Preowned Games = DOOOOOM!!!

[Doug]

Speaking Companies who put out crap games or release to early, 2 really good examples are 1) the early release of Fable 2 and the way too early release of Knights of the Old Republic 2 in both cases developers caved into pressures from the publisher and released early. Fable 2 suffers from too many bugs and while non buggy, if Obsidian had been able to release the game that they wanted too, it would have pwnd the original KotOR all over the place, for those who have the PC version of KotOR 2 go here for what can be: http://team-gizka.org/index.html

ok Back on subject: resold games should fall under the same principal as resold books etc. The original publishers / creators don’t see a profit from resold books, so why should game companies believe any different.

[papillon]

Back on subject: resold games should fall under the same principal as resold books etc. The original publishers / creators don’t see a profit from resold books, so why should game companies believe any different.

Repeating statement - normal bookstores don’t sell used alongside new and cut in to the exact same customer base, they have new in one store and used in another. Except for amazon, and book publishers have gotten just as pissed about that.

[Dalburnan]

@papillon

Repeating statement - normal bookstores don’t sell used alongside new and cut in to the exact same customer base, they have new in one store and used in another. Except for amazon, and book publishers have gotten just as pissed about that.

Let’s say for a moment Gamestop is forced to stop selling used games. This would of course mean people would be going straight to used game stores to trade in their used copies, and purchase/trade-in for others at the same rate they do now.

I completely agree that it’s wrong with what stores like Gamestop do.(Hell I had one of their employees try to talk me out of buying a new copy to save 5$ by getting a used one.) But even if stores like Gamestop didn’t offer used copies, I have a feeling some of these companies would still be complaining about the sales of used games. If they crank out shitty titles, no one is going to keep them, thus making the pre-owned market that much larger and cheaper making more and more of their customers turn to used first.

[Jinnai]

@Dalburnan

I completely agree that it’s wrong with what stores like Gamestop do.(Hell I had one of their employees try to talk me out of buying a new copy to save 5$ by getting a used one.)

Irony is, i had just the opposite at a gamestop. When I wanted to buy Persona 3 FES, they offered the new instead of the used (it wasn’t worth the used anyway since it was $2 less).

@Dalburnan

But even if stores like Gamestop didn’t offer used copies, I have a feeling some of these companies would still be complaining about the sales of used games. If they crank out shitty titles, no one is going to keep them, thus making the pre-owned market that much larger and cheaper making more and more of their customers turn to used first.

Yea, it’s easier to blame someone else than blame yourself.

[Nargrakhan]

Ubisoft is trying an experiment:

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/09/03/royal … ee-for-pre

Bears watching as it might influence others into taking the same route if successful; or avoid if it turns out to be costly.

[olf_le_fol]

@Nargrakhan

Ubisoft is trying an experiment:

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/09/03/royal … ee-for-pre

Bears watching as it might influence others into taking the same route if successful; or avoid if it turns out to be costly.

Uh? What’s new about that? It’s what erogames companies have been doing for years!

[Nargrakhan]

@olf_le_fol

@Nargrakhan

Ubisoft is trying an experiment:

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/09/03/royal … ee-for-pre

Bears watching as it might influence others into taking the same route if successful; or avoid if it turns out to be costly.

Uh? What’s new about that? It’s what erogames companies have been doing for years!

Well the strategy isn’t new. VHS movies were doing it… and LP Records before that. However the tactic has not been all that successful in mainstream console games. It actually resulted in major losses for some companies (my favorite poster child being Working Designs).

Since preorder sales is the key item here - and not limited edition - Ubisoft is taking a road not always sought. Prince of Persia is also considered one of the “will sell more than a million games” type things (preorder goodies or not)… exactly how many above a million is the question… and what percentage of that is preorder is another. Remember: this is a console title that had a budget that cost millions to produce, and expected to have units flying off store shelves by the hundred of thousands. It’s not an eroge… which are peanuts in comparison. Eroge are happy to sell 50,000 copies. Console want at least 1 million, and prefer to have over 2 million. 5 million is always that magic mark only the best reach - above that is simply divine record breaking (GTA4 as an example).

