Temp CEO for DICE, Patrick Bach, has jumped on the “comment on used games†bandwagon and put his thoughts into the matter. Bach says that blocking used games could be both a good and bad thing. Yesterday I reported that Crytek dev Rasmus Hojengaard ‘claimed’ that his comment on used games was a joke, most likely because of gamer backlash. Bach doesn’t seem afraid though.
I think it’s a loss if it only means that you will be able to get fewer games for the same money. But in theory you could see it the other way, because a lot of companies making games today are struggling based on second-hand sales.
Bach goes on to say that used games “hinder†companies and keep them from making new IPs because they’re afraid of risking their games being “resold too many timesâ€. Apparently if used games were blocked then developers would be more keen to make new IPs. Bach also throws out the piracy cop out as well.
There could be awesome single player-only games, which you can’t really do these days because people just pirate them, which is sad.
To this I have to call bullshit. If your game can’t stand in the market then you didn’t do your job. You didn’t have a great idea and it flopped. Game developers should be pushing themselves further and further, making it so that their game does not go into the used game bin. Look at Skyrim, such a successful game that it sold over 10 million copies. Bethesda knows what they’re doing and their games keep on getting better. If you’re a video game company struggling because of used games then either work harder to make better games or go and find another job.
As for pirating, there might be less if you priced your games fairly. Charging $60 for a game with zero replayability or a game that failed to impress gamers is not worth it to me. That $60 is the risk here, a risk to us as gamers. That $60 could go to paying for other things like food, electricity, water, internet, and other necessities. If we find out the game is crap after playing it, that’s a bit over $30 dollars down the drain because GameStop only gives you so much cash back for games even if they are new.
I understand that we gamers can be fickle at times but there are success stories in gaming out there. However that comes with the territory, developers you should know this. Work with us devs and publishers, don’t fight us. Trying to make things harder than they already are is just goint to distance us from you. Piracy of your games will go up, and even if you try your hardest to implement amazing anti-piracy measures the internet will work against you to fight them. If used games go away then you’ll be hurting even more than you supposedly are.
Source: That VideoGame Blog
