Bungie: Game companies should pocket money from used sales

[wraggster]

"It seems to me that the folks who create and publish a game shouldn't stop receiving income from further sales." That's the word from Bungie audio director Marty O'Donnell, who obviously feels that game developers and publishers should realize residual income from used game sales, much like we imagine the vehicle, book, and toothbrush industries do today ... in Bizarro World.

The sound guru also believes that used game sales had a "big" impact on Halo, though he admits that "complaining about sales when you have a multi-million seller is somewhat difficult to justify." That it is. While it's interesting to see that not everyone is doing backflips over pre-owned sales, we can't help but wonder if O'Donnell envisions a future where companies are allowed to double dip with online auctions, or if a Spartan will pay a visit to our neighborhood garage sale looking for his fair share.

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/09/26/bungie-game-companies-should-pocket-money-from-used-sales/

[osgeld]

whatever bungie, i paid a buck for a used copy of halo, come and get your dime

course you probably wouldn't care if your entire existence wasn't based off of 1 game

[gutbub]

What a greedy jerk. If he wants to make money on used game sales, tell to open his own Gamestop. That's the only way I see it happening.

[XDelusion]

Sounds sort of like car titles in Ohio. Even if you buy a used car, you still have to pay taxes on it which just isn't right.

Thankfully Arizona never did that.

[robman84]

So, wait. Let's see what we have here. A game dev noticing that when games are cheap, lots of people tend to buy them. So, how can game companies get a slice of the sales of cheap games? Umm, sell their games cheaper? Just a thought, y'know?

[bstickq1]

"course you probably wouldn't care if your entire existence wasn't based off of 1 game"

You don't know what your talking about. So the Marathon and Myth games don't exist?

[osgeld]

lol yea i forgot about their doom ripoffs for the almost non existent mac gamer segment 14 years ago

oh and who could have forgotten myth, a generic rts during the golden age of generic rts games

fact is, the only thing that has kept them from being disolved in the bowels of microsoft games is halo

[jamotto]

oh and who could have forgotten myth, a generic rts during the golden age of generic rts games


Myth was far from generic, it was a refreshing change from the Command and Conquer and Warcraft clones with their resource gathering and building, the addition of squad level tactics was also very new at the time.

[dejkirkby]

This "audio director" is most probably not speaking on behalf of Bungie, but the fact remains that 2nd hand sales do not necessarily equate to 1st hand sales.
The majority of 2nd hand purchasers wouldn't have paid full price, so it's not like Bungie have lost a sale.
For example, I recently picked up Sega Rally 2nd hand. No way on God's Green Earth I was going to pay 40 notes for it.

[the_crellinator]

I guess he needs some more cash to help pay for his CRACK HABIT!!!!!

[Shadowblind]

I agree with him to a point...I think that the developers should get paid for when someone buys their game, new or used, but they only get a cut of the money, and gamestop gets another cut. Otherwise, it would make buying off used games only to sell them and make no money worthless for Gamestop.

[yaustar]

This is a jump to the extreme here but wouldn't you want to support the developer who made your game regardless whether you brought it new or second hand?

One copy of the game may exchange hands a fair number of times and the developer only gets money the first time that copy is sold. This is one of the reasons why 'Direct to consumer' games are a appealing retail outlet (Live, PSN, Steam, etc) because second hand copies don't exist in that market space.

[gutbub]

This is a jump to the extreme here but wouldn't you want to support the developer who made your game regardless whether you brought it new or second hand?

One copy of the game may exchange hands a fair number of times and the developer only gets money the first time that copy is sold. This is one of the reasons why 'Direct to consumer' games are a appealing retail outlet (Live, PSN, Steam, etc) because second hand copies don't exist in that market space.

Yes I'd like to support the developer either way, but unless they make computer games that require a unique license number or use one of those direct methods you mentioned, it's not gonna happen.

Speaking of which, doesn't Halo have a bunch of DLC? What is this guy crying for. If the game is good enough, even the people who bought it used will buy the extra content.

[sonofsamus]

Protip: Games with lasting appeal don't get resold to a half dozen different owners. They stay in your collection.

If Halo isn't worth hanging onto, that's Bungie's fault.

[jamotto]

Protip: Games with lasting appeal don't get resold to a half dozen different owners. They stay in your collection.


Not everybody collects games, besides you don't own the game anyways your leasing it from publisher by the terms of the EULA.

[Darksaviour69]

lol yea i forgot about their doom ripoffs for the almost non existent mac gamer segment 14 years ago



Marathon was a classic, and ahead of its time, far better than doom....