Used Games, Digital Content Comprise 35% Of Console Spending

There's good digital stuff though.

Not even music?

Festival of Blood is great, it's like it's the same game but the new story alters the way you play it so much. I love stakin' those hidden vamps and snacking on people.

Rigamarole, when I buy used games it's because I would never pay full price for them so it's not a lost sale.

Today I tried taking my rental copy of Uncharted 3 online. I was surprised to see that I was expected to drop 10 bucks…Honestly the U3 campaign wasn't good enough to convince me to buy my own copy, I have 1 and 2 which I bought on launch day and I didn't ever end up playing either enough to warrant the 70 bucks spent. So I was more cautious and rented…If the multiplayer was great I may have bought the game but I couldn't try it out.

Why did it cost you $70?

I guess he meant 70 for both titles, in total.
Cool nick btw, "SubjectiveTruth".

I should've been clearer with what I said. I love the Uncharted titles, bought 1 and 2 on launch day. Each game cost me 59.99 plus 13% tax. (59.99 X 1.13 = 67.78) I played the campaign on each which was a good 15 hours each I think. Drakes fortune did not have multiplayer and so it has been sitting on the counter ever since. I played UC2 a little extra when I had my playstation at my girlfriends house who has broadband.

As far as I am into UC3, it's great. I just don't see myself paying 67$ for it unless I knew the multiplayer is great because I am not one to replay single player campaigns. I really enjoy the stories of games so once I know the story a lot of the reason to play is gone.

I would say I buy 98% of my games through gamefly. Some titles I like to have for day 1 purchase, but for the most part, I can get those same games day one through GF. GF delivered UC3 the 1st day it was out, that was AWESOME! I can't beat the discount combined with my gf rewards and the fact that within about a months time after release the games begin to drop in price dramatically. The nice thing is, if I get the game play it and end up hating it, I just mail it back. I will be buying AC: Revelations through GF and will probably spend about 40.00 total on a brand new game. The developers may hate it….but as a consumer, I call rent then buy smart.

I'm surprised the numbers are that low actually.

hahaha

23% for used games is actually lower than i expected it would be. this always seems to be a touchy subject when we start talking about an online pass system and used game sales. i can live with an online pass if there is a mp mode. what i don't like is when we see an online pass system sneaks its way into sp games. i really dislike it when part of single player game is locked out with a code.

mass effect 2 did this in the worse way. unless you had that code you could not access the comic. plus you missed out the add on missions that were already on the disc. we are talking about many hours gameplay being missed out on. the code served as a key for the bonus missions. plus once you redeemed your code you had to go online and download the cerebus pack which included the comic and various armour and weapon upgrades. you had to have an ea account as well. what really made me angry was the cerebus network was down for four freaking days so i was unable to redeem my code!!!

not big deal i thought to myself. i can live without the comic for now and i will unlock the bonus content later such as the lair of the shadow broker. nope that did not work either. i had to restart my game once i redeemed my code if i wanted to play those bonus missions. mass effect 2 was a major pain in the a$$ to get up and running. there was a half hour hd install as well. very pc like. i get why there is a hd install, but what i don't understand is why the comic and armor/weapons upgrades had to be downloaded. there is plenty of room for it on a blu ray disc just another hoop to jump through. what made it more sad is that it punished legitamate first day buyers of the game becuase the cerebus network was down. all ea really said at first is we are very sorry for the inconvience. to be fair they did give me a $20 code i could use on the ps store when i called on day 3 to complain.

batman ac had issues with redeeming codes as well. there is another game that's sneaking in an online pass into a sp game. that was another mess as well. rage had it's sewers locked out and that was a sp game. i don't like this trend of seeing parts of games locked out by codes. plus, i think of the people who are not connected to the internet. approximately 20% of ps3s are not hooked up to the internet. it's really not fair to them when we are talking about a sp game.

i saw an article on cvg where the developers obsidian(fallout new vegas) said they are not fans of an online pass system and they thought it was a "gimmicky" way of trying combat used game sales. they are big believers in dlc and map packs. they think that is better way of keeping games on the shelves and in gamer's minds. they also thought was a better way to treat consumers. that was refreshing to hear.

i want to be clear. i do not have a problem with an online pass for online games. please keep them away from sp only games though. if they are going to toss in some kind of code for a sp game then please make damn sure the redemption process goes smoothly. no more batam/mass effect 2 debacles please. i might not have so much resentment towards these codes if i had not been stung in rear when attempting redeem a couple of them. i also worry we are heading down the road of pc gaming. part of the appeal of consoles if their ease of use. i know redeeming a code is usually a pretty simple task but ea and warner bros showed that it can sometimes way more difficult than need be.

very sorry for my long post. lawless and beamboom rubbed off on me in the quit complaining about sp campigns in shooters thread. 🙂 i'm only joking guys. i really enjoyed reading your comments on that thread. great job.

Last edited by Excelsior1 on 11/8/2011 1:07:25 AM

ive never understood the point of buying used games.
99% of the time there only 10 bucks cheaper IF that!
and 99% of the time there missing content you would get if you bought it new so its almost cheaper to spend the extra 10 at least that way you get the content.
not to mention every used game ive bought i had to take back and get a refund, it was so scratched my ps3 refused to read it!
pretty much the same thing for digital, its just not worth it.
or if there talking plainly DLC i rarely buy it because 99% of the time its MP orientated.

yup.

"Stop Complaining About Used Game Gamers"

That should be the title of your next feature Ben. I'm sick of the high and mighty gamers who complain about about us used game gamers. "Well i buy my game new every week" well lessen up pal some of us gamers ain't as rich you guys and able to buy the newest and hots game of the week. and some of us don't have time sit and play and beat a new in one set-in.

I brought Batman: AC day one new and i'm only 6% complete. Were most of you i bet got it 100% and all DLC complete within two or three days and want a had and traded-in. I enjoy my games and don't blow through them in two days.

Ya i have a massive backlog of either incomplete games or haven't even started games but i don't care it keeps me busy even through the summer gaming "lull" that you high and mighty gamers invinted. Sorry i spouted off like that but i had to get off chest.

oh and another thing you high and mighty gamers wanna stop used games sales it easy don't trade in your games keep them. [/Rant]

Last edited by raptassassin on 11/8/2011 8:21:55 AM

Dude, if you're so strapped for cash that the $5-$10 difference between a new game and a used game matters that much, you might want to re-evaluate your gaming purchases vs other things.

And before you blast me for being high and mighty or rich, I'm most certainly not rich. I've been poor, very poor and extremely poor (as in well below the poverty line) in my life time, so please don't lecture me about not being able to afford buying new. It's a choice. If you choose to spend money on games instead of something else, you have discretionary spending power. If on the other hand the $5-$10 difference in the price of a game matters that much to you, it's not really discretionary spending anymore in which case why are you buying games instead of more important things.

More important things like what? Food and water?

Most of the used game market appears to be younger people (college and HS kids), in which case any savings does matter. Videogames are extremely popular for this age group, but its also an expensive hobby. Not hard to see why people take advantage of trading in and buying used.

Difficult…

I bought Dead Island, played it for 30 hours, traded it in for $44 (Australian) and picked up Uncharted 3 for $74 new day one.

JB HiFi here gives you MW3 free if you trade in Dead Island. (I think I got the better deal).

Ok used game sales may harm the market but I wouldn't have got Uncharted 3 otherwise so the money seems to swill around the same pot. I might buy 5 new and 10 used games a year but this would probably go down to 3 games a year if there wasn't a used game market.

Kojima