Epic Games and EA Fight Used Game Sales

I'm going to agree with the people who feel games should be cheaper in the first place. I'm sorry but I call BS on this 10 dollar next gen tax. These games don't provide 20% more fun than last gen games. I mean fuck even GH titles are 10 bucks more, its retarded.

There's also too many games staying full price for too fucking long. Why the hell are Twilight Princess and Halo 3 still full fucking price at this point. Both games have to be close to 2 years old. I want to get Halo 3 to play friends online from time to time but I'm not spending 60 bucks to fucking do so. Nor will I pay the 50 bucks that places charge for it used. When I can get the game for 20 bucks new or used is when I'll pick it up.

Pricing this gen fucking sucks, if you don't want people to sell their games after 6 months to a year, then A make games worth keeping and B make it so its not worth buying the game used a year down the line.

Last gen rocked for this. There were games that I felt were worth paying the full 40 - 50 bucks for, and there were games that I was iffy on and knew that in 6 - 8 months they'd be 20 bucks. It worked out well for me as a gamer. This gen has worked out exactly opposite of that.

Last gen, games like Wipeout HD, Castle Crashers, and Bionic Commando Rearmed would have been $40, on the other hand.

Also, Nintendo games have always taken forever to go down in price. This is not a recent development.

Downloadable games also eliminate the used market entirely, making developers giddy with joy, I'm sure.

Most games prices drop so fast now, only a few exceptions (Nintendo 1st party games and a few Sony/MS exclusive) remain at their original MSRP years after release. Those games still sell very well so companies don't have an incentive to drop prices on them. I don't see the problem here.

Giddy to get a paycheck and put food on the table... those bastards.

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Originally Posted by Shin Johnpv

I'm sorry but I call BS on this 10 dollar next gen tax. These games don't provide 20% more fun than last gen games.

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This doesn't mean anything. It takes more people longer to make a game now. The whole "make the games worth keeping!" is a pipe dream too. Is there some magical formula for that? Multiplayer modes have greatly extended the life of a lot of games far beyond anything last gen. Co-op has made a huge resurgence in the past 2 years. In the end people just get bored of a game sooner or later and want to move on, it's the nature of the industry.

Look at how single player games are viewed now, it's considered weird if there is no type of multiplayer option. A FPS without it still gets dumb remarks even if deathmatch would be completely boring and pointless (Bioshock went through this as it got close to release. Look at The Darkness for awful deathmatch).

People expect a lot from games now. If it doesn't look incredible, it "looks like a PS2 game! That's not next gen!" Making a new engine for a game? That's 3 years of work for a lot of people dude. Rockstars' Rage engine? Unreal 3? Insane R & D to get it done.

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Originally Posted by Bacon McShig

Last gen, games like Wipeout HD, Castle Crashers, and Bionic Commando Rearmed would have been $40, on the other hand.

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I'd have paid 40 for Castle Crashers on a disc, I did for Alien Hominid. I would for SFIIHDRemix as well, but I prefer having a physical disc to downloadable content. I give them respect though for at least passing on the savings from not having to print a disc, packaging, ship it, and then give a retailer a cut, onto the consumer.

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Originally Posted by Rumpy

This doesn't mean anything. It takes more people longer to make a game now. The whole "make the games worth keeping!" is a pipe dream too. Is there some magical formula for that? Multiplayer modes have greatly extended the life of a lot of games far beyond anything last gen. Co-op has made a huge resurgence in the past 2 years. In the end people just get bored of a game sooner or later and want to move on, it's the nature of the industry.

Look at how single player games are viewed now, it's considered weird if there is no type of multiplayer option. A FPS without it still gets dumb remarks even if deathmatch would be completely boring and pointless (Bioshock went through this as it got close to release. Look at The Darkness for awful deathmatch).

People expect a lot from games now. If it doesn't look incredible, it "looks like a PS2 game! That's not next gen!" Making a new engine for a game? That's 3 years of work for a lot of people dude. Rockstars' Rage engine? Unreal 3? Insane R & D to get it done.

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I understand that games cost quite a bit to make, and there's a lot of people who need to get paid. That said though I don't think every 360 and PS3 game has a dev cost that means they have to charge 60 bucks for. I also agree with you that theres alot of bullshit from the consumer. Look at some one like Yoshi bitching about the graphics in GoW2. Though I blame Sony and MS for alot of that. They were the ones hyping this gen as the gen with lucid dream esq graphics. So that's what people expect.

I do think its bullshit that every FPS needs to have a multiplayer aspect. Like you said a game like Bioshock just doesn't need that, nor did Metroid Prime, and Prime 2 having it was fucking retarded. Personally I'm still all about the single player first and foremost, maybe that's where my disconnect is coming from this gen. Where it seems most people are fine paying 60 bucks for a game with a 4 - 5 hour single player experience and some multiplayer stuff, I'm not.

I also understand that engine development is really expensive as well, however, how many of those engines are also going to be licensed and used in multiple games. How many games have used UE3? Has to be getting close to double digits now. If game development has really gotten to the point where developers like EA and Epic just aren't seeing enough return on game sales alone, then maybe from a financial sense it was too soon to go to HD.

I just don't think the solution is charging a premium for any game on the 360 or PS3. I mean come on GH titles are 30 bucks instead of 20 this gen. I do think the solution is to try and sell more copies of the game.

I can tell you the raised costs of this gen have me buying less games in general, and buying more of them used. You know if you want to cut down on used sales, then don't price yourself out of what most people are willing to spend on a new game.

Maybe I'm wrong, I could be. Its just my perspective on things. I just am not a fan of the added costs of this generation, because personally I'm not finding the "benefits" of it worth the cost.

I agree with Shin Johnpv pretty much all around here. I understand that development cycles are longer and involve more people, but if that's not making the games any better, I'm still not going to pay more for them. I only bought two console games of this generation this year and I'm probably only going to buy one more.

Still plenty of good PS2 games out there though! :tu:

A product should sell for what it's worth, not what it costs to make. The problem seems to be that the soccer moms are willing to pay anything.

Heck, I think I paid $100 for Phantasy Star IV and Virtua Racing when they released for the Genny. Maybe I've just gotten cheap.

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Originally Posted by Grave

I agree with Shin Johnpv pretty much all around here. I understand that development cycles are longer and involve more people, but if that's not making the games any better, I'm still not going to pay more for them. I only bought two console games of this generation this year and I'm probably only going to buy one more.

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Same here. Most of what interests me on current gen are DLC and playing online. Very little interesting in standard releases. (Though I enjoyed playing multiplayer HOTD 2&3 on the Wii a few weeks back.)

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Still plenty of good PS2 games out there though! :tu:

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Sometimes I think that the problem is just getting older (or cheaper). Then I remember how I still love the PS2 and its library, including the new stuff.