Saturday, August 8, 2009

New/Used Games

I played the Batman: Arkham Asylum and X-Men Origins: Wolverine demos on the 360 today, and as Batman's not out yet, I decided to go and pick up a copy of Wolverine. I also wanted to pick up a copy of Fallout 3 for my brother (Happy Birthday bro!)

So the family and I headed to the local mall and I went to the game store there, who shall remain nameless. This store had a plethora of 'used' games for sale, easily twice as many 'used' games as new games.

As a developer, I know that the people who actually make games only make money off of new copies that are sold. So after a bit of hunting I managed to find the games I was looking for. When I took them up to the counter, I was given the hard sell:

"You know we have both of these games as used copies?"
"Yes, but I'd rather pay the extra $5 and make sure the developers get some money."
"You could save yourself some money..."
"I'd rather they be able to continue making good games"

Yeah, I'm an idealist...and I do actually say stuff like this in real life.

I realize that this chain makes a lot of money by selling a new game for a bit of profit, buying it back for $20-$30, and then reselling it for $54.99...over and over again. I can't blame them for wanting to make a profit, and I can't blame gamers who go into a store to buy a game, see two nigh-identical copies of the game, only one being $5 cheaper...of course it seems like a win-win for everyone involved. Except for people like me who rely on game sales to pay our rent.

But what really chaps my ass is that even after I explicitely asked for a new copy of the game, and paid for a new copy of the game, when I got home I realized that one of the games I'd purchased is clearly not new.


There is no shrink wrap, the price tag is affixed directly to the cover, and instead of the official XBox seal the case is simply taped shut with a strip of white tape.




Now, when I say I wanted a new game, what I meant was I wanted a new, unopened, guaranteed-that-at-least-some-of-the-money-I'm-handing-over-will-find-it's-way-into-the-hands-of-the-people-that-made-the-game game. With the game in this condition, I have no assurance that this isn't a second, third, or fourth hand game. I know that this case as at least been opened.

It's possible that the box was opened, the disc stored safely away from the display shelves, and then everything re-assembled when I purchased it. But as the copy of Fallout 3 has not gone through this treatment, I simply can't know that this game has not been used.

I will be returning both games tomorrow and buying them from another source from now on.

And for those of you who still want a deal on games, I would direct you to this:
http://kotaku.com/5332358/best-buy-now-matching-gamestops-used-prices-on-new-games