Outspoken God of War designer David Jaffe posted a video rant against used game sales on Saturday, but apparently removed it from YouTube the following day.
We caught up to Jaffe's video yesterday morning while scanning our daily RSS intake (left). By late afternoon when we checked back to gather some quotes for this article, it was gone. In its place was a YouTube message reading, "This video has been removed by the user."
A short time later, when we looked again, we couldn't even access his blog. A system message from Blogger read: "This blog is open to invited readers only."
It's unclear why Jaffe's video was taken offline or why he locked his blog. While Jaffe's video argument against used game sales was punctuated by occasional f-bombs, that's not unusual for his freewheeling commentaries. Prior to being locked, readers of Jaffe's blog were engaged in a lively response to his video, both pro and con.
The used game issue is a passionate one indeed, and Jaffe has addressed it previously on his blog. For his part, Jaffe takes the standard industry line that games are bad for developers and publishers. In the deleted video, he said (we're paraphrasing from memory here) that he didn't begrudge consumers the right to buy used games, but that game creators deserved a cut of used game sales. He said that some have defended used game sales by comparing buying a used game to buying a used car. However, Jaffe said that was a bad analogy because while playing a used game is the same experience as playing a new game, driving a used car is a different experience from driving a new one.
GP: Hmmm... We tried to reach Jaffe via Twitter to ask him about the missing video, but it appears that his Twitter account is no longer active. We hope that Jaffe has not decided to stop interacting with gamers. While we don't always agree with his rants, they are provocative and entertaining.
Comments
Re: GoW's Jaffe Rips Used Game Sales & Apparently Goes ...
You pay for the medium and packaging, a disc (which might as well be blank for the parts of it you actually own) and a license to use the data in a specific way. If you don't use it within that way, you are outside your rights to it and can have it taken away and be fined.
Re: GoW's Jaffe Rips Used Game Sales & Apparently Goes ...
" . . . the millions of comic books I've bought, read, and given away or sold . . . ."
Re: GoW's Jaffe Rips Used Game Sales & Apparently Goes ...
A glimmering example of irony and immaturity at it's finest. You sir, are an idiot.
Re: GoW's Jaffe Rips Used Game Sales & Apparently Goes ...
Come now, you can do better than that.
Re: GoW's Jaffe Rips Used Game Sales & Apparently Goes ...
" . . . the millions of comic books and porno mags I've bought, read, and given away or sold . . . ."
Re: GoW's Jaffe Rips Used Game Sales & Apparently Goes ...
That wasn't better, that was far off the mark. Come on, try again.
Re: GoW's Jaffe Rips Used Game Sales & Apparently Goes ...
Who would want to buy used porn mags?
Re: GoW's Jaffe Rips Used Game Sales & Apparently Goes ...
With enough patience, the stuck-together pages can be pulled apart, thereby providing countless hours of new entertainment. And some of the classic issues (e.g., Hustler's 20th Anniversary Big Booty edition) are now out of print.
Re: GoW's Jaffe Rips Used Game Sales & Apparently Goes ...
You have some experience in this? ^_^
If it's well used it must be of higher quality.
Re: GoW's Jaffe Rips Used Game Sales & Apparently Goes ...
Sorry, but gamers ARE grown up about the issue. It's a situation of supply and demand. If developers want us to buy, we have to see what they're selling as worth the price they charge. If it's not, then they need to change what they're selling or how they're selling it. We don't need a dialogue about it. We are the customers, and if some in the industry aren't willing to give us what we want, they can go and do something else and be replaced by developers that will give us something worth spending our money on.
Videogames are not essential, and if the industry doesn't want to give us what we want, we'll stop buying. We don't need to negotiate with these assholes. We don't owe them anything - they serve us. It's a shitty deal for them, but that's the business they got themselves into.
Re: GoW's Jaffe Rips Used Game Sales & Apparently Goes ...
Considering that the courts have decided years ago, with cases brought to them by the movie industry and Nintendo when rentals first started, that the resale and renting of games isnt' illegal, there really isn't any need for a dialogue. Precedent states that Jaffe's position can't be upheld in today's capitalist system: You sell what you own only when you actually own it.
www.20sidedwoman.blogspot.com
Re: GoW's Jaffe Rips Used Game Sales & Apparently Goes ...
I'll admit that the used car analogy may not be a perfect analogy. But I still feel that he and the rest of the game developers need to stop whining about it. If I was a game dev I'd be happy it means that more people (who may not be able to afford $60) will play my game.
Re: GoW's Jaffe Rips Used Game Sales & Apparently Goes ...
Well that's just my opinion. If I buy a game and somewhere down the line (weeks, months, or even years) decide I don't want it anymore, I just don't feel they are entitled to a part of the money if I resell it. Are they losing a small percentage of possible income? Maybe so, but I seriously doubt losing that income is going to bankrupt them. IMO these dev complaints about used games are just as pointless as their complaints about piracy. Spore had DRM and it was/is the most pirated game of 2008. Not that I'm condoning piracy but all it does really is get in the way of the people who buy games legally.
Anyway I guess my point is I understand their argument, just find someone elses shoulder to cry on.
Re: GoW's Jaffe Rips Used Game Sales & Apparently Goes ...
Yes for me as a dev knowing people play my game is a very comforting feeling while my company goes bankrupt and I cannot pay rent.
Re: GoW's Jaffe Rips Used Game Sales & Apparently Goes ...
I could see that happening, if say... one person bought the game, and everyon who ever played it was just using that one copy. In order for it to be used it had to have been bought at some point or another, and even then how many times do you really think one game is bought and resold? Maybe twice?
- Stand back! I have an opinion, and I'm not afraid to use it.
Re: GoW's Jaffe Rips Used Game Sales & Apparently Goes ...
They're not in this to get a good feeling they're in this to make money.
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Debates are like merry go rounds. Two people take their positions then they go through the same points over and over and over again. Then when it's over they have the same positions they started in.
Re: GoW's Jaffe Rips Used Game Sales & Apparently Goes ...
Everyone being in it for the money means no one is in it for the right reasons.
Cue up call of duty 43 please, I want some more of these spew titles!
Games are art and entertainment media. Sometimes it pays. Sometimes it doesn't. However, none of this philosophical stuff matters because many other industries have learned to work around used sales. There is no reason gaming companies (making record profits right now) shouldn't have to deal with it.
Re: GoW's Jaffe Rips Used Game Sales & Apparently Goes ...
If your company is going bankrupt, perhaps it would be a good idea to make better games.
Re: GoW's Jaffe Rips Used Game Sales & Apparently Goes ...
If I ever own a company (unlikely since I don't care to do that I just like making levels) it would be 100% DD and DLC. I wouldn't bother pandering to people who were causing this problem. Would I lose some sales because of it? Sure, but at the end of the day at least I know ever person who was enjoying my creations had actually compensated the people responsible for it.
How would you like it if you didn't get paid at work one day because the company only sold used items. I'm sure you would be pretty pissed you weren't being compensated.
Re: GoW's Jaffe Rips Used Game Sales & Apparently Goes ...
Oh d-d-d-dear. Heated as usual. How would you like it if your comments had no noticible impact on the local population?
That wasn't rhetorical.
Re: GoW's Jaffe Rips Used Game Sales & Apparently Goes ...
Right, because everyone who has made a critically acclaimed game is wealthy and successful. Saying "Make better games and you'll succeed" is a ridiculous answer.
Parallax Abstraction
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
blog.digital-lifeline.ca
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Re: GoW's Jaffe Rips Used Game Sales & Apparently Goes ...
If you can't find some place else that's better then all you have left is to bitch and moan, so start making some noise.