Getting the preorder version (i.e. limited edition) costs the same as getting the regular version, so there’s definitely a profit loss in this. Even with eroge, the limited edition usually costs more than the regular edition. The idea is to attack the preowned market with it. The hope is that volume of sales, will offset the higher production costs. Of course if it doesn’t, don’t expect Ubisoft to repeat this ploy… and of course other companies watching the entire affair, are taking close notes.

[olf_le_fol]

@Nargrakhan

Even with eroge, the limited edition usually costs more than the regular edition. The idea is to attack the preowned market with it.

Most stores offer preorder items and most games have preorder items associated with them and it doesn’t cost you more than buying the game later; you just won’t have the preorder items. Even if it’s most often just a telecard, it’s still something you can (normally) only get by preordering.

[Nargrakhan]

@olf_le_fol

@Nargrakhan

Even with eroge, the limited edition usually costs more than the regular edition. The idea is to attack the preowned market with it.

Most stores offer preorder items and most games have preorder items associated with them and it doesn’t cost you more than buying the game later; you just won’t have the preorder items. Even if it’s most often just a telecard, it’s still something you can (normally) only get by preordering.

I know what your saying, but the telcard thing is so commonplace in eroge sales, that it’s EXPECTED they’ll come with one. If a title fails to provide a means to obtain it, erogers complain about it. For a lot of titles, even after a preorder period, one can still get the telcards (Softmap and various preowned stores seem to have them out the ying-yang). I don’t see the telcards as anything special these days… I kinda view them as ordinary. Spoiled? Yea. But its also an uncreativity of sorts.

Where eroge is concerned: figurines, artbooks, and soundtrack CD’s are the real preorder goodies I’m looking for. Those cards are just trash I throw in a desk drawer that I only remember about when I take it back to the store for trade. They’re just so mundane. I’m not getting a preorder for that card. It’s sorta like full color instruction manuals, that you find in console games. There used to be a time when they were special - because B&W was so common. But nowa days, people complain when a company releases cheap instruction manuals that aren’t in color. It’s so commonplace, it’s an expected feature…

[Jinnai]

@Nargrakhan

Getting the preorder version (i.e. limited edition) costs the same as getting the regular version, so there’s definitely a profit loss in this. Even with eroge, the limited edition usually costs more than the regular edition. The idea is to attack the preowned market with it. The hope is that volume of sales, will offset the higher production costs. Of course if it doesn’t, don’t expect Ubisoft to repeat this ploy… and of course other companies watching the entire affair, are taking close notes.

Well my friend is pre-ordering it and he works at Gamestop.

As for me, if I defiantly going to buy it, I’d preorder it. If it wasn’t a definite “must-buy” item, I’m not sure. I’d have to know the resale value of the items would stay about the same, which at this point the only company’s I can trust are NIS and Atlus to have similar resale vs. retail values for a long time, which is why unless it’s a must-buy item for me, i will never preorder it and why I’ll preorder items from Atlus or NIS even if i’m luke-warm. WD I did for some of their titles…i have a Ghaleon puppet with punching action. Natsume I do for some titles as well. Atlus and NIS though, like I said, are different beasts.

[olf_le_fol]

@Nargrakhan

Where eroge is concerned: figurines, artbooks, and soundtrack CD’s are the real preorder goodies I’m looking for. Those cards are just trash I throw in a desk drawer that I only remember about when I take it back to the store for trade. They’re just so mundane. I’m not getting a preorder for that card. It’s sorta like full color instruction manuals, that you find in console games. There used to be a time when they were special - because B&W was so common. But nowa days, people complain when a company releases cheap instruction manuals that aren’t in color. It’s so commonplace, it’s an expected feature…

The telecard was an example; you sometimes have other items, such as bedsheets, phone straps, stick posters, etc. The point was that adding goodies for preorder games wasn’t uncommon… and surely not a novelty.