I see a lot of people up in arms over the idea of nextgen consoles restricting or blocking used games. I also see people saying that games should cost less if this happens.
But I honestly don't think the average person that's complaining about this issue knows what a HUGE undertaking it is for a developer to create a full retail game on modern-day consoles, let alone newer pc hardware. This isn't the 80's where a lone programmer could create a full game in a few weeks, and spend nothing (except the time) during that development.
With every new generation of consoles (and constant evolution of gaming tech in pcs) comes new and better technology that the developers are expected to make full use of in their games.
TODAYS games burn through up to 28 MILLION dollars during their development cycle, with high-profile games often exceeding more than 40 MILLION DOLLARS.
Most developers have up to a 100 people (High-profile games often have many more) working on a single project. And most games take 1-3 years to develop.
But guess what? MANY modern-day games don't make a profit. While the video game industry as a whole is big and popular, being a developer that isn't well known for releasing great games (Bioware and Blizzard are two examples of the ones that are well known) is risky business.
If you're on this website, then surely you've seen COUNTLESS layoffs for game developers, interesting projects being canned, and even entire development studios shutting down over the years. And many of those developers have created great games!
While I'm sure there are a lot of contributing factors for why many games (GREAT games) don't turn a profit, there are two BIG ones that I can see. People pirating games, and second-hand (used) games sales. I don't think I need to say this, but in case someone doesn't know, a developer makes NOTHING when a used game is sold. And a TON of used games are sold.
THIS is why the RESTRICTION (ideal) or blocking of used games could lead to more innovative games and new IPs. A developer (And the publisher backing the developer) would feel better about trying something new and different if they weren't so concerned about losing a ton of money, and possibly their jobs.
Developers are often forced to create a proven-to-sell game that's been done a thousand times before so they MIGHT turn a profit and stay afloat in the industry.
I don't favor the idea of BLOCKING used games from next gen consoles. That would result in WAY too many problems for the consumer. (What if you had to get a new console, would the game work on the new one? Or what if you have brothers or sisters that have their own gamertags, would it work for them, too? Or what if you wanted to let your friend bother your game? Too many problems)
However, I think if games were properly RESTRICTED to prohibit second hand sales, it would be beneficial to both the gamers/consumers and the developers. (And when I say second-hand game sales, I don't mean ONE person selling ANOTHER person his/her game, or anything like that. I mean stores like Gamestop, which makes TONS of pure profit from selling used games, and also deprives many developers of money they deserve.)
As for a method of restricting games so they can't be sold used over and over... I was thinking of something like a newly purchased game will work with up to five gamertags (or psn ids) and any console that THOSE particular gamertags are associated with. And that's something I came up with in a minute. I'm sure that with more thought and some planning, an even more reasonable solution could be thought of that would STILL benefit both the gamers, and the game developers.
Really read this and let it soak in before telling me your opinion.
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