Excellent point...

There were a few games I used to love seven or eight years ago, but that I was stupid enough to let my previous girlfriend take when we split up....

I bought most of those game last year. A few I could get new, but others (Baldurs Gate Dark Alliance 1 & 2, Champions of Norrath 1 & 2 etc) I had to buy used.

Good point, but it isn't the one the industry is complaining about.

As I understand the main problem is with second-hand sales during the first two months.
In that time the game holds its price retail while second hand shops are doing a killing with the same quality product for only half price.

Their solution hurts everyone, and it would certainly improve the risk of "buyers remorse" (if there is a functioning second hand marked, you wouldn't lose as much if you didn't like the game).

Why are games any different to movies, books etc?

Yeah, this is what's really hurting the industry. You hurt nobody when you buy second hand (or download) a game that can no longer be obtained new. However, when Gamestop sells the same copy of a game six times between the first two months and convinces people to buy said copy for $10 cheaper than the new one, something's wrong with the way businesses are being made. I'm not at all against EA's "Project 10 bucks", because it simply gives them the chance of earning something back from those used game sales. Sure, gamestop complains that their chance to sell games second hand is hurt and gamers complain their games won't be worth as much on the second-hand market, but in all honesty it's about the only way they can make sure they'll get something from Gamestop's rather shady practices.

Notice these things are generally aimed against retail chains like Gamestop, since used game sales in, let's say, Ebay or Craigslists are a really small market that's not worth pursuing. It's huge chains making most of their income from used games what pisses off the industry, and not without a reason.

And please don't compare this to used cars or books or whatever. Software doesn't get damaged over time or get yellow and smelly (Even when the media in which it's stored might) as books do and video games sure don't need replacement parts or yearly insurance as cars or bicycles do.

I'm not agreeing with them, I'm just pointing out where their main focus is after concluding that piracy isn't the big threat everybody was pointing at.

They have grown into a fat and sluggish industry much like the music industry (napster and the music apocalypse).

They can't cope fast enough with the marked and are now lashing out everywhere they can with solutions that hurt everyone.

Thats the point I have been trying to make with what I have been saying to Xyem. Guess I'm not as good as putting some points across as others!

Game does that here in the UK, just before Christmas Black Ops game was going for £20 pre owned and the new copy was £25. It hasnt depriciated in value due to its popularity as much as less popular titles. Then like you have stated, its not the fact that they are pushing the copy out just another once, this same copy could be sold to multiple owners within the first few months of release.

Game tried to get me to buy the latest FIFA pre owned for my son (buying for Christmas) when we took the new box to the counter. Wonder how many people were actually asked if they wanted the pre owned title and how many bought it.

In a situation like this the company selling the title is making much more money from selling on the pre owned title numerous times instead of just selling one or 2 brand new copies. This is what I believe is hurting the publishers as they see nothing at all from these pre owned sales.

You've got to be kidding...

Even though the digital information will be the same, the media will detoriate to a point where the disc cannot be read. It's the same as movies and music, and even worse than books.

I still have my first music CD, which I got as a gift back in 1996. It works just as perfectly as it did back then because I took care of it.

Books? I have 2 year old books that are already a pain to read because they smell due to local humidity. I can take care of cds just fine by not throwing them around, I can't take care of books just as well.

That is precisely why the used books, furniture and cars argument is valid. If someone sells their car after a few months and no accidents have ocurred, that car is still essentially brand new. You save thousands of dollars to get a car with what 20 000 KM on it. Books and furniture sold to used stores that you bought maybe a few months ago should still be mint.

Not to mention that games lose their values much faster than books or car, you can find books released several years that still sell at "normal" price while most games will end up in a bargain bin after only some months.

Actually, at least here, a car loses significantly its value, once it has been "used". If you buy a brand new car, drive it from the dealer to your house and resell it, you will already have lost 15% - 20% of its price. I don't know why that is the case, but it is.

The best analogy would probably be books or movies (DVDs).
That is because books are also "collectors items". Well, probably not Twilight, but I guess a Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone first edition might actually catch quite a price nowadays. Not to meniton real classics.

I wasn't talking about "collector" books (i.e. special edition), I was talking about standard everyday book, buying a 10 years old edition or buying a 2 weeks old re-edition of the same book usually cost exactly the same price, usually also the same price than a brand new book of the same size.

No, used sales do not hurt the industry- arguments that they do betray a serious lack of understanding of the economics involved. Money from used game sales ultimately end up financing additional new game sales. For those buying new the ability to re-sell the game effectively reduces the price of the game, thus allowing them to buy more new games with whatever amount of money they initially have budgeted for it. For an example, person A has $100 they can spend on games, while person B has $50 they can spend on games. Person A buys 2 new games at $50 each, plays them, then sells them to person B for $25 each. With the extra money gained from this sale person A then buys a third new game for another $50 (I'm going to ignore further downstream sales for the sake of simplicity, but even one does account for them it only further supports the point I'm making). The total take by the gaming industry is $150. If there were no used sales then person A buys two new games at $50 each and person B buys one new game at $50, and it stops there. Total take by the gaming industry is still only $150, just with fewer people having played the games in question.

At best used sales vs no used sales is a complete wash for the industry. However, there's another factor that can also come into play. With used sales more people overall are playing the games, which means more people talking about the games, recommending them to others, as well as larger communities and player bases for mutliplayer games. All this can help to drive additional sales (both new and used). So more realistically eliminating used sales is likely to actually hurt the industry.

So i just found out Blizzard are cutting out re frordging scrolls and pets that auto loot for you so you dont have to go to town every 3 minutes to sell so they can "release the game" quicker...

they've now cut out or removed 11 core mechanics from the game... I will bet anything this is not a blizzard decision but an activision one...

in Diablo 2 they removed a zone that was unfinished but never touched a single core feature... i mean we lost the cube.. the damn cube to rush the game out the door.

Mass Effect 3 is suffering the same crap... cant even get the best ending unless you mindlessly grind like a moron in Multiplayer... ME is not a Multiplayer game... i wouldnt ever want to play it like that... but games with MP get the money...

what happened to people being happy playing a game as a story and enjoying the experience not "OMG i can killz jo faster then ju killz me har har Gunz are purdy!" ~from PSN live chat

Well, maybe not in brick and mortar stores, but on Amazon you can get you're "average book" pretty cheap, once it hit the market. Sometimes the pirces are redicolusly cheap, even on relatively new books. Having a realatively new book with a 20€ Hardcover tag that can be bought "used" for less than 50% - 30% of that isn't rare on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.de/Steve-Jobs-autorisierte-Biografie-Apple-Gr%C3%BCnders/dp/357010124X/ref=zg_bsar_books_6