Braben calls for control of used-game sales in UK

Cyndy Aleo-Carreira — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 19:50:57 -0400

Gamesindustry.biz reports that Frontier Developments founder David Braben is raising the idea of limiting used game sales, claiming that the proliferation of used games in retail outlets makes it more difficult for buyers to find games in brand-new condition. He claims that the used-game market amounts to a rental system, and suggests:

"We can make pre-owned detectable, we can put a code on the disc or the packaging... We should be doing something and it should result, in the longer term, in cheaper retail prices, which helps us all."

This isn't the first time that game publishers have argued that used-game sales cut into the market for new games. Back in 2006, The Guardian also addressed the issue, noting at the time that used games accounted for £100 million a year. When compared to the industry's £1.3 billion in sale of new games, it really wasn't much of a factor.

Any time an industry sees a revenue stream outside its control, the assumption is made that it should somehow have a piece of that money. For players, the used game market allows a wider range of selection. At upwards of $50 USD per game, it becomes prohibitively expensive to buy a game without already having played them. For many gamers, used games increase the number of games they can purchase, and often introduce users to a game franchise that can result in new game sales. My house is full of games bought used, and usually, the sequels are bought new as soon as they are released, like the LEGO Batman game that's already pre-ordered from Amazon.

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