Used Games do NOT kill the videogame industry, and How Game Developers try to Justify Game Restrictions

Do Used Games kill the Videogame Industry?

A disgruntled Microsoft employee allegedly complained about the reversal of used game restrictions on the X Box One complaining that the reversal was a bad idea because selling used games is killing the videogame industry. Secondly this alleged employee claimed modern games require huge budgets and that decreased revenues will make it unprofitable to produce movie-quality games. Is he right? Are used games killing the industry? Never mind that used games have been sold since videogames have been around, and the industry has only gone up in profits. Never mind that some people would not even buy games if they had to pay full price.

No. Intellectual Property Reproduction Rights shouldn't Trump Individual Ownership Rights

Basically, no one likes being “owned” by someone else. It’s just unfair. Think about the situation with intellectual property and other works of arts. Videogames, like artwork take a lot of energy up-front in the initial design and expression. After that it is easy to reproduce and anyone could come in and profit off the originator’s hard work. Hence we have copyright, to protect an artist’s reproduction rights. They get exclusive reproduction rights. But wait, that’s not the end of it, there’s stuff like The First Sale Doctrine in the United States. Once you’ve sold your produced work, it’s out of your hands and someone else owns it. They can enjoy it, use it, resell it etc. That’s fair and meets our expectations. Unfortunately in the electronic world developers increasingly want to give customers something short of ownership in a product. They want to turn everything into a license. You’re limited to how many computers you can install a product on, and how long you can use a product and you have no resale ability. Nevertheless that business model just doesn’t work when a competitor (let’s call them Sony) swoops in and retails an actual ownable product. Boom goes the business model of the greedy corporate exploiter. And frankly, that’s the way it should be. 

Videogame Developers Shouldn't work With Movie Budgets

Used game resale rights are a valuable incident of property rights in the bought game. But even if profits are limited in the videogame industry – that’s a good thing. We don’t want videogame developers to work with unlimited budgets. There have to be incentives for developers to be cost-effective in their development. Developers should look to outsourcing, limiting graphic improvements that do nothing (read Final Fantasy) or not purchasing unnecessary song rights (once again see Final Fantasy) as long as their budget is channeled into quality gameplay. The fact is, videogames shouldn’t be about delivering movie like experiences. No one is interested in shovelling their hard earned money into shareholder pockets when they could be using it on their own lives.

Game Developers are Trying to Sell What the Public Doesn't Need 

When you break it down, game developers are trying to sell you something you don’t need. To justify a bigger share of the profit pie, developers are appealing to the costs of blockbuster, movie-quality rendered games. But who wants movie-quality videogames? This reminds me of a time I showed up at an aggressive coffee store. The cashier told me, “we have breakfast special, $2.99”. I tell her I just want a coffee and I’m not hungry. She replies, “There’s a sale on breakfast just $2.99 dollars.” But I’m not hungry. I don’t just hand over money because you’ve come up with a deal or invented some new widget; I spend my money based on my needs and my wants. Some retailers just don’t get the message. They want to create over-the-top consumer desires in the videogame industry that don’t exist. I don’t need or want movie-like games and bloated studios and budgets – and I’m not going to pay for it. 

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