Braben: Pre-owned sales keep game prices high

David Braben knows a thing or two about the gaming industry. The man co-wrote the enormously influential Elite, founded Frontier Developments and, more recently, worked on Lost Winds, Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 and Kinect Disneyland Adventures.
Sir Braben has now chimed in on the ever-controversial topic of used game sales, and how they are not only keeping game prices high but harming development of single player-focused games.
“The real problem when you think about it brutally, if you look at just core gamer games, pre-owned has really killed core games”, Braben told Gamasutra.
“In some cases, it’s killed them dead. I know publishers who have stopped games in development because most shops won’t reorder stock after initial release, because they rely on the churn from the resales.

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“It’s killing single player games in particular, because they will get preowned, and it means your day one sales are it, making them super high risk. I mean, the idea of a game selling out used to be a good thing, but nowadays, those people who buy it on day one may well finish it and return it.

“People will say ‘Oh well, I paid all this money and it’s mine to do with as I will’, but the problem is that’s what’s keeping the retail price up — prices would have come down long ago if the industry was getting a share of the resells.”
Braben does make a very good point. Publishers are desperate to try and get any money they can from second-hand sales, hence the introduction of the ‘online pass’ system – which limits online play to those with a brand new copy or those that have purchased one seperately. 
My two cents? Let’s all make a stronger push towards digital; no second hand sales, cheaper distribution and manufacturing costs, lower prices (in theory).
Source: Gamasutra


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