Login





 
Pre-Owned Market Had Big Effect On Halo Says Bungie Dev >
2008/09/26 9:41:27: Posted by DM
According to Marty O'Donnell, Bungie's Audio Director, smaller game studios face hard times if they cannot get some sort of return on the pre-owned game market. O'Donnell said that he is sure used games had an impact on Halo sales, although how much, he is not sure. He is an advocate of creating a digital system for used games, that is "fair to both consumers and developers." O'Donnell joins a growing faction of developers who are unhappy with pre-owned game sales, although Gamestop does significant pre-owned business, as they have reported in the past. Stay tuned, we will see who wins out in the end.

Labeled With  halo 3 xbox360 bungie

Comments [13]  | Rate this article:  | Be the first to rate this article

Delicious Technorati Digg Blinklist Furl Reddit Newsfine Fark Simpy Spurl Yahoomyweb


Related News:
 Boy Who Shot Mother Over Halo 3 Found Guilty
 Halo 3 Expansion Announcement At TGS
 Halo 3 Update 2 Available Now
 New Halo 3 Achievements
 Halo 3 'Mythic' Expansion Coming? Image
 Star Ocean: The Last Hope Available In Europe Spring 09



Comments

Written by tr1p1ea on 2008/09/26

American companies man ...
Written by Xenos on 2008/09/26

This is why I very rarely buy used games. Out of the 40-ish list of games, only two are used and they are rebuys of games that I previously purchased new.

Sure new games can be around $15 more, but we need to support these devs.
Written by PimpDaddy on 2008/09/26

Xenos: I agree to an extent. But I'm not going to spend $60.00 on a craptastic game either. I pay full price for new games that are worth it. The used games I do have are usually marked down below $20.00 and had been on the market for more than a year such as Fusion Frenzy2, Kameo, King Kong, Lego Star Wars II, and Sonic. Plus all those games listed were for my kids.
Written by VaeVictus on 2008/09/26

I think the publishers could approach it this way with Gamestop. They should sell their new software for a higher price to Gamestop so they could recoup some of the massive amounts of money that they earn from the used games business. I understand this would likely cause a lawsuit, but they should really broach this subject and come to some agreement. I agree, Gamestop(and the likes)are definitely a detriment to developers and publishers.
Written by incoming00 on 2008/09/26

so bungie not happy with their $300 mil in sales in the first week for Halo 3?
Written by Xenos on 2008/09/26

I'm sure they are happy with the $300 million from the first week as well as the 8+ million in total sales. However if that 8 million figure could have been 10 million, well that's still money lost to EB/Gamestop
Written by arthur56k on 2008/09/26

these guys make much more, they make money on sales to game companies, not really consumers, and worldwide the figure goes up
Written by madgunde on 2008/09/26

Enjoy it while it lasts Gamestop, et. al. You're only going to hasten publishers move to digital distribution which won't allow for reselling your game used. That sucks for the consumer, but if the game is overall cheaper, then it's a wash. With no inventory and lower distribution costs, digital downloads should be able to be quite a bit cheaper than retail, and are also more convenient (no lineups, never sold out, open 24/7/365). I just noticed that Burnout Paradise is now available from PSN as a download. I think retailers should start getting nervous...

I think the iTunes App store is setting an example that hopefully others will follow. Games are really affordable ($9.99) and they sell boatloads of them for the iPhone and iPod touch. Hopefully that pricing strategy will rub off on PS Store and XBox Live Marketplace. I'm not saying a PS3 or 360 game should be $10, but certainly $20-30 for new releases would convince me to buy a lot more games. The increased volumes and lower distribution costs, coupled with no loss in sales to the used market could mean publishers could make more money than they are with the current retail model.
Written by Xenos on 2008/09/27

@ madgunde, we're at least 10 years away from full on DD with games. Broadband penetration has spread far and wide, but Sony, MS, and Ninty would still be cutting off millions and millions of potential consumers if they switched to a complete DD solution.

Honestly, I don't want DD to ever become a reality. Not after the whole DRM fiasco that we see with the current 3 consoles today. I like having my games pressed on a physical media that I can hold in my hand and call my own without any publisher calling the shots to how or when I can enjoy it. You mention iTunes, but wouldn't that be the worst model to follow? Sony has just recieved some backlash for following the iTune method of DRM on their DD for shows: download once but when it's deleted you can't download again unless you call sony and have them authorize the download and this authorization only works once. That means if I run out of space on my iPod or PS3, and need to delete this song/movie more than once, I would have to buy it again just to enjoy it.

On top of that, I don't expect game prices to drop at all when moving over to DD. Overall, compared to the game developing and marketing of said games, distribution doesn't really cost that much. Whatever savings the publisher does enjoy, they would more than likely prefer to pocket that extra earning into their own bottom line.

There are many ways the industry at large needs to grow and mature in order to sustain itself on DD alone and I hope it takes a very long time
Written by daveydz3 on 2008/09/27

I absolutely agree with Xenos here.

I think one of the ways publishers and/or developers can tolerate the used game market is to do what valve does: episodic content and expeditious and frequent updates. They charge for the content and in this way the extend the life of their product. more people buy the game, less people sell/trade their game and even if they do, if the person buys the new content then the publisher still gets some cash
Written by madgunde on 2008/09/28

@Xenos

The iTunes App Store allows you unlimited re-downloads of iPhone/iPod touch apps/games. It's not the same as it is for music. That's the model I meant.

We probably are 10 years off, but we're already seeing the transition, and retailers are going to start feeling it long before then. I think most people are with you and would prefer to buy the disc, especially if it's at the same price. But, I'm confident that the drive to higher profitability is going to start to pass the dd savings onto the consumer more to entice them to skip the physical media. I'm sure even you have your price. The market still has to find out what that price is to hit critical mass. Is it 20% cheaper? 30%? How much of a savings would you need to see before you're convinced to buy the DD version? On a related note, the PS3's DRM allows for 5 consoles, IIRC. Is the 360 only 3?
Written by madgunde on 2008/09/28

OK, I've started a poll in the forums to get an idea of what people's opinion on digital download pricing is. Please go there and record your vote:

How much cheaper does a digital download have to be?

hxxp://www.gamersreports.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=16226

Written by Xenos on 2008/09/29

You can download it as many times as you want on the 360.

Regarding the price, DD prices for movies are no cheaper than the prices of a DVD $15, so no, I don't see DD being cheaper.
You need to REGISTER in order to post a comment.

Recent Articles

 

GamersReporting Weekly - October 16, 2008

 

GamersReporting Weekly - September 29, 2008

 

GamersReporting Weekly - April 11, 2008

 

GamersReporting Weekly - March 30, 2008

 

GamersReporting Weekly - March 12, 2008

 

GamersReporting Weekly - March 5, 2008

 

GamersReporting Weekly - February 27, 2008

 

Top 10 Gaming Gadgets & Accessories Of 2007

 

GamersReporting 12/27

 

GamersReporting 12/19



01/27 (46 Total)



01/27 (51 Total)



01/27 (22 Total)



01/27 (22 Total)



01/27 (2 Total)



01/27 (0 Total)



01/27 (62 Total)



01/27 (62 Total)



01/23 (11 Total)



01/23 (5 Total)
© 2017 GamersReports.com. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy