EA Sports Say "Eff This Used Game Sh!t"

Discussion in 'Video Games and Technology' started by Joe Moore, May 11, 2010.

  1. karamazov80

    karamazov80 Million Dollar Champion

    Joined:
    Jun 23, 2007
    Posts:
    1,961
    Trophy Points:
    287
    Likes:
    +966
    Like with all aspects of life, those who can, do.
     
  2. cheetorBWORG

    cheetorBWORG Cheetor Fan

    Joined:
    Sep 8, 2008
    Posts:
    4,571
    News Credits:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    212
    Likes:
    +38
    If EA wants to stick it's hand into the pit of the used game market, they should either:

    1) Lower the initial price of a new game purchase, if they want those 10$ per new user code prices to make the audience a bit happier.

    or

    2) Lower the price of the new user codes to about... $2.50 if they want to keep the new game prices high.

    But that's just my thinking...
     
  3. McBradders

    McBradders James Franco Club! Veteran

    Joined:
    Sep 17, 2002
    Posts:
    34,126
    Trophy Points:
    356
    Likes:
    +12
    What implications? A bad title is a bad title and if you're dumb enough to buy it the blame lies at your own feet, nobody elses. It has absoloutely no relation to this "used game tax" whatsoever. A bad game cheaper is a bad game regardless. You could have spent that money on a quality title new or used.

    Nice attitude though.
     
  4. Dragonclaw

    Dragonclaw Briefly the owner of KB Toys

    Joined:
    Aug 5, 2003
    Posts:
    7,924
    News Credits:
    6
    Trophy Points:
    337
    Likes:
    +2,975
    IMHO companies need to get better at getting customers into downloads and micro transactions if they want a continuous piece of the pie. The biggest issue I see is that the consoles themselves do NOTHING to help push the ddownloadable sales. Every day I get customers looking for games that are literally right there..."Do they make a wii game that has all the OLD MARIO games like this Sonic one"..."Man, I wish there were more levels for _______", or my personal favorite...."when is there going to be more songs for Rock Band...no not all Green Day...just more songs" :p  Lots of cheap old classic games that are literally right on their dashboards. I think digital WILL eventually be the way to go (unless it's with the PSP Go...but most people want PSPs for homebrew and piracy so I don't know if I really count that...pretty obvious when I can't give away a 3000 series, but can't keep the older ones in stock...).
     
  5. Triple Melter

    Triple Melter EGG GANG™

    Joined:
    Jun 17, 2009
    Posts:
    999
    Trophy Points:
    157
    Likes:
    +29
    Well that doesn't make it okay to make a glorified internet flash game, stick it in a box and charge full price for it, but that's not really the point anyways. And there's tons of games that are good but not worth more than a specific price. I mean you wouldn't pay $60 for most of the XBLA games would you? But that's not really the point either.

    Lots of people DO do the research. You make a lackluster game and overcharge for it. People read the reviews and find out it's lackluster, then you get pissed off when they pick it up used on amazon for a fraction of the price? What would you expect them to do? There's plenty of badly reviewed games that I've bought cheap used and enjoyed very much, but they weren't $60 games to me, and that's my opinion on it.

    I guess. I think you're reading too much into my text though
    :)  <--- see?
     
  6. McBradders

    McBradders James Franco Club! Veteran

    Joined:
    Sep 17, 2002
    Posts:
    34,126
    Trophy Points:
    356
    Likes:
    +12
    Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
     
  7. Triple Melter

    Triple Melter EGG GANG™

    Joined:
    Jun 17, 2009
    Posts:
    999
    Trophy Points:
    157
    Likes:
    +29
    That's true, but I take part of that back. EA aren't even pissed because people are buying used for a fraction of the cost, they're pissed because people sell their games at all, no matter if they did get suckered into a crap title. which just makes them bitches at this point.

    Ofc a lot of publishers are the same way, they just haven't taken action yet.
     
  8. McBradders

    McBradders James Franco Club! Veteran

    Joined:
    Sep 17, 2002
    Posts:
    34,126
    Trophy Points:
    356
    Likes:
    +12
    It's more that their resources are being used by people who did not initially contribute to the covering of said costs. Regardless of console or PC, EA do run servers for their games even if it's not for direct networking, this does add to their overhead when more users are creating and using the resource than the number of their copies sold etc. etc. etc.
     
