GameStop CEO: Used Game Trades Help Consumers

This is complete bullshit.

Gamestop gives me $10 for a game, marks it up to $24.99 and sells it to some guy that just doesn't want to pay an additional five bucks to get it new... This is helps consumers? Complete bullshit.

Here is what helps consumers (at least my gaming friends): When I/we are finished playing a game we sell it to each other for almost nothing, if not free.

GameStop gets loaded from used game revenue so any way they can spin it as a win for the conusmer is exactly what they will do, when in fact, it is a win for GameStop.

I can't wait for the day digital distribution is a go across all gaming platforms. I will throw a small party when GameStop loses their ability to rip off consumers with their used game farce.

. . Wisdom begins in wonder. - Socrates . .

like i said earlier..

why should games be different form everything else?

Ford sells a car.. they get th money for a sale. If i sell the car on, ford do NOT get a cut of the money.. they had their money from the first sale.

Nobody has explained why games should be different...

Not to mention without used games you'd never be able to easily find older games that are now out of print.

I still don't understand why people are so against having a used option for a game, but perfectly ok with used for everything else. I have a LOT of used games that I have purchased (including 3 the day before Thanksgiving) and haven't seen an issue with it. Once a game is bought, THEN it can be traded in by someone if they don't like the game or, in the case of Mass Effect and some other games that were mentioned, they have completed what they want of it and want something else.  If you buy a game new, your spending upwards of 60 bucks a pop.  If you don't like it, or finish it quick...you pretty much feel screwed. You can sell it to someone, give it to someone, or trade it in.  But with ANY of these options, the developer doesn't make a dime off of it.  SO with that logic...you should hate yourselves as much as you hate Gamestop.  I made over $400 dollars in half a day selling just the smallest fraction of my game collection at a garage sale only a few months ago.  $400 bucks...not a DIME to the developers. Am I just as bad according to the argument?  I needed the space in the office, and didn't play them anymore.  So I was completely in my right to do this, and will argue in favor of it until I'm blue in the face. 

Now onto some people claiming that Gamestop goes out of it's way to stop new game sales.  Why would that make sense?  The more NEW copies they sell, the more possible copies they can have traded in by some people that can be sold to an even wider audience as used. This can lead to even more sales of new games.  Buy Gears 1 used, find that you like it, reserve Gears 2 or buy it new when it comes out. Same for Fable, Halo, KillZone, Resitence Fall of Man, etc, etc, etc.  Would you go pick up a movie, or a book, with NO idea of what you were getting into?  My wife buys used books from local stores that deal in nothing but those, finds authors that she loves, and then finds anything they have up to, and including, new books.  The publishers and authors made the money off of the first sale of those books..but are getting a larger fan base by the used sales. Look at Beyond Good & Evil as an example of why a good fan base can say more than a large pocketbook.  WONDERFUL game that sold horribly.  I purchased it used (since new was quickly not an option because of limited prints as well as it slipped under my radar at the time because I couldn't afford it) and am now greatly looking forward to the new one in development. Same honestly happens for many games.

Now what about the developers and console makers themselves?  Or the small developers like Atlas? Well, that goes in a few directions actually. When a developer sends games to Gamestop, they are purchased from the developer / publisher for the company to distribute as pre-orders and other demand dictates.  Yeah...those pre-orders do actually help decide if your area gets more of something or not.  As well as used game sales if it's a series or sequel.  It's not Gamestop trying to thin out an area, it's just supply and demand.  And smaller companies like Atlus, well they don't have many copies anywhere except for the occasional used copy because they purposly print such an annoyingly small amount of the discs.  So if you want an Atlus game, and you didn't either pre-order it or have an MASSIVE amount of luck, you are probably buying it used.

Now for the argument that used game sales hurt the industry...why place the blame squarly on a store (or any hobby shop, flea market, etc.)?  We can blame the console makers as well. They included backwards compatibility in their systems, which in turn gets you to purchase older games.  So say you go in somewhere looking for Sonic Unleashed for $60 bucks for the Wii...but then you find Sonic Mega Collection and Sonic Gems for $15 each used.  (Same basic thing can happen for the 360 and PS3 versions as well.) Your low on cash with this lovely economy so you decide that for about half the price, your getting a CRAPLOAD of games instead of just one.  Gamecube and Xbox games are no longer made, so you HAVE to purchase them used.  PS2 is still made to a point, but Sony's idea of fixing the used issue is removing that whole feature so you can later re-purcase the game you may already have for a higher cost (and it's BS that they removed Backward Compatibility since you can hack a 40GB model and it works fine and it's software based to begin with.) So console makers had to know that older games would be a viable option over new games (Wii has GC, PS3 usually has PS1 and PS2, Xbox360 HDD versions have 70% of Xbox, DS has GBA, etc.) for some people, but include it anyways.  But that argument is going off to something else...

So back onto my point, used "fill in the blank" is a necessary part of any economy.  Period.  Used cars, houses, cameras, phones, computer parts, videogames, controllers, TVs, DVDs, Records, the list goes on with anything you can put in that blank. You stop used videogames, or even just tack on taxes and/or fees to the sales of these things, you write the law allowing any to all of the other things that fill that blank to get the same shaft.  If we shouldn't be dealing in used...why the hell do we recycle? 

And finally, for those that think we should move to nothing buy a digital distribution system...answer me this.  Why would you be ok with paying more for a digital copy than it would be worth because of DRM issues, changes in hardware making you repurchase most things, locking you to certain items, and having no physical copy for collectors or archivists for our art form, just to "think" your saving a few bucks for yourself but putting the people that make the discs, print the data to them, ship them, make the labels, sell the product, produce the packaging, etc., either completely out of business / jobs, or hampering their income to the point people jump ship to other industries because we have become so self centered that we can't see past our own asses?  Just answer me that and not say you aren't selfish to save the few bucks for yourself at the expense of a larger company.  And I'll be there to call you a hypocrite.

(sorry for the long post, but this issue REALLY bugs the crap out of me) Email me at Zen@Zenspath.com if you want to discuss more.

Zen aka Jeremy Powers
Panama City, Fl.

If you can charge people for the resale of their games that means you are telling them they don't actually own the discs which you sold to them. That there was no exchange of goods for your money which you hanged off at that store.

Also, why are video games different than other forms of product? Are you going to start making people pay royalty to sell their used movies? How about their old lawn furniture?

- http://socialistgamerreview.com ~ Because the Proletariat Plays Games Too.

While I don't like the idea of trading games and hurting develpoers as a result, personally, I do think the entire argument would be rendered moot if the gaming industry would change their price model and make games readily available at launch for around $10-20. 

If you think any of this hurts devs take a real hard look at the industry its a simple fact there no independent devs left in the normal market because the costs of the normal market will keep any "unaligned" dev out of it, even well known and well liked studios will be drowned by the normal market because they can not get the backing and the support from the industry, look at the music industry why dose it take so much for a independent to succeed? The radio stations now adays are nothing more than advertising for the big boxed brands, TV slots are bought by the the big boxed brands everything is through the big boxed brands, its the same with gaming with the way corporate works you give them more you will get less.

We do however need more online distribution methods and perferbly more of "you buy it online you can play it off line anytime you want" the less overhead on the DRM the more money saved!

I is fuzzy brained mew =^^=
http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/
(in need of a bad overhaul)

BTW, if the game is a few years old I don't mind the used sales, but for brand new games that is just a shame.

--- Official Protector of Videoland!