Game Developer Attacks Used Game Market
What’s the Real Price of Used Games?
Do gamers owe it to video game developers to buy their favorite titles new and not used? According to one video game developer, used video game sales are costing the industry lots of cash.
In an interview with GameIndustry.biz last week, Quantic Dream developer Guillaume de Fondaumiere complained that sales of his team’s Heavy Rain (a PlayStation 3 exclusive) were higher than sales indicate, but that they weren’t about to receive cash from gamers who buy used.
"We basically sold to date approximately two million units," de Fondaumiere said. "We know from the [PlayStation Network] Trophy system that probably more than three million people bought this game and played it...On my small level it's a million people playing my game without giving me one cent. And my calculation is, as Quantic Dream, I lost between €5 and €10 million worth of royalties because of second-hand gaming."
The way developers like de Fondaumiere see it, too many people are playing the same disc -- meaning that in situations where someone could have bought the game new (and provided game makers with sixty additional dollars), they're just purchasing titles like Gears of War 2, Grand Theft Auto IV and God of War III used off services like Kijiji or Craigslist. There are also a number of major retailers who offer used games, like Gamestop and EBGames.
Not everyone appreciates de Fondaumiere's view that gamers owe developers a new purchase. Many ask why the video game industry should be seen any differently as, say, the used furniture business or the automotive industry. A Ford Mustang sold to Mr. Smith in 2011 won't earn Ford any more money when Mr. Smith sells the vehicle to his neighbour six years later. That's how the automotive industry has always worked and, generally speaking, that's how open market capitalism works.
But a lot of people see da Fondaumiere's point. The video game industry is facing some major challenges right now, with many developers teetering on the edge of bankruptcy for extended periods of time. Hardcore (or dedicated) gamers say they're willing to buy new to help their favorite game makers survive what has been a trying recession for the industry.
Unfortunately, da Fondaumiere is confusing a lot of people by also telling GameIndustry.biz that he thinks games are too expensive. It's this problem that drives gamers to buy used rather than new.
"I've always said that games are probably too expensive, so there's probably a right level here to find, and we need to discuss this all together and try to find a way to reconcile consumer expectations, retail expectations and also the expectations of the publisher and the developers to make this business a worthwhile business," he said.
It's a confused argument that won't satisfy a lot of people. But it does reveal that video game pricing could be undergoing an overhaul awful soon.
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