Games: The Push To Online Distribution And Removal Of Your First Sale Rights

[bbmarley]

i only buy less then a handful of games on release and i have only ever bought one dlc bfbc2 vietnam as most games dlc is shite
often wait a couple month then price is slashed in half on sites like play.com
really dislike digital copys of games as my internet is only 2mb and when i want to play a game i dont like having to wait a entire day to download it for the next
maybe these gamedevs should stop putting out shady console ports and games that actually work on day 1, i would not mind having to wait abit longer for a game what works
along with all this drm stuff what gets cracked often way before the game is released why do they bother with it anymore i cant think of a game what has not been cracked
all they are seeing is how to make more money from the user
these people are just getting greedy i dont think they can stop the selling of pre owned games places like game and gamestation stores on the histreet usualy 3/4 of there shop is pre own games for console
if anything they would have better luck putting a tax on pre own games

 

[Arctucas]

<SNIP>
Its not my fault theres piracy, and my privacy and convenience and choice should not have to suffer as a result.<SNIP>

^^This.^^

I was going to post my opinion regarding this subject, but after seeing the reaction generated by a similar previously posted opinion, I feel that it would serve no constructive purpose.

 

[cadaveca]

Frankly, I just don't care. I enjoy playing games, and in the 80's, I was paying $90 for nintendo catridges. Paying $50 now for new titles, and then more for DLC, is no big deal.

Losing the right to re-sale, doesn't bother me either...I'm still paying less than I was in the 80's...seems like backwards inflation.

If games went liek the cost of everything else, we'd be paying $200 or more for a game, but we don't, so i am very happy with hte way things are now...I get slightly less, but pay less, too.


I guess perspective is everything.

Plus, I don't feel like I am entitled to ANYTHING. Good things cost good money, and I have the patience to save money to get the things I want, os piracy and such just isn't something I do...I don't even use cracks for game I legimately have the right to play...

 

[DannibusX]

First sale rights do not apply to software just yet. It should, but it's barely been brought up in the courts to be applied to software.

 

[H82LUZ73]

They must mean only 44% ever buy brand new. Though even that sounds way off. Everyone buys at least one new game. The fact that that number is so bogus makes the rest highly questionable.

UH rental like BlockBuster ..........Use to have ZipFly or Zoomfly any rental games effects retail sales.That explain the 44% never buy new when they can rent it.

 

[3volvedcombat]

1. Free-Riders: Only 44% of US console gamers ever spends money on Console Games
2. Pre-owned: 23% of console and boxed PC/Mac games budget goes to pre-owned trading
3. DLC: Americans will spend $950 million in 2011 on game and add-on content downloads

1. Is a very understandable figure, that should seriously be telling all these "gaming licensing company's" that the ECONOMY troubles around are having an affect on people. Period. I still cant justify spending 60 dollars on a game, AND WHAT MAKES IT WORSE, is game developers are cutting and edging out some good in-game stuff so they can later SELL it for even more EXTRA profit....

2. They consider trading, in my opinion its another sign that people are not liking these 40-60$ games, added on with 1-4 different 15$ add-on packs...

3. I was one of those people that made a POLL thread on TPU about DLC and the outrageous bullshit it could turn into, and might secretly be turning into @ this very moment. I bet that mw3 design team already has 2 DLC packs in mind (Probably already ready for distribution) for the gamer's that are going to want to keep up with the crowd. Game design is going to be harbored slightly and more extremely because of DLC, it leaves room for greedy predicaments to be planned in very early stages for "extra bank". (Block buster games their and advertisements are already giving clues. Like BF3, they were dying to tell us there was going to be DLC (secretly a way to solidify sales on it.).

I am almost thinking like big man Job's right now when it comes to console design. WHAT SOMEONE NEEDS TO DO, is design and release a console, and GUARANTEE all games will be 39.99$ and NO more. At the same time offering better graphics and performance. Sell @ a regular base point, (maybe even slightly more expensive then 299.99) and maybe there will be more hard-sales on games, and people will appreciate that.


I could imagine Xbox 720 laugh and PS4 are going to have 69.99-79.99 hard copy games, you never know!!!! Just my 2 cents. After all these companies are seriously slacking in community understanding period/ to them their idea is probably,
"Its only three 20$ bills now, I can not see expense in my eyes!"....

