Supporting the Trade-in Market

[dannyscott18]

I was reading the issue 74 of 360 magazine and was intrigued by ur article on the trade in's. Personally, I believe it is an absolute outrage that EA and THQ are trying to make life worse for second-hand buyers (like me). The RRP prices of games these days is an absolute fortune, £40 for a new game? Who's got £40 splashing around in their pocket, and to be quite honest even if you did you probably would spend it on othe things rather than Xbox 360 games. I rarely buy new release games as they are far too expensive and not worth £40. The production of these games are a lot less than £40 so the producers' pockets must be lined with money, then EA and THQ complain because of the second-hand buyers apparently cheating the gaming market? Pathetic. Also given the current recession and global warming crisis people should be encouraged to recycle their games rather than let them go to a landfill site, and its cheaper. On average I probably spend about £10 on a game, picking up cheap games from 2008 or 2009 pre-owned and occasionally trading in some of my own titles. Games producer's should encourage trade in's because, if they think about it, their going to attract the gamers who don't have a lot of money (me been a perfect example). I'm sure their is plenty of people out there who agree with me that the price of new games is disgusting, and that yes, if they reduce the price of new games to say £25 they can limit the trade in's of some games. At a RRP of £40 the trade in market should not be discouraged, who's with me? Please post your views below

[Venomous Albino]

I was reading the issue 74 of 360 magazine and was intrigued by ur article on the trade in's. Personally, I believe it is an absolute outrage that EA and THQ are trying to make life worse for second-hand buyers (like me).

You can't blame them for trying to discourage people buying second hand games. After all, when you buy a game second hand, the developers/publishers get absolutely no money whatsoever. All the money goes to the retailer. The way in which EA is going about it however - locking out the multiplayer mode in a game that's bought second hand unless you purchase a passcode - is quite cheeky.

The production of these games are a lot less than £40 so the producers' pockets must be lined with money, then EA and THQ complain because of the second-hand buyers apparently cheating the gaming market?

It might not cost £40 to press a game's code onto a disc, manufacture the box and insturction booklet, it certainly costs a hell of a lot more to actually make the game. Combined production and marketing costs can - in extreme cases - be in the range of $100 million.

Games producer's should encourage trade in's because, if they think about it, their going to attract the gamers who don't have a lot of money (me been a perfect example).

Yes, they should... if they all wanted to go into bankrupt, seeing as they don't get anything for games sold second hand.

[Bob]

You have to factor in the money that publishers and game shops make from games that wouldn't be bought if people couldn't use part exchanges as currency.

If little Billy has his copy of Fifa 09 and twenty quid he ain't buying FIFA 2010 unless he can part exchange..

So while EA will lose a sale of FIFA 09 to a second hand sale they gain a sale of FIFA 2010 that otherwise wouldn't of been possible.

These things aren't alway black and white.

[Venomous Albino]

You have to factor in the money that publishers and game shops make from games that wouldn't be bought if people couldn't use part exchanges as currency.

If little Billy has his copy of Fifa 09 and twenty quid he ain't buying FIFA 2010 unless he can part exchange..

So while EA will lose a sale of FIFA 09 to a second hand sale they gain a sale of FIFA 2010 that otherwise wouldn't of been possible.

These things aren't alway black and white.

Unless Billy takes his copy of FIFA 09 into a shop, trades it in and buys FIFA 10 second hand. Then Billy takes his second hand game and bottle of Peter Moore's tears home with a big, smug grin on his face.

[Bob]

You have to factor in the money that publishers and game shops make from games that wouldn't be bought if people couldn't use part exchanges as currency.

If little Billy has his copy of Fifa 09 and twenty quid he ain't buying FIFA 2010 unless he can part exchange..

So while EA will lose a sale of FIFA 09 to a second hand sale they gain a sale of FIFA 2010 that otherwise wouldn't of been possible.

These things aren't alway black and white.

Unless Billy takes his copy of FIFA 09 into a shop, trades it in and buys FIFA 10 second hand. Then Billy takes his second hand game and bottle of Peter Moore's tears home with a big, smug grin on his face.

Well that's a. where Peter Moore's online pass comes in handy and b. it's an example. It's not meant to be taken literally. But for the fcukwhits out there substitute FIFA 2010 for This weeks generic military/space marine/sports new release and the example should hold up. Either that or gas yourself because you don't deserve to live.

