I love video games, and I happily shell out my 60 bones when a new game I want arrives on shelves. Or, like many others, I look for sales and buy used games. I like getting my money’s worth, especially since I don’t have a lot of money.
Most would agree; buying a NEW game is quite satisfying. Being the first to open the packaging, the smell of new data wafting from your shiny new case, pulling out that new disc and seeing the flawless, fingerprint-free surface gleam back at you. It gets the endorphins pumping, that’s for sure.
But its a rare thing in today’s economy – many gamers are finding their hobby to be a bit too expensive. Hell, a tank of gasoline and an Xbox 360 title cost about the same for me; which would you choose?
So the obvious alternatives are rentals, swapping with a friend or buying used. Swapping with my buddies happens much less today than it did in the era of cartridge-based titles, mainly because I’ve had several of my titles come up missing. Services like GameFly and Redbox are a great alternative for the broke masses that like new games, as long as you’re at the top of the list and can guarantee a rental within the first two weeks.
Of course, the last alternative to buying NEW games is probably what 75% of poor gamers everywhere turn to in their need of a fix – buying USED games. GameStop and your local secondhand shop are all a great place to pick up those new games without killing your wallet completely. To be completely honest, it used to be the smartest decision, too. Today, not so much.
Was it last year or 2009 that EA decided it was time to completely kill the fun in game development and purchasing with “Project Ten-Dollar?” I can’t remember because I might have blacked out and murdered a few dozen people when I found out about the decision to penalize gamers for purchasing games second-hand.
The gaming industry is a billion dollar a year industry – are the publishers of the world simply not happy with what they have? I must note before you read any further, in favor of full disclosure – If I had the chance to murder someone in the gaming community and get away with it scott free, the world would be rid of the scourge that is Activision’s Bobby Kotick. This dickhead is the primary reason gaming has gone to shit, hand in hand with EA’s John Riccitello.
These two, I must point out, did not start in the games industry. Nope. They’re outsiders – the types that would sell their kid’s kidney for a buck to get a tax write-off. They’re Wall Street douchebags; seething assholes bred inside the dark recessed bowels of corporate America to do one thing and one thing only: suck you dry.
I understand we’re an industry now. I get it, I really do. I understand you have to pay royalties, employees, and cash that fat $15 million bonus check for yourself at the end of the year to buy another fleet of yachts, but what happened to the RESPECT gamers used to garner? What about the fact that without us, the gamers themselves, you wouldn’y have a job? When did you decide it was alright to treat your developers and the gamers that buy your products like a lump of shit stuck to your $900 Gucci loafers?
Project Ten-Dollar, if you are blissfully unaware (or just not a total geek like me,) is the codename EA stuck to an internal memo detailing a new way to bring in extra income. Back in 2008, GameStop (the world’s largest video game retailer and all-around archnemesis of game publishers) posted record profits for the year, in excess of 2.5 BILLION dollars. How much of that went to game developers? Well, not much, considering GameStop’s main stream of revenue is selling used games.
We all know how it works – GameStop gives you crap for your games so they can sell at a ginormous profit to make the most money. How often do you walk into the store to trade a fairly new game you paid $60 for to get less than $20 in trade credit? GameStop takes that game and marks it down $5 from the new price and basically robs you blind.
So, I understand why EA and Activision use Project Ten-Dollar to make that back. But, I also understand that they’re penalizing the wrong party completely.
Gamers aren’t doing anything wrong. We’re not conspiring with GameStop to take away money from the people that make our games, but you’re making us pick up the slack! There are better ways than charging to unlock content that is INCLUDED with a game, on the disc and ready to go.
It’s like buying a home – Build the house brand new, it costs a little more. But if you buy used, you have to pay an extra $10,000 before you get the key to the home you’ve already paid for.
Publishers need to find a way to cut costs instead of biting the hand that feeds. Why do video games need instruction manuals? Don’t we have in-game tutorials to learn how to play the game, in-game menus that show us the control schemes, storylines embedded within the game and credits programmed to play after you’ve beaten a game? Why do we need these dinosaurs any longer? Cut the manual and you’ve saved at least $10 per package – no need to pay for printing or materials! A prime example of at least one way to boost your profits a little without totally screwing your customers.
Why does every game need to do this, too? I understand at a BASE level why a publisher would restrict online multiplayer to consumers that purchased new, but why do singleplayer centric offline games require this setback? What if you’re not online at all? Does that mean you’re totally fucked, and your game is incomplete? You’re shit out of luck, even if you paid for the new copy. Games like Mass Effect and Dragon Age don’t have online components, yet still require you to activate to get that last piece of the puzzle.
Mortal Kombat even has a “Kombat Code” to play online – it costs $10 to play online if you don’t have it. THIS is ridiculous.
FIND A WAY, EA. Find a way to fuck over GameStop and not us. We’re the reason you exist, and this is no way to treat us! Can we get a little respect? Please?
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