The collapse of UK specialist retailer GAME has led to a lot of reflection in the industry. Silicon Knights boss Denis Dyack has done some thinking, and come to the conclusion that the pre-owned games sector is to blame for the high cost of product at retail.
“I would argue that used games actually increase the cost of games," Dyack said in a recent interview. "There used to be something in games for 20 years called a tail, where say you have a game called Warcraft that would sell for 10 years. Because there are no used games, you could actually sell a game for a long time, and get recurring revenue for quite a while.
"Now there is no tail. Literally, you will get most of your sales within three months of launch, which has created this really unhealthy extreme where you have to sell it really fast and then you have to do anything else to get money.
"Used games are cannibalizing the industry. If developers and publishers don't see revenue from that, it's not a matter of hey 'we're trying to increase the price of games to consumers, and we want more', we're just trying to survive as an industry. So I think that's inflated the price of games, and I think that prices would have come down if there was a longer tail, but there isn't."
Source: GamesIndustry
“I would argue that used games actually increase the cost of games," Dyack said in a recent interview. "There used to be something in games for 20 years called a tail, where say you have a game called Warcraft that would sell for 10 years. Because there are no used games, you could actually sell a game for a long time, and get recurring revenue for quite a while.
"Now there is no tail. Literally, you will get most of your sales within three months of launch, which has created this really unhealthy extreme where you have to sell it really fast and then you have to do anything else to get money.
"Used games are cannibalizing the industry. If developers and publishers don't see revenue from that, it's not a matter of hey 'we're trying to increase the price of games to consumers, and we want more', we're just trying to survive as an industry. So I think that's inflated the price of games, and I think that prices would have come down if there was a longer tail, but there isn't."
Source: GamesIndustry
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TheAuracle 28 Mar 2012 10:47
1/1
A very interesting point but I'd argue that the cost of brand new games hasn't changed much in the last twenty years. Games are still quite expensive at retail from launch to end-of-tail. Throw in the
It makes no sense to blame the demise of the leading games retailer in the UK on one sole aspect of it. Like everything else in the life, everyone has contributed to the situation either blatantly or subliminally.
disregard females; acquire currency
mentality of publishers like ActiVision and you've got yourself a lethal cocktail.It makes no sense to blame the demise of the leading games retailer in the UK on one sole aspect of it. Like everything else in the life, everyone has contributed to the situation either blatantly or subliminally.