Pre-Owned Sales and the Publishers Complaints

[Spectral Jester]

It's no secret that pre-owned sales make up a rather sizeable chunk of most games retailer's revenues, and 100% of said revenue goes to the retailers in question, rather than being divvied up between the hard-working devs and publishers behind the products themselves and the stores stocking the games on their shelves. However, it seems that there's a mutual compromise that could benefit both parties.

 

Several retail brands have declared that they'd be willing to cut publishers in on their pre-owned profits, providing they're willing to make certain concessions. "As a retail store we would happily share part of the sale from a used game if we get something in return," Gordon Crawford from indie retail chain Gamespod told MCV. "Perhaps new games at better prices and no more online codes."

 

Online Passes are currently used by THQ, EA, Ubisoft and others to recoup the revenues otherwise lost to pre-owned games sales, but HMV is a little cagey regarding Gamespod's proposal to share with the publishers. "We all know how the business model in the industry is changing. So if there is any merit in this idea then it may be worth looking into," said HMV in a statement.

 

"If you want to stop these one-time codes then yeah, fair enough, we'll share revenues. If publishers gave me a better deal, then maybe. The publishers are not the poor man here," Julian Slater from Bits and Pieces added.

Some retailers meanwhile, aren't necessarily convinced that the publishers will play ball when it comes to the proposal. "We'd definitely like to do this, but I don't see it being something publishers would implement," Chris Muckell from Xpress Games stated. "With new releases dropping in price after just the second week, I'd have thought their investments would be better in making money from DLC."

 

For the time being, and for better or worse, it looks like Online Pass schemes are here to stay then. That is until the publishers and retailers can come to some sort of agreement where pre-owned games are concerned, which might not happen anytime soon. Time will tell...

 

(courtesy of oxm)

[iTz KeeFy]

This needs to happen, if only to stop the online codes used by these companies. I can't believe for one minute that there isnt money to be made without these retarded codes. I mean the companies using them are fairly large gaming industries anyway. There is really no point in renting games much less buying a used copy when you dont even get full access to the game. I hope they can come to some sort of agreement and stop scheming us with these codes.

[Carter]

i hate the online pass thing its just retarted