Rumor: Xbox 720 will not be able to play used games.

Both development companies and resale stores are being stubborn.

The best example of adaptation to the re-sale market that I can think of comes from Blizzard. They saw that there's a market for re-sale of their Warcraft avatars, they brought themselves in the loop by creating a method to facilitate avatar trading, and started getting a piece of the pie.

Game prices were too high, the development companies didn't adapt, so the re-sale stores found a niche market. As a consumer, I don't want to hear "well it takes a lot of capitol to develop a game blah blah blah." I want a game in my price range. If you can't give it to me, I'll find someone who can.

If they do institute this anti-used game thing without losing tons of customers, redbox and gamestop will have to adapt. tough cookies.

Gaming products are luxury goods in a down market. Adapt or die.

 

Does MS make money from each new game sold by a third party developer?

...couldn't (dont?) they charge a separate subscription fee for 'online' access to cover the cost of servers/upgrades/etc?

My kids got a bunch of games from their cousins who no longer used them. Seems nuts this is considered wrong.

If the resale of games which were all originally bought from the developer is considered mooching there seems to be something wrong in the gaming business model. no? And all Gamestop is doing is providing a service to hook up buyers and sellers. Basic retail, really.

 

I don't see where it says you have a right to profit. You can still transfer your ownership to another person at your pleasure.

 

Yes, you could. It means more money is going to the people who actually produce games. That means the industry benefits. More games produced. Better games produced. And, if we're lucky, cheaper games.

You don't seem to understand it, but when your money goes to a secondary market, that money is effectively lost. It doesn't go to the video game industry, it goes to a separate industry entirely, which is literally just a middle man.

Don't be excited about paying the middle man. He's useless, or will soon be, in this case.

(Hint: not all game devs are "mega rich corporations"... support indie developers)

 

1) Where did I say it was unfair? Businesses are allowed to overcharge and treat people like crap, if people want to accept that, fine. But business do so at their own peril, and I'm more than justified in pointing it out when businesses do these things. Fairness has nothing to do with it, it's just bad business practice.

2) Where did I say they had to produce anything? They don't *have* to, but I can certainly hold it against them for not doing so. They are, in effect, an intermediary, and a useless, out-dated one at that. Their business model is crumbling around them, they won't be around much longer.

 

Is there really going to be a 720?

 

Word on the street is that it will be unveiled at this year's E3

 

Well, looks like I might be forced to move on PS4, chumps...

 

I agree with this bit. Don't know the market at all so I'm really interested in DD's insight (Now THERE'S something you don't see too often in the GARM ).

But, conceptually -- I don't see many used book stores, or used CD /DVD stores (even back when we weren't all online) because it was easier and cost effective to buy new. At $60+ per game, I'll go used -- even if only to save $20 or so. And getting a $20 credit is worth it to trade in. Gamestop provides a good and valuable service to me here. (and, from the developer's point of view...the cheaper games are making future consumers of out of my kiddies...they're quite happy today with two yr old versions of NHL and FIFA that I picked up for 20% of 'list' -- and they're learning to play and will be valuable consumers of product down the road). I don't know how they're the villain here. The industry's pricing has allowed them to provide a service many of us are willing to pay for. We could get cheaper games, or sell for more directly on craigslist, I suppose, but I'll gladly pay Gamestop for the service they provide.

Just my take. I don't know if gaming scales to what I consider reasonable prices. Different and more fragmented market than movies and music, I guess.

 

I can see this hurting Gamefly if this happens. I have been a member for almost 2 years and it's saved me quite a bit of money. The games I buy new are ones that I am 100% sure I want it, or I go ahead and add it to my queue. If i like a game I tend to buy it from Gamefly, after I rent it. If the game is not available to buy from Gamefly I'll then go ahead and buy it new.

People will take this into consideration if they want to buy a XBOX 720 to be the first next gen console.

 

Digital distribution won't do anything to Gamestop until the developers make it cheaper to download than buy at a Gamestop. As it is right now, it's not even cheaper to download than buy brand new... so how is that going to affect them?
If they do start giving discounts for digital downloads then the market will change and people will start switching over. And that's how the market works. Someone comes up with a better mouse trap. But it's hypocritical to sit there screaming and yelling about it instead of doing something about it.

 

I read that but I thought you meant a legal right to resale. I didn't seriously think you meant legal right to profit. That's a silly statement so I assumed better.

 

Haha that's cool and disappointing that the name everyone expected is whats coming.
But there shouldn't be any new big consoles till 3 years from now i believe. The ones now are still mind-blowing and expensive as is. I'm satisfied with the PS3.

 

Digital distribution, for one thing, increases the profit margin for game companies, simply because producing an actual material object costs money.

Secondly, the digital distribution model has been wildly successful on platforms like Steam. Where coupons, sales, and discounts are a very common and popular thing. Hell, even the virtual console market has allowed developers to make tons of money off of extremely old properties from by-gone systems.

Thirdly, and this is the most important point, eventually game companies are going to move to digital content exclusively. When this happens, Gamestop no longer has a product they can box and sell. They will simply be starved out of the market. That is how it is going to affect them.

 

I think you're right on Thirdly, Donny.

Which begs the question....why would MS mess with the X720's compatibility with older/used games?

 

I totally agree that it increases their profit. They need to pass that on down more often. I buy $300+ worth of games a year on Steam, mainly during the holiday's. This whole Gamestop thing doesn't even affect me because I never buy from them anyway. But I always thought it was hilarious to see developers indignant over it because somehow Gamestop was stealing from them.

The exclusively digital content thing will be years from now. I love having it all digital since I can download anytime I want. But I have a lot of friends that want physical boxes in their hands. Just like movies won't be all digital anytime soon, I don't see games either. Especially with how only half the people have Internet and even those people have 1-2 Mb downloads.

 

I have never bought more than cheap digital copies of games but if they make it that I cannot trade, loan or whatever physical copies, there is no disadvantage to digital copies.

Huge advantage is I don't need to go to the store, and I don't need to change out the disks. Also no more disks cluttering up my bookshelves.

 

Don't really like this idea in the slightest. Don't even act like Microsoft doesn't rake in a lot of cash with their xbox live service. $5-$20 for a bunch of games you can get for free with an emulator.

 

It's not silly. The assertion was made that anti-trust laws might be brought into play because this would hurt someone's ability to resell the games. My point was their is no anti-trust violation. (Not a monopoly. Wish people understood how monopolies worked. Gets used way too much) There is no law that protects your right to purchase a product and resell it repeatedly for a profit.