  9. Joe Moore

    Joe Moore Is Not Jim... Veteran

    Joined:
    Apr 6, 2003
    Posts:
    14,474
    News Credits:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    312
    Likes:
    +39
    Ebay:
    Twitter:
    That doesn't really make sense at all. Once a game is sold, then that single copy is using a lone set of resources. When that copy of the game is transferred to another entity, the resources are no longer being used by the original party. Those resource drains are being transferred and not expanded. And in most cases, those resources are being taken off the market all together. Used game sales aren't expanding the market or resources, they're simply shifting them between parties.
     
  10. McBradders

    McBradders James Franco Club! Veteran

    Joined:
    Sep 17, 2002
    Posts:
    34,126
    Trophy Points:
    356
    Likes:
    +12
    Databases take up room too. And when you begin looking at the extended featuresets online is getting like Skate's video creation (which is fully uploadable and viewable both in game and on the web) you start looking at a lot of cost in terms of storage and bandwidth. It's not just a matter of online gaming any longer.
     
  11. Triple Melter

    Triple Melter EGG GANG™

    Joined:
    Jun 17, 2009
    Posts:
    999
    Trophy Points:
    157
    Likes:
    +29
    Here's another view. I'm still working on my PS2 collection. You can hardly find most of those titles on a retail shelf. I pretty much have to buy used. That's my fault? No way, fuck that and fuck you.

    If it were really an issue they'd just shut down servers for the games that go OOP, but they don't so that even makes them look worse, because it's obvious that online play has nothing to do with it, even though we knew that anyway.
     
  12. McBradders

    McBradders James Franco Club! Veteran

    Joined:
    Sep 17, 2002
    Posts:
    34,126
    Trophy Points:
    356
    Likes:
    +12
    Uh, they do shut down the servers. Facebreaker, NBA LIVE 07 and plenty more got shut down just recently.
     
  13. Triple Melter

    Triple Melter EGG GANG™

    Joined:
    Jun 17, 2009
    Posts:
    999
    Trophy Points:
    157
    Likes:
    +29
    Jesus, man. I didn't say they don't shut down servers at all, I said they don't shut them down just because a game goes OOP.
     
  14. McBradders

    McBradders James Franco Club! Veteran

    Joined:
    Sep 17, 2002
    Posts:
    34,126
    Trophy Points:
    356
    Likes:
    +12
    My bad, but keep on raging, brosefina.
     
  15. Joe Moore

    Joe Moore Is Not Jim... Veteran

    Joined:
    Apr 6, 2003
    Posts:
    14,474
    News Credits:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    312
    Likes:
    +39
    Ebay:
    Twitter:
    Database condensing and removal of inactive accounts and content are nothing new in the world of online media.
     
  16. McBradders

    McBradders James Franco Club! Veteran

    Joined:
    Sep 17, 2002
    Posts:
    34,126
    Trophy Points:
    356
    Likes:
    +12
    Cue more raging about losing your stats if you haven't logged in in three months.
     
  17. Joe Moore

    Joe Moore Is Not Jim... Veteran

    Joined:
    Apr 6, 2003
    Posts:
    14,474
    News Credits:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    312
    Likes:
    +39
    Ebay:
    Twitter:
    Who said three months? Why couldn't it be six months? Why not a year? And it's not like they can't simply post a warning screen, in-game, that warns of account and/or content removal due to inactivity for X amount of time. And it's not exactly expensive to auto-generate emails warning of content removal due to inactivity.
     
  18. McBradders

    McBradders James Franco Club! Veteran

    Joined:
    Sep 17, 2002
    Posts:
    34,126
    Trophy Points:
    356
    Likes:
    +12
    3, 6, 9, it matters not, raging would ensue even with notifications. PS3 Linux, anybody? It's a catch 22 for publishers who are clearly trying to protect themselves while still providing users with functionality that they expect from a title. Is this the best way to go about it? Probably not, but then again everyone laughed about a $15 dollar map pack, lack of dedicated PC servers yet Activision are laughing their asses off all the way to the bank.
     
  19. Darkwing48

    Darkwing48 Heroic Decepticon

    Joined:
    Apr 19, 2007
    Posts:
    1,869
    Trophy Points:
    237
    Location:
    Compton, CA
    Likes:
    +43
    One can think of it as a tax. Like buying a used car.
     
  20. Triple Melter

    Triple Melter EGG GANG™

    Joined:
    Jun 17, 2009
    Posts:
    999
    Trophy Points:
    157
    Likes:
    +29
    You charge 1/6 of the cost of the car, when it was new even, in taxes and people are gonna go apeshit