No Used Games For New Consoles = Sales Suicide

It is coming to light that Microsoft and Sony's new game consoles (probably coming out by the end of this year, 2013) may no longer play used games. All games will be locked to one system and one online user account.


The "Evil Used Games Market"

The console game industry in the past 2 years has shrunk dramatically. People are just not buying many games anymore. They're spending their money on the rare few that really interest them and not bothering with the rest. Because of this, tons of game companies have had to close up shop in the last 2 years because no one bought their game that they spent millions of dollars making.

Here's an idea... Make a good unique game! Not the hundredth rip off of Call of Duty! Make a game that people really want and that's worth the price of admission ($60), and people will buy it.

Game publishing companies have been working over time pumping the idea that what's killing them is the re-sale market where people buy and sell games used. They argue that instead of buying a game new for $60, people are just waiting and buying it for a cheaper price used. I do not argue with that logic, because I have no doubt that some people do think that way. Heck, I've often thought, "That game looks like it might be good, but there's no way I'm paying $50 or $60 for it. If it comes down to $40 or less I might get it." Whether used or new on discount, I'd buy it for the cheaper price, but not the new price, because I just don't want that game bad enough. To me it's not worth the high price tag, especially when so many of the games these days contain 10 hours or less of actual game play while others for the same price easily provide 30+ hours of fun.

Most game publishers hate the used game (re-sale) market. Why? Because a person can buy their games for cheap and not a penny of the money spent on the used game goes back to the game publisher. You can buy a game for $60 new, then sell it to someone else (or a used games store) and the game publisher gets no money from that re-sale. Of course, in reality, tons of things you purchase can be re-sold (used underwear anyone?... ew). Tools, bicycles, books, clothes, furniture, televisions, stereo systems, kitchen appliances, cars, car parts, clocks, paintings, pictures, instruments, toys and on and on the list goes. And you never have to pay the original manufacturers or inventors a dime for the previously used/enjoyed product. But game publishers hate the used games market and are doing everything they can to crush it.

This, however, could absolutely DESTROY the console game industry as we know it!


How To Kill Used Games

So how would the up and coming game consoles by Microsoft and Sony prevent used games from working on their systems? There's a number of ways, but the most likely way is to lock the game directly to the first system it gets played on. From that point on, the game won't work on any other system (any other internal serial number or online user account). Each game basically has one license and that license is locked to you and can NEVER be transferred to anyone else. The game will regularly check that you are the authenticated owner of the game by verifying itself against your signed in online account and your machine's ID. If it doesn't pass the check, the game won't play.


Consumer Creep And Awareness

The biggest reason why killing the used games market will seriously cripple the console game industry is all a matter of marketing and brand awareness. The saturation level or consumer awareness of these games will greatly evaporate if used games disappear. Out of sight, out of mind, as the saying goes. To put it simply, the more people that play your game, and like it, the more they'll spread the word and show it off, and the more other people will hear about it and think about picking it up (new or used). Used games account for a big piece of that pie. Kill used games, and you kill all the post-release viral-like consumer creep of interest.

Gangnam Style, a music video and song by a rapper in South Korea, has made the singer (Psy) world famous and has made him and his record label tens of millions of dollars that they never would have seen if the song and video hadn't gone "viral". How did that happen? Everyone could watch the video free on YouTube, and they LOVED it. Massive success! But what if there was no such thing as YouTube and there was no way to access the video except directly from the music studio or Psy's own website?...


Future Sales

Imagine a game company puts out a game and it does ok, selling enough to make a little profit when all is said and done. The company decides to make a sequel. If the first game was well received and popular, the next game (if done well) will probably be popular as well, maybe even more popular than the first. That potential increase, however, is a drop in the bucket compared to the potential increase you'd have if your first game was out there available on the used games market. Because chances are good that the people that played your first game and enjoyed it used, will rush to buy your next game brand new and at full price. Destroy the used games market, and these customers absolutely vanish.

And what about the people that buy new games with the money they recuperated by selling their other purchased games? The psychological barriers to buying a new game increase dramatically if the player can't re-sell his purchase. This customer is more than likely going to buy half as many games as he would have if he could re-sell them. He might even buy only 2/3 the games since his risk vs reward has escalated so high and he can't recuperate any of his spent money by re-selling. The game companies will have then effectively taken a regular customer who might buy many new games a month and squashed him down to buying 1 or 2 (on average) a month, or less.

With no used games market for buying used games or selling my old games, I'd be reduced to buying 1 or 2 console games every few months. In which case, I'd seriously consider not buying a game console (and I'm a gamer!), because the value just wouldn't be there for me anymore. Not at hundreds of dollars for the system, and $60 plus tax for each and every new game. As it is, a number of games I would have bought over the past two years I never bothered with because of this whole "punish used game sales" mentality locking out content from used games. And I am NOT alone in this. A number of hugely successful games have come out with well reviewed sequels that contained new restrictions (some harsh) on used games and the games absolutely tanked.


The Bottom Line

The more difficult you make it for people to purchase and enjoy your product, the less people will consider it, buy it, play it, talk about it and buy future products your company puts out, period. You become everyone's enemy, the greedy corporation, the "bad guy" who thinks consumers are all cheats and liars deserving of punishment. You disrespect your consumer base, you make it a pain for people to legally purchase and use your product, and you kill customer satisfaction. In such a case, your game better be freakin' amazing or else no one is ever going to bother with it. In fact, people won't even think about it because no one is bothering to play it in the first place.

The game industry is going the way of the movie industry. People are becoming much more careful about the entertainment they spend their money on. Movie attendance, despite a huge population boost in the last few decades, is actually WAY down, and only the big popular few movies get a good (great) turn out anymore, while the rest get almost nothing. This is how the game industry is going, fast, and blocking used games will push this trend over the edge at lightning speed. Adapt for the better, or the open market will destroy you.

Microsoft and Sony... If you want to kill your consoles and the entire industry they're based upon, then by all means, ban used games. My prediction, if the new consoles block used games, is that the entire industry will shrink up to 30-40% (or more, from where it is right now) in 5 years or less. It'll literally implode.