8/26/2010

Buying Used isn't bad

...and can still be capitalized on.

I've read some reasonable, and then i've read some harsh opinions on the current topic of developers guilting us to buy new versus used or 'other' methods.

I'll get straight to the point; we have the right to do whatever we want with our money.

Developers have been evolving and finding better ways to encourage us to buy new, which is reasonable b/c if we don't buy new, they don't get their hard earned money. Ways such as special characters, items, races/class, whatever.

If people buy used, I don't see that being too big a deal; as I commented on
Syp's Biobreak, locations that take in used games aren't bad guys:
Say EB games takes in your games, they have promotions on a daily basis that allows you to trade 3 and get a NEW game for free, or trade 2 and (depending on the price of the game) get a new copy of a game for ~$15.
So in this case the developer wins (people get buy new), EB wins (company gets used games to sell), the consumer wins (they get a new game).
If this wasn't in place, games collect dust, gamers may not have the funds to buy whatever game they want meaning:
Developers lose (less people buy new games), EB loses (revenue through used games), consumers lose (no new games to try).

Yes there will be people that trade the games in and buys a used copy instead, but that still isn't a bad thing.
How so?
Sure the developer loses out of money. But there are two things to keep in mind:
1. If the game is good, the developer will gain notoriety and the user may want to buy future iterations of that game.
2. The developer can implement dlc which can only be purchased online

Lets talk about number 2; DLC can be anything; Expansions or Fluff.
In the case of Dragon Age: Origins; they not only had future expansions where the player could/couldn't buy in a brick&mortar place, AND they had fluff such as avatar t-shirts/hats/armor that were cool that even non-hardcore players would like. Heck, even if one didn't have the game, consumers may still buy their online fluff. Thats pure money in their pocket.
Also, that person that buys DA:O has the option of buying all the DLC that they may have gotten for free if they bought used. A person that buys that extra dlc, is probably a person (that if they love the game) that will buy that dlc AND more. As we all know.. this dlc isn't cheap and developers are now pumping out dlc which one would think they'd should have added originally to the game but have chosen a path to increase revenues.

So I don't feel guilt when buying used, or selling games to companies that take them in (except when i feel gyped by the low values). A company must evolve if the environment is changing with them.

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