....Frankly, I just don't care. I enjoy playing games, and in the 80's, I was paying $90 for nintendo catridges. Paying $50 now for new titles, and then more for DLC, is no big deal.....

Wow, I thought we are having it bad, but 90$ a title!
Its great you can save but in some places, even in america, times are getting very tuff for some people, EVERYTHING is inflating in price. There is a price tag and liability on everything basically, were any business man can see profit now....
I might ask, were you living on your own back then? I know I can never save up 90$ for games now because of arising quality issue's with those games(ingenuity).
Sometimes, Living expenses overflow people's lives way more often now. A lot of people can probably mustard out 90 bucks(even I), but I can also pick up food for 2 weeks (1 person), and I just cant justify such high prices on video-game entertainment, it will just feed everybody's greed...

 

[cadaveca]

When is was a kid, saving money that I got from birthdays and such, for games, was a normal thing. Plus, back then, the value of games returned for other games was quite high, unlike the market of today, so to go form title to tile was not raelly all that expensive.


The thing that gets me though, is that back then, games were maybe MB is size, scertainly less than 100, but today, with cheaper games, we've gone up to GB's of content, yet it's cheaper.

I know of no other real industry with any real modicum of success that has done that. They are offering 1000's of times more content, for far less!

But if you measure content in hours..well, it's a different story, but again, it's about perspective. And from that perspective, I can understand why the industry as a whole is seeking every avenue possible to make their products of higher value.

And that's what it is, really. Sure, it costs consumers more, but that's what happens when things are valuable...

 

[Frizz]

When is was a kid, saving money that I got from birthdays and such, for games, was a normal thing. Plus, back then, the value of games returned for other games was quite high, unlike the market of today, so to go form title to tile was not raelly all that expensive.


The thing that gets me though, is that back then, games were maybe MB is size, scertainly less than 100, but today, with cheaper games, we've gone up to GB's of content, yet it's cheaper.

I know of no other real industry with any real modicum of success that has done that. They are offering 1000's of times more content, for far less!

But if you measure content in hours..well, it's a different story, but again, it's about perspective. And from that perspective, I can understand why the industry as a whole is seeking every avenue possible to make their products of higher value.

And that's what it is, really. Sure, it costs consumers more, but that's what happens when things are valuable...

lol today's trend is buying a game then finishing it within a week so that you can refund it after. At least it happens the most around my local EB Games.

 

[mediasorcerer]

Yes, it is a tough decision indeed. For me, the only DRM that I will tolerate is Steam's - and note that I said "tolerate", as it still stinks with the loss of first sale rights.

I'm interested in BF3, but I'm in no hurry to get it, because I'm not too sure what I think of Origin. I have to look into it properly, before I make a decision. Besides, waiting is easy for me, as I have several triple A games I bought ages ago and still haven't played.

Tolerate is the operative word for me too.

 

[garyinhere]

is this a news post? I don't want to get point(s) if so?...

 

[pr0n Inspector]

If games are like chicken they would be 120 each by now. it's just entertainment, a luxury, find something else to do if you want to save money.

 

[mediasorcerer]

Im not so fussed about the price, although it can be very high for some stuff , i just save like mentioned, its more the imposing conditions on my ability to install and play without being connected to the interent, fair enough for first install etc, but after that, we should be able to play without needing the internet to do so, and without having to install an online "store" too.And forcing us to install from the internet too when we have the disc? come on, rude.

I have never ever knowingly downloaded any pirated software/songs/videos/movies ever and never will.

 

[Athlonite]

Frankly, I just don't care. I enjoy playing games, and in the 80's, I was paying $90 for nintendo catridges. Paying $50 now for new titles, and then more for DLC, is no big deal.

Losing the right to re-sale, doesn't bother me either...I'm still paying less than I was in the 80's...seems like backwards inflation.

If games went liek the cost of everything else, we'd be paying $200 or more for a game, but we don't, so i am very happy with hte way things are now...I get slightly less, but pay less, too.


I guess perspective is everything.

Plus, I don't feel like I am entitled to ANYTHING. Good things cost good money, and I have the patience to save money to get the things I want, os piracy and such just isn't something I do...I don't even use cracks for game I legimately have the right to play...

there's one major flaw to your thinking a game made in the 90's would take a month of solid playing to complete and probably had more replayability,
A game these days takes what 1 maybe 2 days to complete everything then what buy another game because your bored with the one you just played or wait for the inevitable DLC free or otherwise

I know which game I'd rather play

 

[pr0n Inspector]

there's one major flaw to your thinking a game made in the 90's would take a month of solid playing to complete and probably had more replayability,
A game these days takes what 1 maybe 2 days to complete everything then what buy another game because your bored with the one you just played or wait for the inevitable DLC free or otherwise

I know which game I'd rather play

Plenty of crappy games back then too, you just don't remember them because they're crappy. you are also older and more experienced now , so it's easier to get that feeling of "been there done that".

