 2 or 3 new titles a month if there are enough decent titles coming out. Or one Collectors Edition.

Took a look at your location. Explains a lot. In South Africa we get roughly 1/4 the average salary you'd get in the UK or US with games costing the same amount. You're fine with paying £40 because £40 isn't much to you, to us it's HUGE. Imagine paying £120 for every new game and you'll see it like we do.

[OmegaFenix]

Took a look at your location. Explains a lot. In South Africa we get roughly 1/4 the average salary you'd get in the UK or US with games costing the same amount. You're fine with paying £40 because £40 isn't much to you, to us it's HUGE. Imagine paying £120 for every new game and you'll see it like we do.

I lived in SA, moved here last year.

[Uberutang]

I think we have been lucky that game prices have stayed fairly 'stable' over the last 10 years or more.

I remember paying R120 for a Golden China (NES) star wars game, and R360 for a Sonic game on Sega... and that was yonks ago.
So inflation wise games have actually not gone up that much, but with the now much larger 'gaming' population prices can go down for sure

[Pr⊕phet]

Just top using consoles. PCs is much better, seriously. bait :}

[Graal]

It would take the industry crashing for them to see how broken the model currently is before they'll do something to fix it.

The only people really doing anything right would be Valve, who have long ago realised that games are not products, but services.

[Saint_Dee]

Not to sidetrack anyone... I walked into the Citadel (Mass Effect 2) last night and as I passed one the stores, a gaming shop owner asked me, "Want to trade in an old game? You'll get 2 credits towards a new one"

Anyways, to understand where Graal is coming from, I need to ask how much you usually pay for a 2nd hand AAA game a month or so after release