I was doing some googling and found an interesting take.
Saying that developers are hurt by used games is like saying the agricultural market is being hurt by you growing your own tomatoes in your backyard.
Is it true that developer lose money if you buy a used game? Yes, they do lose a bit because instead of gaining a profit percentage from someone buying a new copy but yet they still gained money from the +original+ copy bought.
Is it enough to harm them? No and here's why:
Used games only exist if people buy +new+ copies. The developers gain money from those new copies and a vast majority of the time, the developer gains enough money from the first round of new copies to cover the costs of the game's development, printing, shipping, etc...and still walk away with enough of a profit to expand their company.
While it is true that some people do buy newly released games, from experience I've mainly see people buy used games that are older titles with a lot of them being games that are no longer in print new. You mean to tell me that a developer is going to constantly printing new copies of a five year old game so I can buy it new? The answer is simply no because the developer would lose +more+ money from reprinting than they do from me buying their five year old game (which by that time is probably worth 75% less than when it was first released).
Used games have been around for over a decade and we have yet to see any company go bankrupt because of used game sales. So far, the main reason why we've seen a company fold was due to law suits, mergers, or their games just losing quality or not holding gamers' interests to even make them by them in the first place. (I miss you so much, Clover...)
Hell, used game sales can even help increase new sales for a developer. Say you buy a used copy of 'This Game'. You played it, loved it, and then shortly after beating it you found out that the developer is going to be releasing a sequel or a game with similar gameplay. Chances are your interest in the game is going to be so great that you're going to rush out and buy a new copy of the new game.
If you don't believe me, let me give you an example: The Grand Theft Auto games are a popular series for people to buy used, yet, the Grand Theft Auto IV walked away with selling 3.6 million copies on their first day gaining (roughly $216 million on its first day); they had sold 10 million copies a few months after the game's release. All those copies were new. Since then, people have bought used copies of Grand Theft Auto IV and will continue to buy them, yet there is no news anywhere about RockStar going bankrupt due to low game sales.
The fact of the matter is: people will always buy new games. The desire to have a brand copy the day of its release is too great for most people to pass up. Why it isn't uncommon for people to just buy new copies over used copies because they feel that saving $5 isn't worth having a copy that might not have a manual with it. People will always buy used games because not everyone can afford a new game or because the game might not even exist in new copies.
Yet, developers will continue to make money and will be able to continue to support themselves. Especially with the growing market of microtransactions. So what if someone buys a used copy of Halo 3? Bungie still makes money off of the buyer buying the maps. And the income doesn't stop with game content. Every t-shirt, hat, wallet or item you buy that is tied to a game, the company still gets a small profit from it due to them owning the rights.
Invisible_Kid2
That is COMPLETE BS. The whole "the developers get money because used copies were bought once" is just a crappy excuse that used game buyers use to justify what they are doing. Sure - the publishers and developers may have gotten $$ from that one game sale, but they aren't getting anything from your sale. YOU are buying a copy of their game as well, which should also benefit the developers since THEY CREATED THE GAME, instead you choose to ignore the creators of the game and give benefit to the store that is selling it. So even though 2 people have purchased and enjoyed the game, the people responsible only get credit for 1 of those sales. And it IS sales lost as alll those people who bought the used copy would have bought it new if the used game market didn't exist. Think about it this way.. if a game sells 500,000 new copies and half of those are returned and sold as used that is 250,000 sales of the game that the developer won't get paid for. A game that sells 500,000 copies is looked at as a failure by some, while a game that sells 750,000 is a moderate success.
The right and proper thing to do is to have Gamestop or Best Buy or whoever it is that is buying and selling these used games pay a percentage of their used sales BACK to the developers. Not a HUGE percentage like a NEW game sale, but 5 or 10%. This would make the sale of used games less of a loss in the eyes of the developers and publishers. But that will never happen. So the developers have to try and do what they can to earn some kind of profit off of these used games. Is the "online" pass or holding back single player portions the proper way to do it? Perhaps not, but at least it will never affect anyone who buy the game legitimately.
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