Nintendo: Used games aren't in the consumers best interests

[wraggster]

Nintendo of America's Reggie Fils-Aime has said the company does not believe second hand game sales are in the best interest of consumers.

He said that consumers prefer brand new products, and claimed that sales of second hand goods in other entertainment mediums has not been successful.

"We don’t believe used games are in the best interest of the consumer" Fils-Aime told Venture Beat.

"We have products that consumers want to hold onto. They want to play all of the levels of a Zelda game and unlock all of the levels. A game like Personal Trainer Cooking has a long life."

He continued: "Describe another form of entertainment that has a vibrant used goods market. Used books have never taken off. You don’t see businesses selling used music CDs or used DVDs. Why? The consumer likes having a brand-new experience and reliving it over and over again. If you create the right type of experience, that also happens in videogames."

Fils-Aime suggested that some retailers can't make the second hand business model work, despite trying to copy competitors who have made it successful.

"We just think it’s a bad idea," he insisted. "The one retailer that has a substantial business in this has figured out a way that is effective for the consumer.

"That’s tough for other retailers experimenting with this, in part because their employees don’t have the expertise in this market."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/nintendo-used-games-arent-in-the-consumers-best-interests

[chr1sbean]

Hmmmm, have you gone into Game or Gamestation recently? The prices they charge for a lot of their used games are ridiculous and only a couple of £'s less than brand new!

And besides theres nothing worse than when they bring a used game out and then having to refuse it because the disc has got scratches all over it!!

Might as well buy games brand new and avoid the hassle, and if you choose your games carefully you wont need to trade them in anyway!! :D

[gumgod]

I'm sorry is this intended to be serious? Used music stores are awesome. You can find things there sometimes that are no longer being sold as new and sometimes that's the best way to get it. For example I picked up a copy of Nine Inch Nails Broken with the mini disk for the tracks Physical and Suck for $6 at the used music store. Try finding that on Ebay!

I'm sorry if this was meant to be sarcastic. It's hard to tell on the internet... But I'm a firm believer that used music and DVDs are a good business and something that we should support just like used games. On the other hand used book stores smell funny...






He continued: "Describe another form of entertainment that has a vibrant used goods market. Used books have never taken off. You don’t see businesses selling used music CDs or used DVDs. Why? The consumer likes having a brand-new experience and reliving it over and over again. If you create the right type of experience, that also happens in videogames."

[apex05]

Aww Boo Hoo Hoo Cry me a f*****g river Nintendo. games are expensive and we not made of money.

[Jeric]

Agreed there. Granted its generally not worth it when there's less than a five dollar gap, but given the times and the fact most of us are just trying to scrape by, start scaling back the budgets on your games to reflect the current realities plz.

[XDelusion]

...and do we care?! Nope! We're quite happy with our used games, but thanks for the heart felt advice Reggie...

...you coporate prick! ;)

[irishwhip]

"used books have never taken off"

is this some kind of subtle april fool thing?

most of the books on my shelf are from second hand bookstores. I'm pretty sure i saw some dvd and cd shelves in my local cash converters too.

[jamotto]

LOL, great article! :D

[paladinja]

(dries tears of laughter) Ah Reggie... as always, your advice has all the relevance & practical applications of a prudish whore.

[robman84]

May I also add a heartfelt LOL. If it's not an April Fool, it should be.

Just this weekend I bought my son Sonic and the Secret Rings for Wii at £7.95 in Gamestation I think. Or maybe it was Game. Anyway, it is in mint condition without a mark on the disk or the box. He'll probably get a couple of weeks of play out of it, which makes £7.95 a good price. If it was £7.95 for a new copy, Reggie is right - I would have preferred that.

If the physical distribution is what makes new games so expensive, go with download distribution Reg. If the excuse is that pirates make the games more expensive because they don't buy them, then somebody needs to go back to marketing school. Pirates would pirate a game at £1.

I guess what Reggie needs to learn is that people will buy something at a price they are willing to pay. I bought Chinatown wars on the day of release at full price and was happy to do so. If a shop was selling it used that day for 5 quid cheaper, I would have bought that.

[Aryn]

Nintendo is right about one thing...used games are not good for gamers...better to trade played games with other gamers that you know. :p

[booradley1212]

Is anyone else tired of game companies crying because the used game market isn't giving them a piece of the action? I think that's where Nintendo's comments stem from....

[JushinLiger]

Nintendo is right about one thing...used games are not good for gamers...better to trade played games with other gamers that you know. :p

There was an awesome shop in Milton Keynes that use to do this. They bought and sold pre-owned games but you could also go in and pick a game to trade. As long it was on the same console mind you. I had a Master System at the time, I traded something in for My Hero. I traded it back the following week, dissappointing but the idea was good. I doubt it's still running, it's not like me to miss out on smaller games shops.

Gamestation is also a highlight in the shopping centre. When it first arrived you could buy Mega Drive, SNES, NES, Dreamcast, almost everything. Now there is hardly any of the older consoles and games there but it's still better than GAME.

The last good game shop in MK closed a few years ago, it use to be on New Bradwell highstreet, I bought one of the Wonderboy games, it was awesome. It closed after a while, I suppose there is a small market for retro gamers :P Thank god for DS homebrew emulators.

Pre-owned games are excellent. If it wasn't for tradining games in I'd be stuck with a load of GOD AWFUL DS games that should have never been released. I still like to browse the pre-owned PS2 section, theres always something amazing sitting in the middle of it. I bought Punisher last night, I don't know how good it is but my friend kept going on about it.

*Goes off to play StellaDS

[mmochel]

This is absurd.
I for one buy many used games, many games are no longer available new.
For instance anything for an older system nes snes etc. As for the statement that used game, cd and dvds stores do not exist, In the U.S. state of utah there are at least 20 video game specialty stores that do more used game than new game sales.

[Triv1um]

I prefer to buy brand new.

But if the price difference is worth it, I buy pre-owned.

Alot of the game shops at the moment are selling new games for less than preowned. (only when the new game is on offer)

And when its not, there is about a pound in it.

[thefanaticgamer]

The consumer likes having a brand-new experience and reliving it over and over again.[/url]

Because In order for you to have a new experience with a game they game can not be pre-owned, everyone knows that.... Is this really not an April fools?

[NOCHUCK]

This is stupid! There are alot of used cd and dvd stores with used games and everything else around my house but I live right by detroit so alot of it was probbly stolen. Still there are tons of em. I'm try to build up the Blu-ray and HD-DVD collection at the moment but they cost alot of money so I still buy tons of used dvds. The $1 dvds at garage sales are the smit, I buy movies I don't even want if they are a dollar.

[kjetil1991]

I sometimes still buy games for my gc at gamestop. Used of course but if it dosent work they just give my money back no problem. and alot cheaper too =D