Some Video Game Developers Want Used Game Buyers to pay for Boss Battles
The secondary market is a huge issue in the United States. Our primary retailer makes the majority of its money off of secondary sales, and so you’re starting to see games taking proactive steps toward that by… if you buy the retail version you get the unlock code. I’ve talked to some developers who are saying ‘If you want to fight the final boss you go online and pay USD 20, but if you bought the retail version you got it for free’. We don’t make any money when someone rents it, and we don’t make any money when someone buys it used - way more than twice as many people played Gears than bought it. - Epic Games’ President Mike Capps
Ok, first off the thought of making people with used copies of games pay money to fight the final boss is just wrong on so many levels. Plus I have to point out a few of problems with his logic.
- First, off they may not get any money when someone rents a game, but they do get money when the rental company buys the game.
- Second, this whole argument is assuming the people who are either renting or buying used copies would be willing to buy a new copy if there was no other choice. I don’t think that is a safe thing to assume, especially with some of the crap titles that are floating around out there.
- Third, the video game industry is far from being the only industry that doesn’t get money from secondary sales. Relistate, used cars, garage sales, etc. The list goes on and on. There are very few items in this world that don’t get resold at some point.
-Justin
