Obsidian hopes digital distribution "stabs used game market in the heart"
- Thread starter OmegaFenix
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The Joker
Thread Killer MKII
What gets me is what do they expect?
Not everyone is in the position to fork out R600 every time a new title pops up, in fact if take the last couple of releases you could spend well over 3k for 6 titles..now I am sorry, I spend a heck of a lot more than most people on gaming but even I find that a bit retarded. Cloud gaming is the future but I don't think its viable right now..Nothing beats owning a hard copy of the game and forever having it in you're collection
Its like stopping the sale of second hand cars because it hurts the sales of new cars...LOL Fucking daft.
Not everyone is in the position to fork out R600 every time a new title pops up, in fact if take the last couple of releases you could spend well over 3k for 6 titles..now I am sorry, I spend a heck of a lot more than most people on gaming but even I find that a bit retarded. Cloud gaming is the future but I don't think its viable right now..Nothing beats owning a hard copy of the game and forever having it in you're collection
Its like stopping the sale of second hand cars because it hurts the sales of new cars...LOL Fucking daft.
Graal
New member
What I don't get is why are game publishers and developers being such babies about this? You don't hear the movie or music industry cryfacing about second-hand sales. Sure, those two industries are much bigger than the gaming industry, but the gaming industry is an incredibly fast growing market. If they spent less time trying to stop piracy and second hand sales with shitty DRM services, they might grow even faster. It's not as if publishers like Bethesda or Ubisoft are on the brink of declaring bankrupt. In fact, it's usually only the richer guys who complain about these things. The small fries like 1C and the like barely every complain about things like this.
OmegaFenix
The Legendary Troll Hunter
What gets me is what do they expect?
Not everyone is in the position to fork out R600 every time a new title pops up, in fact if take the last couple of releases you could spend well over 3k for 6 titles..now I am sorry, I spend a heck of a lot more than most people on gaming but even I find that a bit retarded. Cloud gaming is the future but I don't think its viable right now..Nothing beats owning a hard copy of the game and forever having it in you're collection
Its like stopping the sale of second hand cars because it hurts the sales of new cars...LOL Fucking daft.
In all honesty if the games are too expensive for someones pocket they should find a new hobby. I totally see the developers & publishers issue with it; its lost income which is why so many are implementing online passes or Bonus DLC for buying new.
I dunno I own an Onlive Micro-console and use its client on PC (even bought Red Faction Armageddon for £1 on launch) and its retro titles like Dark Star One, Evil Genius, Fallout 1 & 2 is just brilliant coz u dont have to tweak it to work on the latest soft or hardware plus with its mobile client you could potentially play you fav game anywhere.
OmegaFenix
The Legendary Troll Hunter
Not true in the UK alone the Games Industry is bigger than film and music put together (http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2009/sep/27/videogames-hollywood) google the topic. There are countless examples.
Also the second hand DVD & Music market is significantly smaller that the pre-owned games market.
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The Joker
Thread Killer MKII
Yeah quite correct but you forget that you are in the UK, we are in SA and we are under the control of telkom and seacom, so if anything ever happens with the net, for instance it goes down for a week, we wouldn't be able to game, so yeah it is the future but its not viable in countries that have shitty net.
On a side note..Romania has better internet than SA..LMFAO..
OmegaFenix
The Legendary Troll Hunter
Yep its not viable for 3rd world countries like SA but consider than Onlive has servers here in the UK, If you place servers in SA you could easily pull it off since you only need about a 4mb line for it to be viable, something that is not that far off, even in sa. But yeah tech is moving faster than developing countries can keep up.
The Joker
Thread Killer MKII
Yeah that could work and I can see millions being made off of that.
Might be worth looking into something like that
lol
OmegaFenix
The Legendary Troll Hunter
Yeah that could work and I can see millions being made off of that.
Might be worth looking into something like that
Reason Onlive expanded so fast in the US, no piracy and no haxoring since its not running on ur pc/console and publishers love that. Which is why I say I will be very surprised if either MS or Sony dont incorporate a similar setup in its next console. Imagine cutting out the retailer completely, my only issue with onlive is that a game on onlive cost as much as a retail copy (PC) which defies the point of digital distribution. It should be cheaper.
The Joker
Thread Killer MKII
+1 Considering they cut out a huge chunk of their costs.
Doubt that will ever be the case though, gaming companies/publishers will strive to cut costs but you'll never see them drop the prices of games, even on a system like Cloud gaming, they'll still charge you a premium even though they have cut out the middle man.
OmegaFenix
The Legendary Troll Hunter
Obviously, Why only make £15 per title when you can make £30? However Onlive has many specials and a Playpack bundle than includes a hole bunch of older games and for like £7 a month you can play any of them as much or as little as you want. This kind of digital distribution is still pretty new so only time will tell how the industry uses and changes it. Many people doubted Steam could work and look at it today.
Lycanthrope
New member
I actually like Chris Avellone and admire his story-telling abilities and his creativity. However, I think he's an idiot... which is quite unfortunate.
MOnk
New member
People who compare second hand games to second hand music/movies/books aren't really looking at this properly.
Music ... second hand music??? Maybe like old records but I've never heard about a second hand CD/Tape/Minidisc market for music.
