Is buying games second-hand "cheating"? THQ thinks so.

"That's a little blunt but we hope it doesn't disappoint people. We hope people understand that when the game's bought used we get cheated,"
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And I couldn't give a crap if he feels cheated, because when I pay R700 for a new title, I feel raped, never mind cheated. I hope I disappoint him.
 
+100000

I totally agree. He can feel as cheated as he wants. It doesn't make up for the fact that we get screwed on a new purchase.
 
Well, i think aside from feeling cheated, he is forgetting something very true:
consumers switch to a secondhand market when the original new item is just too expensive, or, feels like a ripoff to buy...as simple as that.

Next thing Sony/M$ will take a stand against users buying secondhand consoles.

I would actually like to ask the THQ guy: If I bought one of your titles, and it sucks (like a lot of THQ titles do), would you mind if I sold it? Maybe another individual out there likes it and would like to take it from me in exchange for some money? less than what I paid for it by the way...
 
I wonder if this guy breaks out in tears when he drives by a second-hand car dealership. lol
 
I think it's a cheek that THQ is saying this. I have 3 words for you: Red Faction: Guerilla. (Or rather Red Broken Guerilla) - that simply didn't work on some non-Quad PCs, promised a patch - didn't deliver and instead dropped the price the R60.
I feel a bit "cheated" after shelling out R350 for a beermat.
 
Why does he think the 2nd market exists in the first place? Some people simply can't afford to shell out top dollar for every title and rather wait for the eventual price drops. And others are simply not prepared to pay that much for new games. Why pay R700 today when if you wait 2-4 months you will probably pay half price? Yes immediate enjoyment obviously, but why else?
 
What do you expect? all in all they not getting the money, and it is a lost sale, from their point of view you may as well pirate
 
Thing is many Publishers are looking into forcing 2nd hand buyers to pay a nominal fee to access online. I recall reading somewhere recently that Sony are looking into fully incorporate / support this. You will have to pay like $10 to access multiplayer, which over time will morph into something more.

SO many titles come out and cost full retail price but offer short, inferior gameplay. Why the hell as a consumer should we constricted from buying it 2nd hand!? I would like to say it is ALL greed, but due to the nature of the industry and skyrocketing costs involved in creating many games, I can understand why they are trying to find all avenues to gain revenue. Thing is, at this pace can the industry support this trend?

Meh!
 
tpex said:
What do you expect? all in all they not getting the money, and it is a lost sale, from their point of view you may as well pirate
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There's no piracy involved since the material is not copied or redistributed. Buying it from them allows ONE person to play the game only. If you sell it, you give up your right to play it again and again.

If you sell games after one playthrough, then it doesn't say a lot for their product. Maybe they should start making better games that will keep you drawn in.

This also leaves you with 1 less title to play and more cash to buy another new game from a developer.

He can screw off.
 
tpex said:
What do you expect? all in all they not getting the money, and it is a lost sale, from their point of view you may as well pirate
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I assuming you were being sarcastic here? Otherwise that is a really dumb argument. Kinda like saying well you are going to die eventually anyway, so it's ok for me to kill you now with this gun.

I understand publishers etc need to make money, we all do, it's called business. What don't need to do however is rip off buyers buying the game new. Look at MW2 for instance. How many millions of copies were sold?
As of January 18, 2010, it has taken over $1 billion in sales.
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Quoted from Wikipedia. You want to tell me that if they had made the product say 30% cheaper, that they would've made a loss? Of course not. And don't tell me yes but not all titles sell as well. Obviously, but then get better people working for you to decide which games to take on and sell and which not to. And remember, they probably made up all their cost on the first days sales alone with this title. Everything after that was essentially profit.
According to preliminary sales figures from Activision, Modern Warfare 2 sold approximately 4.7 million units in both the United States and the UK in the first 24 hours of its release.
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And this argument can be carried over to Windows as well. Look at Windows XP for instance. That was sold for how long, almost ten years? Was it really necessary to sell it for more than when it was originally released? When did they recoup their costs for R&D etc and when did it become wholly about ripping everyone off?

Publishers, wake up. If you want to stop losing sales to pirates and the 2nd hand market, then make the original product cheaper. I'm not saying it will be 100% cure, but it will make a large difference. Fine, your initial profits might take a slight dip, but in a very short time, you will see the rewards.
 
Densweep, what kind of work do you do, reason for me asking is that it seems that your understanding of a supply/demand driven capitalist business market seems to leave a lot to be desired.
You state that businesses are are in business to make money, but you counter that fact with stuff about initial sales etc , do you understand how retail and sales stats are applied to game sales particularly?

Budget releases are a way of releasing at a lower price point to revitalize sales AFTER a decline in initial sales, if there is no such decline, there will be no budget release.Its a sales tactic, nothing more nothing less
Reprising the market viewpoint on secondhand sales was always going to happen, if you read the EULA that comes with ALL software you'd understand that all software released is on a personal use license, coupled to a disk, therefore if the disk transfers ownership, the new owner CAN BE CHARGED for that transfer at full price if the publisher decides to enforce the EULA to its full extent.

Therefore, before making comments about the validity of someone else's comments, do a bit of reading and make sure you understand how software licensing works first off ;)
And lol, please while you are asking publishers to wake up and cut sales pricing, also explain to them why losing 10 million off of their bottom line is actually a good thing, lol dude really, promise me you'll never become a business advisor
 
Prices in general should adhere to a supply/demand scale. Pricing lower will increase sales, whereas pricing higher will increase profit-per-item - so lower pricing doesn't necessarily decrease profit, if sales rise enough to make up the shortfall in per-unit cost. But with games there's no realistic analysis of profit scales - prices are set to the skies, and publishers whine about piracy and 2ndhand games cannibalizing their markets.
 
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Working on a Profit per Item model is only really viable if you have a non volatile market, gaming is not such a market, the amount of competition a title faces, coupled with a fickle user market and limited longevity ALWAYS dictates recouping expenditure during an initial sales run as opposed to attempting to move volume of a specific title.

Cutting profit margins on items that might only sell 10 000 units as a first run is not a viable sales strategy
 
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I apologise for not having read all the relevant materials. Fusk. Shoot me. I never professed to be an professional adviser of any kind. I never said my idea was perfect.

As the publisher, you can charge the retailers say R300 per game or you could charge them R150. Only difference is you would need to sell a lot more, but because is this cheap, you are more than likely to make up these numbers from people who will now go and buy the original instead of DLing the pirate.

I'm not saying it is a perfect scenario and that it will work. I'm just saying publishers mustn't come cry they losing money when they are making billions as it is. They can also realise that if they want to hurt pirates and 2nd handers, beat them at their own game and make shit cheaper. Yes, they might lose money, but then again, it just might work and they can start to make a difference against pirates.
 
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