I read a pretty good article recently about how game developers are starting to provide more incentives for people to purchase the game brand new. Before the best motif was a pre-order bonus or day-1 access to certain items/events. Some newer games have an ingame service that unlocks content over time. The most notable are probably the VIP Pass for Battlefield Bad Company 2, and the Cerberus Network for Mass Effect 2 (both of these games are published by EA). New copies of these games come with a code that unlocks the service. If you get the game used, you can purchase the service seperately. Now a new trend is beginning: locking out certain gameplay elements unless you buy the game new. Preowned buyers are forced to purchase this missing gameplay seperately.
More and more publishers are starting to keep an eye on EA's new practice (including Ubi Soft, Activision, and Sega), and it could very well become standard practice. You may have heard of EA Sports' Project Ten Dollar (or Online Pass), which charges players $10 to unlock online gameplay unless you buy the game new. The first game to utilize this was Tiger Woods '11, but recently UFC Undisputed 2010 (from THQ) followed suit, charging $5 for online play if you skip out on a new copy.
If you skipped the article or haven't figured it out, this move is to help keep sales figures up against a thriving Preowned market. Unless you're OCD about stickers or are a die-hard industry supporter, buying used is usually the better choice. It's the same game but without the price tag. But when a game is bought used rather than new, the developer makes no money (and the preowned market makes a ton); and, especially given the case with sports games, their online servers carry the load of these second hand copies even when they made no profit off of it. This is why online gameplay is the primary feature being targetted. There have been mixed reviews concerning this movement.
Personally I think this is a great idea, from both a business perspective and my personal preference. I love the industry, I have no objection to buying a game new to help it grow (I buy my fair share of used games though). But on the flip side, it chafes that I can be playing against somebody that saved money buying used and that I avoided the choice for my principles. By forcing players to buy the extra content if they go the used route means they still support the developer because it profits them directly. Its cool that you get more for buying it new than some cruddy armor or gun.
My only gripe is that the code is only redeemable on one profile (XBL gamertag or PSN ID), so this hurts players that have alts or family that plays on the same console. I know, at least on XBox 360, Arcade games bought on one profile are accessible to all profiles on the same console, so if they could apply the same concept and make the code a console activation alongside the account that would make it perfect.
So, what are your opinions on this?
More and more publishers are starting to keep an eye on EA's new practice (including Ubi Soft, Activision, and Sega), and it could very well become standard practice. You may have heard of EA Sports' Project Ten Dollar (or Online Pass), which charges players $10 to unlock online gameplay unless you buy the game new. The first game to utilize this was Tiger Woods '11, but recently UFC Undisputed 2010 (from THQ) followed suit, charging $5 for online play if you skip out on a new copy.
If you skipped the article or haven't figured it out, this move is to help keep sales figures up against a thriving Preowned market. Unless you're OCD about stickers or are a die-hard industry supporter, buying used is usually the better choice. It's the same game but without the price tag. But when a game is bought used rather than new, the developer makes no money (and the preowned market makes a ton); and, especially given the case with sports games, their online servers carry the load of these second hand copies even when they made no profit off of it. This is why online gameplay is the primary feature being targetted. There have been mixed reviews concerning this movement.
Personally I think this is a great idea, from both a business perspective and my personal preference. I love the industry, I have no objection to buying a game new to help it grow (I buy my fair share of used games though). But on the flip side, it chafes that I can be playing against somebody that saved money buying used and that I avoided the choice for my principles. By forcing players to buy the extra content if they go the used route means they still support the developer because it profits them directly. Its cool that you get more for buying it new than some cruddy armor or gun.
My only gripe is that the code is only redeemable on one profile (XBL gamertag or PSN ID), so this hurts players that have alts or family that plays on the same console. I know, at least on XBox 360, Arcade games bought on one profile are accessible to all profiles on the same console, so if they could apply the same concept and make the code a console activation alongside the account that would make it perfect.
So, what are your opinions on this?
