Until you have any math or data to support your argument, we're done here. You're just a kid angry that someone wants to show the actual truth about how used game sales are contributing to game studio closures. I've shown my data. Where's yours? Uh huh. That's what I thought.
I didn't say ALL of it would to developers, but SOME is more than NONE.
Also, the margin on successful games (i.e. the amount of money it takes to produce versus the amount of profit it takes to stay afloat) is much higher for games than any of the other things you listed. Bring me the math to support your theorem that used game sales don't impact developers at all. I'm still waiting, kid.
@streetmagik @CliffHicks I've worked for Westwood Studios, Maxis, Konami and Gamespot, among others. Glad to hear you support piracy, he said sarcastically.
@streetmagik @CliffHicks It's not self-entitlement. It's math. When you buy a used game, you are paying absolutely nothing to the people who made the game. Therefore, it's a lost sale. In fact, if your only choices are buying a used copy of my game or not playing my game, I'll do you one more - don't buy my game. DLC still makes up a tiny amount and pales in comparison to lost game sales. And for studios that don't get to make next installments in franchises because the core game doesn't sell enough, I'm sure it means the world to them that you're going to buy the next game their studio isn't going to make, because you didn't buy their current game.
I understand that customers don't think about this kind of thing. It's one of the many reasons that game studios have been closing down the last few years. (And you'll notice I didn't say "only" because it isn't - there's also bad management, bad game design, bad marketing, etc.) But you guys who think used game sales aren't contributing to game develoeprs going out of business kill me - the numbers even back up my argument, and your response is I'm ignorant. Bring me some math and facts, half-pint, and maybe we can try and have a real discussion about this.
Gamestop did 752.8 million in used game sales in the first 14 weeks of 2013. Times that by four, and that's $3 billion in lost sales in one year. Don't believe me? Go read Gamestop's own earnings report (http://news.gamestop.com/press-release/business/gamestop-reports-sales-and-earnings-fiscal-2012-and-provides-2013-outlook). That's how much is being taken (collectively, minus cost of goods) from game developers and publishers each year by Gamestop alone.
It's not from one game. It's not from even a dozen games. But I'll be more than happy to take 1/1000th of the money Gamestop is taking from developers back.
Except retailers set the prices of games after they've bought them from the publisher, and publishers drop their prices down significantly after 3-5 months (usually $10-20).
But go on, convince me again that several billion dollars in lost sales doesn't affect developers at all.
@WantYouBad No, somehow I doubt that. Used games are a giant problem for we developers (and rightfully so - Gamestop pulls in about a third of all their business from them), but games that fail to connect... fail to connect, and those games fail.
@GryphonICD Exactly. The majority of business done by a reseller like Gamestop is to sell a game new to 10-20 people, then buy that game back for about 20% of what they sold it to you, then sell it again, for about 70-80% of retail cost, pocketing all of that money. Honestly, the reason people who make games are upset about it is because very people realize the sort of tightrope act game studios walk in terms of budgeting. I fully expect "boxed copy" games to be gone before the end of the decade, and hopefully by 2015 at the latest. Glad I could clear up the confusion. :)
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