Movies possibly have a second hand DVD market BUT the major thing with movies is that they get most of their money from Theatre releases so they make their money before there is ever an opportunity for a second hand market.
Books have a decent second hand market at least for certain types of books however, the turn around time from first to second hand is typically very long. People don't buy a new book, read it and then sell it second hand a week later. Books you buy at second hand are generally quite oldish. Not to mention books lose quality over time as they degrade so you would still be getting more value from a new book than an old one. The really big second hand book market is the text book market where you see considerable turnover year after year and publishers/authors DO complain about this, although not so loudly. They also try stuff to get you to buy new books, like release new editions each year or add little extra bits here and there to give it a bit more value.
So gaming ISN'T just like all those other markets, in fact it's the only thing I can think of where you can find a second hand product the week of release for a lower price yet worth the exact same value.
For me though I find it a little sad that people only look at digital distro as something to increase their control on the products where I think they should be looking at how they can leverage these platforms to bring better experiences to the customer.
Music ... second hand music??? Maybe like old records but I've never heard about a second hand CD/Tape/Minidisc market for music.
Movies possibly have a second hand DVD market BUT the major thing with movies is that they get most of their money from Theatre releases so they make their money before there is ever an opportunity for a second hand market.
Books have a decent second hand market at least for certain types of books however, the turn around time from first to second hand is typically very long. People don't buy a new book, read it and then sell it second hand a week later. Books you buy at second hand are generally quite oldish. Not to mention books lose quality over time as they degrade so you would still be getting more value from a new book than an old one. The really big second hand book market is the text book market where you see considerable turnover year after year and publishers/authors DO complain about this, although not so loudly. They also try stuff to get you to buy new books, like release new editions each year or add little extra bits here and there to give it a bit more value.
So gaming ISN'T just like all those other markets, in fact it's the only thing I can think of where you can find a second hand product the week of release for a lower price yet worth the exact same value.
For me though I find it a little sad that people only look at digital distro as something to increase their control on the products where I think they should be looking at how they can leverage these platforms to bring better experiences to the customer.
Dohc-WP
Ron Burgundy
these dev's are a bunch of NARROWMINDED twats, people usually buy pre played games because they cant afford to fork out x amount of money for a new release or a title is not available as new on the shelves anymore, if they cut out the pre played marked im sure piracy is going to increase dramatically simply because your average pre played gamer will not be by the means to fork out for new titles so the only other option would be for them to resort to piracy.
OmegaFenix
The Legendary Troll Hunter
Like I said to J, if u don't have the £££ to buy games then perhaps you should find a new hobby.
So if I can't afford something I steal it? :wtf: if people have that mentality I'd rather they not share my hobby or my planet for that matter.
Sent from my iPhone
Dohc-WP
Ron Burgundy
so if car manufacturers had the same narrowminded mentality as these devs then only people that can afford new cars should be driving on the road then ?
I dont agree with this. Thats like saying if you cant afford a new car, you shouldnt be driving. Makes no sense at all.
These publishers are just too greedy. They will nickel and dime us to hell.
For one thing, if I sell a game, that gives me more money to spend on new games. So its not a net loss to the industry. Take away people's ability to sell games, and new game sales will drop. Thats a fact.
But game publishers are too short sighted for that. They only care about the money. Kinda disgusting really. Yes businesses exist to make money, I just dont like that they feel they have to treat their customers like criminals to make money.
OmegaFenix
The Legendary Troll Hunter
I dont think its narrowminded. If I spent 2 years working on a title only to release it and see a massive chuck of what would have gone into my pocket go into the pockets of retailers I would be pissed as well.
Comparing something vital to everyday life (in SA), a car, to a luxury item, a game, is hardly comparing apples with apples now is it?
OmegaFenix
The Legendary Troll Hunter
See example above, apples with apples people.
How is denying you a second hand game criminal? They want maximum return for their, most often hefty investment.
Uncharted 2 cost $20 million to make (Source), now lets look at the Heavy Rain. Lest say Heavy Rain had a dev cost of between 11 - 20 million euro, a loss of 5 to 10 million euro is more than significant.
If a publisher doesn't get a return on their investment they will be less likely to fork up the capital for another game. Which is why we are seeing so many "sure thing" titles, BF3 MW3 Gears 3 (titles that are SURE to sell), hitting the market, coz developers want their $$$ back and if it backed a risky project like Heavy Rain and got shafted guess what... they wont want to back another risky titles. No risky titles means little innovation, means stagnation, stagnation means loss of fan base which results in down scaling which results in people loosing their jobs.
So remind me quick why is this all criminal?
MOnk
New member
Actually it's more like saying if you can't afford a brand new 2011 BMW M3 then maybe you should be looking at getting a Polo Vivo. If you can't afford to buy the latest R300/500 game then maybe you should buy that 6month old R150 game that is just as good but that you haven't played yet.
People who make heavy use of the second hand market are generally guys who buy/finish/sell their games close to release. So it's not about having the money to buy games, it's about having the money to buy all the latest games.
Sure that's not always the case, when it comes to console games older titles can often be difficult to find at retail so your only avenue is often second hand but I think that's a much smaller market and of far less concern to studios but it's also a situation which doesn't occur with digital distribution.
*P.S So tired of people bringing the used car analogy into the used game discussion because IT'S NOT THE SAME, NOT EVEN CLOSE.