Used Games and Downloadable Content

So the used game market is probably very bad for the industry. This will eventually end though as sometime in the future all games will be distributed digitally. However at the present time publishers are scrambling to find ways to deal with this "crisis". A recent retaliation was to include 'free' downloadable maps in Gears of War 2 when you bought the game. They were not on the disc but came in the form of a code that you entered to obtain the maps. This was to stop people from buying used copies as the maps cost $10 online and a used game is typically only$5 cheaper. I imagine that this works reasonably well. Another measure that publishers and developers are invoking is downloadable content (DLC). I actually like this idea a lot and hate it at the same time. It is really good because when you are done the game and before it starts to collect dust new content can be released and you can be reemerged in the world. A good example of this is Fable 2. It is really bad at the same time though because games are being shipped with certain things missing or that could have easily been added. An example of this is Resident Evil 5 when it had a download for multiplayer the day after it was released. I do not care what the reasons are this should have been included or available for free for a certain amount of time. Some will think this is OK but they are parting with their money far too easily and without a fight.

I did not say this above but the reason it is a crisis for publishers is because they make $0 on used games. It is strictly a transaction between the consumer and the game store. I fear for the used game market though even though I don't support it. It is becoming increasingly competitive and the companies are buying games for more and more money all of the time. The investment that they are putting out there is huge. It would be better for them to offer less money to the consumer for the games and make the used games cheaper. They would still have the same markup and make the same profit on a used game. However their revenues would go down, and maybe that is a bad thing. No matter your stance it is all about having fun.