Fable’s Creators Reckon Pre-Owned Sales are Worse Than Piracy

[tpex]

Luke Plunkett —With experience on both the PC and Xbox 360, Fable studio Lionhead is well aware of the pitfalls of both platforms. And feels one pitfall is deeper than the other.

"Piracy these days on PC is probably less problematic than second-hand sales on the Xbox," Lionhead's Mike West told Eurogamer. "I've been working on PC games for many years and piracy is always a problem. There are a lot of honest people out there as well, and if they like your game they'll buy it."

Saying that any sales Lionhead makes on the PC version of the 2010 role-playing game are a "bonus", West adds "For us it's probably a no-lose even with piracy as it is. But, as I say, second-hand sales cost us more in the long-run than piracy these days."

That's an easy one to calculate. A game pirated does not automatically equate to a game stolen, because there's no guarantee the culprit would ever have bought it in the first place. But a pre-owned sale? That's a definite purchase, where money changed hands and a physical copy of a game went home with somebody. And not a cent of that makes its way back to a developer or publisher.

http://kotaku.com/5802953/fables-cre...se-than-piracy

what I have been saying all along...
Good to see some sense coming from the devs, I buy games to support the devs who make good games, not for the greedy middle man publishers and shops

[matosha]

But i see a similar logic with the whole sony hacking story. If i bought it, i own it. Thus i can do whatever i want with it. whether i resell it or even give it to someone else. Unless its stipulated or something on the box that its not to be handed over to anyone. (some boxes do say that)

[tpex]

But i see a similar logic with the whole sony hacking story. If i bought it, i own it. Thus i can do whatever i want with it. whether i resell it or even give it to someone else. Unless its stipulated or something on the box that its not to be handed over to anyone. (some boxes do say that)

no body is saying its wrong (yet) but there are quite a few people who think they are doing their bit by buying a game second hand, when in fact its more damaging then piracy

[Solitude]

Damn, I'm worse than a pirate! I'm a ninja!

Half my 360 games are secondhand. My PC games are all original though so I guess the guy has a point.

[tpex]

Damn, I'm worse than a pirate! I'm a ninja!

Half my 360 games are secondhand. My PC games are all original though so I guess the guy has a point.

you dirty second hand buyer you

[Neo]

So what happens if I buy a game from a friend or the btgames pre played bin and I purchase some DLC for the game? That money goes somewhere to the developers, I think? That means that by selling games second hand, you are opening up a potential market for the developers that was not available during the initial launch when many people couldn't afford the game.

I have every right to sell anything that i have legally purchased. The same goes for a house or a car. It's called a re-sale market and not the black market that these people are making it out to be. Honestly, if this is the business logic that these publishers are using to run their businesses, it's no wonder they're closing up shopso often.

I always thought it was piracy that was damaging them so badly that they had to close. It turns out they're just clueless when it comes to running a business.

[Necuno]

About all my x360 games are from sales. I can hardly afford not too at the "normal" pricing. I do however agree that second hand is taking from the developers, BUT maybe the person who bought the game second hand will be buying the next one from that developer because he/she now knows the games are fun. If the game was not sold second hand and that person could not have gotten the game, then no future buying from them.

I would say a lot less word of mouth and market penetration if you cut out second hand. There's also the thing of that is helping with the bottom line of the retailers, don't think they would be too happy if it's cut. Less retailers, less sales.

[Voicy]

I bought my car from the GM developers.

I was going to sell my car 2nd hand to someone else who is quite poor and could never afford buying my car new. I was going to put that money down as a deposit on a new car from GM but now I can't afford it since this article taught me that it's wrong.

I guess I'm stuck playing with my old car forever.

[_Caboose_]

I bought my car from the GM developers.

I was going to sell my car 2nd hand to someone else who is quite poor and could never afford buying my car new. I was going to put that money down as a deposit on a new car from GM but now I can't afford it since this article taught me that it's wrong.

I guess I'm stuck playing with my old car forever.

Poor voicy still playing with cars

[diabolus]

I have every right to sell anything that i have legally purchased. The same goes for a house or a car. It's called a re-sale market and not the black market that these people are making it out to be. Honestly, if this is the business logic that these publishers are using to run their businesses, it's no wonder they're closing up shopso often.

I don't think the article is trying to put the blame on the consumer. The guy is actually saying it's a flaw with Console games that they are more expensive and easy to re-sell , whereas PC games are much cheaper [digitally] and you rarely re-sell PC Games .

If the Xbox Live Marketplace was anything like STEAM , everyone would be buying their console games on it and the 2nd hand market would not exist. So we know where the problem is.....and it's with Microsoft and Sony.