Used games causing industry downfall says Silicon Knights boss

[James]

Used games causing industry downfall says Silicon Knights boss

Dennis Dyack sees used games "cannibalizing the industry"

[Graal]

Protip: Cheaper games = more sales = less used games being sold.

[Qrox]

Protip: Cheaper games = more sales = less used games being sold.

Agreed.

I can't really think that there is a large market for second hand PC games, as most have to be registered on steam or something similar.

I don't know if the console versions of the games also have to go through that or not, but I think the consoles are the problem. I really can believe that there is a big market for the console games as they are priced at almost 2x the price of their PC counterparts.

[Viking]

Protip: Cheaper games = more sales = less used games being sold.

we've been shouting this for years but clearly they dont seem to listen.......

Or better yet.....SHITTY games = dont sell to us

ROTFLOL

[MOnk]

Interesting how people who've recently made a bunch of rubbish games are the ones shouting the most about used game sales.

[Isengard]

I don't own a single used game, I just usually wait for new game specials. I might be in the minority though, if these people are claiming that used game sales are killing the industry and like Qrox mentions, used games sales on PC is almost non-existent, maybe look into why that is.

[Graal]

Interesting how people who've recently made a bunch of rubbish games are the ones shouting the most about used game sales.

If I could mega-rep you, I would.

I don't own a single used game, I just usually wait for new game specials. I might be in the minority though, if these people are claiming that used game sales are killing the industry and like Qrox mentions, used games sales on PC is almost non-existent, maybe look into why that is.

Indeed. On the PC, I don't think there even would be a used-game market even if the games could be sold second-hand. Cheap digital distribution channels would kill the used game market on PC. Why buy a second-hand game when you can just wait for an online sale and get the game with all its DLC for under $10?

The main reason for used game sales on console being so high is still only because not a lot of people can afford to buy more than one game a month if it costs upwards of R600.

[OmegaFenix]

If I could mega-rep you, I would.



Indeed. On the PC, I don't think there even would be a used-game market even if the games could be sold second-hand. Cheap digital distribution channels would kill the used game market on PC. Why buy a second-hand game when you can just wait for an online sale and get the game with all its DLC for under $10?

The main reason for used game sales on console being so high is still only because not a lot of people can afford to buy more than one game a month if it costs upwards of R600.

What the console market needs is a steam equivalent. While XBLA and PSN titles are often cheap actually buying a game like Gear of War 3 directly from Microsoft would still cost you £49.99 which is what it goes for at retail. Sure u can get Gears 2 on demand for £14.99 but you could get it pre-owned for under £10 at certain game retailers. Also the amount of games available on demand is tiny compared to all games on the market. If the console market had a dedicated digital distribution channel that sold all titles available on the platform at cheaper than retail or pre-owned the pre-owned marked would dry up almost over night. Imagine not having to hunt/hope that you can get the Darkness 1 somewhere and being able to just download it directly from XBL or the PSN store. With the exception of the odd Collectors Edition I would never buy any traditional games in stores.

[MOnk]

There isn't any competition when it comes to console games which leads to the fact that Microsoft and Sony have far too much control over the price and availability of games on their system which typically leads to prices remaining inflated for significantly longer than they should.

So while I agree that second hand games are an issue for developers and publishers I think people have to look a little bit more into why second hand games are so prevalent in the console market in the first place.

[OmegaFenix]

There isn't any competition when it comes to console games which leads to the fact that Microsoft and Sony have far too much control over the price and availability of games on their system which typically leads to prices remaining inflated for significantly longer than they should.

So while I agree that second hand games are an issue for developers and publishers I think people have to look a little bit more into why second hand games are so prevalent in the console market in the first place.

Quick Turnaround of SP centric games. I saw copies of Gears 3 & Uncharted 3 on the shelves of game retailers here not 2 weeks after their respective releases. I myself finished Uncharted 3 in less than a week. This is why more and more console titles (and their PC ports) have Day One DLC or other gimmicks to keep the player engaged longer.

If the pre-owned market wants to survive in its current for they need to start giving the publisher a cut of the revenue generated from the trade in pre-owned sales. The publishers/Developer are much less likely to want to try and kill off the pre-owned market if they get a share everytime a title is traded.