The Escapist : Jimquisition : When The Starscreams Kill Used Games
[Update: Sony confirms the PS4 will not have mandatory used game DRM or fees]
We've come to an impasse in the gaming industry. It's not even some silly trivial thing but an industry-wide thing; a thing that will affect the entire marketplace from here forward for the rest of the video game medium as we know it. Now, chiming in on the matter is everyone's favorite hated Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst, Michael Pachter. According to him, the problem most certainly isn't used games.
Now, many people have found reasons to disagree with Michael Pachter in the past, especially regarding his outlook on the Big 'N' – and admittedly, it hasn't been very nice at all – but one thing Pachter and many of the gaming community have seen eye-to-eye on is his stance on defending the used game market.
While a lot of people may not like GameStop, they do happen to keep a lot of people employed, which in turn helps keep our economy just a little bit more afloat than if those people weren't employed. It also offers an incentive for gamers to trade off their old games and use the credit toward new games. That last bit is something Pachter believes helps keep the industry invigorated and new game sales...well, selling. In an interview with GameZone, the Pach-Man says...
“No, the industry would not be better off without used games," ... "There are a lot of people who cannot afford new games, and the used market provides access for those people."Similarly, the used market provides currency for people who want to buy new games at full price, and I think that the “cost” to publishers and developers from used game sales is very low," ...."Used games have nothing to do with studio layoffs; rather, poor decision-making is the reason."
Pachter previously gave a rundown of how used games do not cannibalize the retail market the way some propaganda pieces have been leading us all to believe, and his last line about “poor decision-making” is actually backed by the fact that a lot of studios closed down because of crappy stuff like THQ's uDraw or Codemasters trying to cash in on the Call of Duty craze. Brian Fargo also gave accounts of how many poor decisions by publishers can ruin the workflow of a game.
Unfortunately, when Pachter's comments matter most they'll probably go disregarded. We have a lot of misinformed gaming media figureheads like TotalBiscuit and Ben Kuchera from Penny Arcade spreading the support of used game fees by reproaching the current pre-owned market practices.
Gamezone will have up the full interview shortly, but all eyes are going to be on how Microsoft at E3, and how they respond to the consumer outcry over the pay-wall for traditional used game trading.