[Venomous Albino]

He's on about buying second hand games though. So whether Billy - I'm growing fond of this Billy, so we'll carry on using him as an example - trades something in or not, if Billy buys a second hand game, the publisher still gets nowt.

[Bob]

He's on about buying second hand games though. So whether Billy - I'm growing fond of this Billy, so we'll carry on using him as an example - trades something in or not, if Billy buys a second hand game, the publisher still gets nowt.

I read his first post in the other thread. Well I say read, I assumed the mantel of a primary school teacher and marked it full of red pen. Thus I ignored his original post and chose to comment on your post that came next.

[The_Deleted]

I will happily use pre-owned, but when it comes to relatively new releases it's not worth it. Especially when that extra saving of £3- £4 is going to cost you more in any DLC that may have been given away with it.
I also don't agree with GAME's forcing of pre-owned over new, when, to them it is pure profit, f@cking over both developers and customers. Again, that minor saving of £3-£4 quid is an insult to all concerned.
If I buy pre-owned it tends to be for a game that I wasn't sure about or has just disappeared from sale. But even then I 'd still rather wait for the sales than give money to the robbing bastards who are CEX or GAME.

[Havantgottaclue]

Everyone's going to have their unique take on this one, I suppose. I do think that buying a second-hand copy of a new game when it's just a couple of quid cheaper (and let's face it, it's rarely more than that) is a false economy in a lot of ways.

Before I had a 360 (I've only had one for about 18 months now) I enjoyed hoovering up all the cast-offs of last gen gaming, which I'd missed as I was a retrogamer/hiding under a rock (delete as appropriate). I was picking up PS2 and XBox games like they were going out of fashion, with very few of them costing more than a fiver. I was happy enough, and it wasn't really hitting the developers' revenue as I didn't have a new system and therefore wasn't in that marketplace.

It was actually Ninja Gaiden on the XBox that spurred me into finally dragging myself into the current generation of gaming. It just looked amazing to me (I'm still not much cop at it however) and so a next-gen system followed on quite naturally. So in some ways my exploitation of the second hand market paid off in the long run, as I now buy new games regularly, and it was second-hand games that got me interested again.

[biron_w]

I was quite interested in the bit where the publisher said that it's because of the second hand market that games are still expensive,and if that went games would be cheaper. Well why don't they try selling them cheaper then to get rid of the second hand market?

[j2000_nr]

I see both sides of the argument. But for me I'm so in favour of the trade in market. It allows me to buy lots more games then I normally would be able to. Also I don't buy 'new' games 2nd hand as they are still too expensive. If EA wants to charge $10 then fine, but I really can live without the MP aspect of some games.

Each to their own and all

[Venomous Albino]

I was quite interested in the bit where the publisher said that it's because of the second hand market that games are still expensive,and if that went games would be cheaper. Well why don't they try selling them cheaper then to get rid of the second hand market?

That's one hell of a risk though. Imagine if the RRP of boxed, new games was shunted down to £30 and the second hand market didn't go away. It would be disastrous.

[Bob]

I was quite interested in the bit where the publisher said that it's because of the second hand market that games are still expensive,and if that went games would be cheaper. Well why don't they try selling them cheaper then to get rid of the second hand market?

That's one hell of a risk though. Imagine if the RRP of boxed, new games was shunted down to £30 and the second hand market didn't go away. It would be disastrous.

I have to say I agree with him. At this stage in a console life games should be cheaper. I remember after about 5 years of PS2 £30 became the normal high street RRP. I bought a lot more games because you don't mind taking a chance so much.

The thing is that there's so many more users now that they would recover just as much money because the installed user base is much bigger than when PS3 and 360 came out.

Of course second hand wouldn't go away. It never will while there's physical media.. it'd just be compartively worth less. If you where only getting a £10 or £15 back for a new game there's value in trading.

[Palerider_GB]

Never mind all this second hand sales milarky...

I want to know what happened to Billy?

Did it all go wrong for him and he ended up a destitute, homeless drug addict selling his body to make enough for his next fix?

All did he come good, marry a lovely wife and have three wonderful kids? (That he later butchered in drug fuelled rage after his missus forgot to put 2 sugars in his tea instead of 1)

[The-Marb]

I can see the danger to publishers but I do both really, buy quite a few games new such as Halo :reach, CoD, Gears, ME2 but pick up others im not sure about as pre-owned. I reckon its a fair compromise really.

Oh and in case you were wondering Little Billy tragically caught AIDS from a wolf and drank himself to death using toilet duck.