I love video games. Millions of people around the world do. Video games allow me to play out a scenario usually as exciting or more exciting than a movie and leaves me to make the decisions. Who would not enjoy that? I have shopped at Gamestop for many years due to their selection and generally good prices. I have bought used games in the past, but not in a long time. This is because in the way the current market is set up, used game sales are destroying the industry.
There is nothing wrong with selling used video games. A video game is an experience that in most cases you will be done with after completing the challenge once or maybe twice at most. You should be able to get a little compensation back on these games as the new game price is $50-60 on release day. Also, someone else can be enjoying a game that would otherwise be sitting on your shelf collecting dust. The problem is, Gamestop is making a killing off of used game sales, and the developers are suffering. Laid off employees, smaller project budgets and bankruptcies are only hurting the gamer. I truly believe Gamestop is hurting the gamer. Think about it. Most new games an average person with gaming experience can finish in about 1-2 weeks. If they bought the game on release day, they can turn around and sell it back to Gamestop for around $20-$24. Gamestop puts it back on the shelf for $54! Even if they put it at a lower point like they do with some games, a price point of $45 is still a $20-25 profit.
If you look at Gamestop's financial report, you notice that only about 22-26% of their sales are from used games, 40-45% for new games, and 17-20% for hardware. You think well used games are not a huge part of the market. The profit report tells a different story. Almost 50% of Gamestop's profits came from used game sales, while only 24-28% of profits come from new games and hardware. The gaming companies do not get any of this money to use towards future products and the salaries of their employees.
You might think ok? Screw the gaming companies they make millions right! Not necessarily. Yes, Electronic Arts and Activision come out with huge games that sell millions of copies and bring in hundreds of millions of dollars into their bank accounts. These are not the companies that need it, I understand that, but some smaller gaming companies need a piece of the used market to stay afloat. Don't tell me that everyone who buys a game used would not buy it new or that they would only buy it for the low price. They do that because the option is available to them and the used game market severely eats into the new game market. It is not like used versions of the game are not available for a month after the game is released. They are available the next day in most cases. I have a friend that buys games and put them up used on ebay the day he purchases them and knows he will have 7 days to beat the game before it is sold. The creator of APB, a brand new game with a pretty interesting idea is already going into bankruptcy. Their game was just released. These are examples of problems with our industry.
We don't want to get left with only big budget games, and left with so few choices, but that is what we are headed towards. Game developers are made to look like the bad guys by placing online fees if you buy a game used and so forth. They are just trying to recoup the millions it takes to make a quality game on a high tech system such as the Playstation 3 or the Xbox 360. Plus, don't think running you on their online servers is free. It is very expensive to run the amount of servers necessary to let all of you out there play their games online, all at once. Why do you think Demon Souls is going offline? And that game is predicated off being able to use other people to beat that substantial challenge. My brother got that game used and complained that it would be going offline and he has not yet beat it. I told him to blame himself.
Gamestop and others that are now starting to delve into the used game market need to wake up and understand what they are doing as they are hurting themselves as well. With less of a market for used video games they are lowering their sales potential and profits as well. They can afford to send a piece of the used game profits over to the developers, and if they don't someone else will. That company that makes that the plunge to give back I am sure will be well rewarded. A business could trade a percentage of used game profits for a day early release day, no online fees for used games, or free dlc for their customers. Everyone could be happy in an industry worth billions. So, why are they not?
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