GameStop interested in used digital sales
GameStop has built a retail empire (of sorts) on used game sales and it seems the company is looking into the possibility of expanding this fairly large profit margin by taking the business model of selling used physical copies and applying it to the sale of digital games/content as well.
Wait a second. Is re-selling “used” digital content even possible?
Apparently so, as CEO Paul Raines recently said the company is currently in talks with a few European companies that have developed the technology to make these second-hand digital sales possible, although GameStop is only “interested” at this point.
“We’re interested; it’s not a meaningful business yet. Right now we’re not seeing that as a huge market, but I think we’re on the leading edge. There are a few companies, a few startups, out there that we’ve talked to that are doing this."
He is also refusing to discuss the matter further, as he doesn’t want to give a leg-up to any competing retailers.
If GameStop decides to implement any of these methods of developing “used digital licenses” it would definitely be poised to boost its monopoly on the used games market, on the other hand, it’d also likely cause greater animosity between the used market and game publishers.
I personally like this idea, as it gives gamers a more affordable option when buying games and add-on content but I think GameStop and developers/publishers need to find a friendly compromise. Like say GameStop giving the pubs and devs a cut on used sales, while GameStop is given a more fair cut on new sales.
That way customers aren’t punished when the publishers attempt to make their money back. *Cough* Online Passes. *Cough*
And maybe GameStop would actually give customers a fair deal when it comes to trade-ins because of all the extra money they'd be making.
.....
Just give me a few more minutes of denial.
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g1 DISCUSSIONS
Korig
Why wont you die Gamestop?!
eranikusnxt
How...how is that even possible? How do you sell used data? Would you're console delete the data if you were to return this? I don't get it. I can maybe see how you do it on there tablet, but how the hell do you do it on the PS3/360/PC? I don't think Sony, Microsoft, or Valve would agree to this.
Demise of Sanity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjZuGas6yRQ
Sam Nail
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTI9L8aybVM
Kaneco
Gamestop should rename themselves to 'GameUsed'....'UsedStop' wouldn't be good for business if you think about it. =P
IzzY
I despise GameStop.
Lipnox88
lol. this is too funny.
Andrej
Soo...if I sold them my DLC, they'd have to...delete or block that content from my Xbox, I guess? Yeah sorry, but GameStop is the last company I'd let anywhere near my data.
Rupture
Cheers to that good man!
Baleoce
There was all that talk of Steam sales "cheapening an IP". Which was complete rubbish, otherwise the discussions between the publishers and steam wouldn't have ended up with having those games go on sale there. It is a very short window, designed to get the trail end of people who wanted that IP but were deliberately waiting, or even those who didn't know the game existed and/or those who didn't know what to do with their money.
This however, a potentially permanent reduction in price, in a marketplace that would quite frankly get flooded with games that people had finished in a few days, *does* have the potential to cheapen IP's for the publisher. Because unlike digital, physical used sales (where you are getting something that is typically box-torn, sometimes with a few scratches on the discs), clearly physically depreciates in value over time.
You don't get any of these issues with a digital environment, which means there would be no repercussions to using said marketplace permanently. No repercussions = big publishers taking a stand and either putting DRM/online passes in every game. Or even worse, only releasing their games on a proprietary platform with no access to any used game marketplace. Imagine having to install a separate client for *every* publisher.. I really think the steam system works, as it appeases both parties. GameStop will soon see the flaw in this if they ever follow it through.