I suppose I’m a little bit late weighing in on this, but I thought I’d give it my best shot anyway: as a recent Penny Arcade post points out, if you buy something used you’re not a customer to the manufacturer in the traditional sense of the word. If I buy a used Chevy, there isn’t one more Chevy on the road because of me, and GM are no less in the shitter than if I’d just continued to ride my bike everywhere.
PA of course did make quite possibly the most poorly worded statement ever (ironic considering wordplay seems to be something they really enjoy, given that at times one might need a fucking dictionary to understand the news post), in their attempt to state that from the developer’s perspective, they’re no better off when you buy the game than if you pirate it.
Even though I know the actual intent of that statement, I would still disagree. I didn’t buy Guitar Hero 5 used – I effectively stole it. I borrowed it from my brother in law and he hasn’t gotten around to reclaiming it… I’ve had it for months. I don’t have the money to go and spend $40 at Walmart for a game I can borrow, or buy for $15 on Half.com.
I have, however, spent about that on DLC already. I have a ton more on my wish list, and as soon as I get around to paying down our credit card debt I plan on picking up more – especially considering all the DLC I buy will be usable in the forthcoming Warriors of Rock. I also bought World Tour used specifically to buy the import license to get a portion of the songs into GH5 (though I’m not sure how much of that goes to Activision and how much goes to the musicians).
Assuming it were reasonable, I wouldn’t mind if I were required to pay for access to the online multiplay features – but I suppose I view the real cash cow of the future of gaming as being DLC…. and I think that’s where the differentiation between piracy and buying used even for the developer shows up.
People who pirate games will probably pirate the DLC as well. Why buy the milk when you can torrent the entire cow for free? Even used games still represent an earnings potential to a publisher who’s willing to capitalize on it in a smart way.
Consider a game like TrackMania Nations, which is given away free on Steam. As you zip through a corkscrew in a futuristic formula one car, you’re bombarded with live ads streamed across the internet for life insurance quotes or something else (I don’t even really remember, so I guess I’m shooting my own argument down, haha). That’s not even mentioning that Nations is basically a shareware advertisement for the “full” game (like this, pony up $40 for the rest of the game modes!).
While I don’t react quite so violently as many others do, and I do concede that I’m not entirely doing the publisher/developer a favor by buying the game used… I do think there’s still a way to make money off used-disc gamers. Assuming the online play is reasonably priced for a used copy, I’m sure it could definitely work. If it’s not reasonable (if they want more than about $10-15 – with $15 being more on the “this better be awesome” end of the spectrum – once-off for online play), the game will most likely tank unless it’s fucking spectacular.
Two more things to consider in parting: first of all, it may prove to be self-metering. A game that requires a $10 payment to play online with a used copy will most likely tank in price on the used market by around that amount, so the only people getting “screwed” will be the people giving up their bought-brand-new copy (why anyone would ever give up copies of their games, I don’t know – am I the only one who hoards even the games I’ll never play again?).
Finally, the entire argument will likely be made moot at some point by digital distribution. Short of selling my entire Steam account, there’s absolutely no way I can ever send someone my copies of Team Fortress 2, Left4Dead or CounterStrike:Source used. That’s something to think about before you prepare your “I paids me monies” speech!