The Article
http://uk.ign.com/articles/2013/07/2...ent=4036194524

On the heels of the game’s announcement at E3, Ru Weerasuriya, founder of Ready at Dawn, gave a fascinating interview to Games Industry International, in which he lambasted GameStop’s business model, in particular pertaining to sales of used games.

“I think the problem is right now there are retail outlets that are really taking everybody for a ride,” he said. “You can’t make a living at the expense of everybody else.” Weerasuriya noted that both consumers and developers are getting the short end of the stick because of the repercussions of the used games market.

“I walked into a GameStop, asked for a new copy of a game and without telling me [the store clerk] tried to slip me a used copy and wanted to sell it to me for $5 less,” he later explained. “I flipped out in front of the guy. I was like, ‘Dude, wrong guy... You’re doing this to the wrong guy’... There are developers out there who are making games for [years] and some of them will go down purely because the revenue stream is basically flawed and creating this place where developers don’t see even a little part of it.”

Weerasuriya’s solution is simple: “I don’t think we should stop used games, but we should do something about getting part of the revenue back from GameStop and places like that. That’s not penalizing consumers; they’ll still get what they want.”



My Input

Per PS2 or XBOX game

the license fee to publish to specific consoles: $3 - $10
the retail shop sells: $30
the publishers receive about: $16

retail shop profit: $14
publisher profit: $6 - $13

retail preowned buy: $1 - $10
retail preowned sell: $20 - $25

retail preowned profit: $10 - $24
publisher preowned profit: $0

with PS3, PS4, 360 and X1 the profit difference increases.
Not to mention the publishers need to make money back from advertising, wages, software and game engine license as well as many other things.

the whole point of xbox drm was to get rid of ridiculous prices put onto us by the retail shops and let the developers recieve more of their profits it was like the http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/ of gaming



Please tell me your views

The problem is games are expensive so people prefer to buy used games as a cheap supplement 1 new game = same cost as 2 pre owned . People will do what's best for them and not others . I agree though it is a problem because if people buy pre owned games eventually there won't be enough money for new games , catch 22 ain't it

That isn't exactly true though just like the guy is trying to argue

I personally bought Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja storm 3 brand new for £40 but its now scratched and broken so i want to buy a preowned replacement but it's still ~£35 and brand new is £40 but it's been out 4 months

and games would be cheaper if people had not complained about xbox drm which was trying to get rid of the middle man as well as cost for physical items like discs, cases, ink and paper.

Once you have sold that license to the game it is no longer yours, so stop moaning, I would love to get money back from my old cars that I have sold everytime somebody sells it on to the next person, but I live in the real world. Be greatful that people are actually buying the game in the first place.

Not only that, but £40-£45 ($50-$60) for something I complete in 4-6 hours of play time Is a joke, How much does it cost you to mass produce these games? All in, including all expenses and wages probably less than $3 per copy. Factoring in development costs, on a game that sells well, what maybe $5-$7 dollars. About £3-£4.

Not only that, but how about you guys come up with something that is not:

1. A Sequal or
2. A remake/rehash of a game or series previously released.

Lazy ass game developers.

Nintendo have been raping Zelda, Mario, Smash Bros and Pokemon for the last 15 years, Mario and Zelda for longer. Zelda Ocarina of time has been released 4 diffrent times, and yet they changed nothing in the game. Not one thing. The 3DS version is 3D, thats it, its still the exact same game.

How can you get away with releasing the exact same game 4 different times. I accept its a masterpiece, but still, other than the 3DS one, they didnt even bother to change the graphics. In the gamecube release they increased the FPS, from 50-60 thats all. Unnoticable even to a hardcore fan. Not to mention this was the standard at this time....... Pathetic.

Sony do the same on a lesser scale.

that doesnt make any sense. its not the consumer wanting money from his resold game, its the publisher wanting money because the shops are trying to sell preowned > brand new so they get profit and publishers get nothing

he also goes onto say that he doesnt say we shouldnt have preowned games just they shouldnt extort consumers and publishers to benefit themselves


the whole point of the xbox drm was to slowly cut out the shops to make game cheaper by removing the retail extortion price, as well as them trying to sell preowned games over brand new ones for similar prices so that they could make more money w/o giving back to the publishers

if the xbox drm had been acknowledged we'd all probaly be enjoying our $20 - $30 X1 games from store that require online access


for a $30 ps2 or xbox game (and it cost more for 360 and ps3)

the license fee to publish to specific consoles: $3 - $10
the retail shop sells: $30
the publishers receive about: $16

retail shop profit: $14
publisher profit: $6 - $13

retail preowned buy: $1 - $10
retail preowned sell: $20 - $25

retail preowned profit: $10 - $24
publisher preowned profit: $0