Atari have joined the voices concerned about second hand game sales and how they’ve”economically been extremely painful for the industry”.
There’s a light at the end of the tunnel though as CEO Gardner explains games are becoming ”more network centric,” so publishers can cash in on online services.
The problem is that with second hand sales ”the publishers don’t benefit,” only the retailers make a profit.
”But as games change and they become more and more network centric, the disc in the box becomes only one part of the experience. As that experience grows then it becomes not such a problem,” commented Gardner.
It seems that offering additional content online through various services may be a suitable solution for the publishers to enjoy after sale revenue themselves.
”There’s no doubt that second hand games sales has a macro-economic impact on the industry and a lot of people get miserable about it,” said Phil Harrison, Atari president.
”The games that have the embedded community, the embedded commerce, the extended, expandable experiences, are the one’s that you would never want to trade, the one’s you want to keep hold of. And that’s perfectly in line with our future strategy so we’re not that concerned about it,” he concluded.
So publishers just need to make super titles that keep our interest held hostage for endless months? Why didn’t anyone else think of that?! With online distribution there is no trade-in service which is why many publishing giants are taking a keen interest.
The biggest problem is the price is often still high even when there’s no physical product to hold in your hand, in some cases retail is actually sold cheaper.
Source: GamesIndustry.biz