 

[cadaveca]

there's one major flaw to your thinking a game made in the 90's would take a month of solid playing to complete and probably had more replayability,

There is no flaw in my thinking. I own more titles than most here. I know full well, after nearly 25 years(at least) of playing video games, how the industry has changed ,and content has evolved.

Like movies, there's hits, and there's bombs. That will never change.

What has changed, is that the way titles were sold in the past led to situations where some titles are worth far more than they originally sold for, and are highly collectable. I can't think of any games in hte last 10 years that has can say the same.

If they cannot increase cost @ the register, they have to increase the unit sales. DLC is another unit of sale. If they can break the used market, they'd potentially have yet another unit of sale...content nonwithstanding.

 

[yogurt_21]

They must mean only 44% ever buy brand new. Though even that sounds way off. Everyone buys at least one new game. The fact that that number is so bogus makes the rest highly questionable.

wow, you all must be silver spoons.

back in the day when NES games were 50$ a pop very few bought them. Most rented.

So it was "mom can we go to the video store to rent a new game?" rather than "mom can we buy this 50$ game I'll beat in 20 hours?"

So you have to factor in game renting which can now be done by services such as gamefly.com, netflix, and redbox. Which probablly makes up a fat percentage, most likely 40% or more, the rest borrow or buy used.

 

[[H]@RD5TUFF]

Can't imagine people willing to give up their physical media any time soon.

 

[Athlonite]

Evan If i was to do DDL i'd still burn the resultant files to disk and resell that

 

[[H]@RD5TUFF]

Also with ISP's placing more and more harsh caps I can't see this gaining traction.

 

[Athlonite]

Also with ISP's placing more and more harsh caps I can't see this gaining traction.

Thankfully my ISP (orcon.net.nz) has an steam server cache and also zero rates data to and from it

 

[[H]@RD5TUFF]

Thankfully my ISP (orcon.net.nz) has an steam server cache and also zero rates data to and from it

Your lucky here in the US a lot of ISP's are capping peoples bandwidth really low @ 50 gigs or so.

 

[Mussels]

Also with ISP's placing more and more harsh caps I can't see this gaining traction.

its the opposite trend here in australia, more and more ISP's are lifting the caps or going unlimited.

 

[Athlonite]

Your lucky here in the US a lot of ISP's are capping peoples bandwidth really low @ 50 gigs or so.

not really I only get 30GB a month for $70

 

[digibucc]

yeah i rarely buy physical and do so out of novelty. DD is the way to go. It is inevitable that this is the future, it simply makes more sense than the current distribution model. a few curmudgeonly old gamers that want their discs are not reason enough to halt the obvious progress that digital distribution is.

the inability to resell is inherit in the product when distributed digitally, i'll give you that - but reselling is put on this pedestal when really only gamestop or the equiv make money from it. the end user buying/selling get ripped off every time.

i don't have to go for my serial list every time i install. i keep a backup as i want to have them but steam/origin/d2d keep track of them for me. the former 2 entering them automatically most times. they patch automatically (if i want) easily reinstall from a backup if i don't want to redownload. my only complaint is that they cost the same as a physical retail disc. DD buyers are paying the same for less, because B&M stores and their archaic patrons won't let go of this 50 year old business model.

i do agree that there is the novelty value as i said. some like to have a physical box or CE stuff that came with a game. i do for some games. but those exceptions hardly warrant stores full wall to wall with junk and pre-owned games for a whopping $5 off full retail price.

digital distribution makes sense. it is the natural evolution of the service given the technology available. it makes no sense to hold it back because you're confused about how little you own in the first place. it's a plastic coaster, that's it. your physical disc has no more rights than my digital download. i can replace my download for free, legally, in minutes if something happens. you can't do that with your physical disc.

 

[[H]@RD5TUFF]

not really I only get 30GB a month for $70

I use that in a day, between my FTP I run, my netflix and games and hulu, I couldn't live like that.:shadedshu