Gamestop Interested in used digital games market
- Thread starter chavosaur
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In this case, I still don't think it is. That is, if they do this by renewing codes. I really didn't see any other way.
This can actually seriously harm the industry. I have no idea who in the right mind would come up with this.
Don't they realise that there is no longer an advantage to get a new one over a used one (since you can't really lose a box or a manual), so a new one and a used one would be identical in every way except the used one would be cheaper. As long as both options exist, no one would prefer to buy from Nintendo.
Don't they realise that there is no longer an advantage to get a new one over a used one (since you can't really lose a box or a manual), so a new one and a used one would be identical in every way except the used one would be cheaper. As long as both options exist, no one would prefer to buy from Nintendo.
Would be cool if they could somehow get the idea to work, but I just dont see how the heck they could.
For my money doing this would remove one of the last hurdles for me to consider digital copies of games- I maintain the right and ability to resell is an important one. My main reservation would be would it have to them acting as arbiter all the time (either completely or percentage style) or could I sell it/swap it third party style as I can a standard physical token.
As for how to implement, knowing who owns what as far as titles go is pretty much everything about these sorts of services* with the remainder being making a nice frontend; I imagine revocation of ownership is possible already and I do not imagine it would be too hard to add in a mechanism to use that but also credit an account in the process.
*I hate to guess at their database structure, primarily as I am not so hot at big boy databases, but there is probably a list of every game they own, whether it can be sold (games have been removed from services many times but existing customers will probably still get maintained) and for each account/customer there is some method of looking it up.
"meaning GameStop can sell a game for $20, buy it back for $7-$10, and then sell that same license for $20 again, netting a profit of $30+ for a single $20 game."
I call wonky maths
Sale price
$20 - percentage of that does go to publisher/developer but for the sake of debate I will say 50% of total price is markup at $10
Gamestop now has $10 to do with what they like.
You sell the back to them at $10
Gamestop only has any interest on the original $10 or effectively $0 assuming it does not work on a credit system in which case they still have $10 in their account* until you buy something**.
Although the law and case law regarding second hand sales of software is unclear at best (remember Europe recently had a ruling to try and clarify some things as some others have referenced) but I would be surprised if they are allowed to resell as new (resale laws are reasonably clear that this is not the done thing) to say nothing of the usual mechanism of game prices dropping like a stone after a very short period. Still assuming they could then that would be $20 in their account as nothing, quite rightly in my opinion, would have to be kicked back to the publisher.
The repeats of this second hand process would be where money could be made but I would imagine margins get thinner, prices drop, GOTY versions get released and as long term second hand thrives on the idea of scarcity and making a copy/issuing a new license merely costs bandwidth.
*quite a few companies use similar banking tricks to effectively allow them to hold money for some time in their accounts to generate interest or use as a sort of collateral but we can get into banking/accounting methods another day; the usual one is you sell something to a company and they will probably pay you on the 90th day but you buy something from them and the money had better be there on day 30 or they will send the boys round. 90 days is often enough to sink a small company as well but that is just an added perk on top of the 60 days interest on a large sum is usually not inconsiderable/maybe even makes a significant chunk of profits.
**I assume as the trade it early for the highest possible price and maybe rebuy it later is a model that already exists it would easily transfer to this.
As for how to implement, knowing who owns what as far as titles go is pretty much everything about these sorts of services* with the remainder being making a nice frontend; I imagine revocation of ownership is possible already and I do not imagine it would be too hard to add in a mechanism to use that but also credit an account in the process.
*I hate to guess at their database structure, primarily as I am not so hot at big boy databases, but there is probably a list of every game they own, whether it can be sold (games have been removed from services many times but existing customers will probably still get maintained) and for each account/customer there is some method of looking it up.
"meaning GameStop can sell a game for $20, buy it back for $7-$10, and then sell that same license for $20 again, netting a profit of $30+ for a single $20 game."
I call wonky maths
Sale price
$20 - percentage of that does go to publisher/developer but for the sake of debate I will say 50% of total price is markup at $10
Gamestop now has $10 to do with what they like.
You sell the back to them at $10
Gamestop only has any interest on the original $10 or effectively $0 assuming it does not work on a credit system in which case they still have $10 in their account* until you buy something**.
Although the law and case law regarding second hand sales of software is unclear at best (remember Europe recently had a ruling to try and clarify some things as some others have referenced) but I would be surprised if they are allowed to resell as new (resale laws are reasonably clear that this is not the done thing) to say nothing of the usual mechanism of game prices dropping like a stone after a very short period. Still assuming they could then that would be $20 in their account as nothing, quite rightly in my opinion, would have to be kicked back to the publisher.
The repeats of this second hand process would be where money could be made but I would imagine margins get thinner, prices drop, GOTY versions get released and as long term second hand thrives on the idea of scarcity and making a copy/issuing a new license merely costs bandwidth.
*quite a few companies use similar banking tricks to effectively allow them to hold money for some time in their accounts to generate interest or use as a sort of collateral but we can get into banking/accounting methods another day; the usual one is you sell something to a company and they will probably pay you on the 90th day but you buy something from them and the money had better be there on day 30 or they will send the boys round. 90 days is often enough to sink a small company as well but that is just an added perk on top of the 60 days interest on a large sum is usually not inconsiderable/maybe even makes a significant chunk of profits.
**I assume as the trade it early for the highest possible price and maybe rebuy it later is a model that already exists it would easily transfer to this.
If it is distribution exclusive to gamestop, I don't see it working very well. But if they somehow come up with a way to sell your steam, eshop, idevice, android, Wii, 360, psn, etc. games, it may work. I have a couple eshop games I wouldn't mind selling off. Probably not how it'll happen though. I can see it now, all the ppl with pirated games from the Wii shop and playstation store selling all their games they got for free lol.
How would they regulate that? Seems you would have to sell your whole account. I'm betting they'll just try and fail at making something like steam that allows you to trade in games you bought from their new online service. Thinking of how they would even make this work is confusing.
How would they regulate that? Seems you would have to sell your whole account. I'm betting they'll just try and fail at making something like steam that allows you to trade in games you bought from their new online service. Thinking of how they would even make this work is confusing.
Vampire Lied I would be shocked if companies do not have a list of who purchased what and when and definitely would if they allow you to redownload games. If you have such a list it is but a trivial database transaction on top of that.
I would agree gamestop are in a fairly distant place from the likes of steam but this would be a definite competitive advantage and could see them gaining a few places in that race.
I would agree gamestop are in a fairly distant place from the likes of steam but this would be a definite competitive advantage and could see them gaining a few places in that race.
If they're talkin digital games from any system or network, I definitely have a few I don't play anymore that I would be willing to trade in. Wonder how this would work on eshop. I'm all for it, just confused on how they would pull off trading from ANY system. Seems like they would just be opening a service like steam with the ability to trade in stuff. It'll be interesting to see what develops. If they make it open to any software, ill be excited.
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