Is Microsoft trying to kill the used games industry?

[Black Diamond Vol]

If this rumor is true, I will convert to PS4 faster than you can say "Gamestop is having a 'going out of business' sale".  Of course, if MS is doing it, then Sony will probably be right behind them.

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/121/1217310p1.html

[ReVOLver]

Boy, that's a sticky one.

I don't want that to happen, but I can almost see their point.

[droner]

Boy, that's a sticky one.

I don't want that to happen, but I can almost see their point.

I see their point, to a point.   

But the age of modern gizmos and games confuses the issue.

I would ask this: Is it wrong for someone to buy and play my Monopoly game?

[Black Diamond Vol]

The way I see it, the Xbox 1440 and PS5 (or whatever they're called) will almost certainly do away with physical media entirely, and be download only.  So this is a "problem" that will resolve itself in the next decade anyway.  In the meantime, while MS is supposedly looking out for the "little guys" toiling away at the big gaming studios, they would be destroying the "little guys" behind corporations like Gamestop, which has set up an outstanding business model (and entirely within the bounds of the law) and is, IMO, the best retail experience out there right now, bar none.  

Seriously, I have never had a negative experience at any of their locations.  Their employees are always friendly, knowledgeable, passionate, and helpful.  You get the sense that they all love their job, and that's a rarity in retail.  And they had a great idea way back when, when they first provided a place where gamers can buy and sell the stuff they're done with.  When they inevitably exit stage left, they'll cede the entire gaming industry to Wal Mart and Best Buy, and that will be a sad day.  So much for the "little guy".  

As I said, it's going to happen anyway at some point, probably when the generation of consoles after next come out.  Microsoft, Activision, EA, etc. will eventually get their way.  Why rush it?

[ReVOLver]

I see their point, to a point.   

But the age of modern gizmos and games confuses the issue.

I would ask this: Is it wrong for someone to buy and play my Monopoly game?

BDV is right... if they make it download / streaming only, they can fix that problem. People just accept that you aren't supposed to share iTunes but it's OK to resell a DVD.

I'm just saying that in the digital age, I can see why they would want to make sure that they profit off of every sale if they can. Greedy? Sure, but I can see that stance.

[Black Diamond Vol]

Keep in mind, this won't just curb the buying and selling of used games, this will prevent you from even borrowing a game from a friend, which is a time honored tradition that dates back to the dawn of the industry.  When I was a kid, everyone in my neighborhood had an Atari 2600.  I "owned" about 20 games for it, but really, everyone's games were community property.  If your neighbor got Pac Man, you didn't, because you knew you could borrow it from them any time you wanted.  Likewise, I probably loaned out my copy of Pitfall to about a dozen other households.  That wouldn't have been possible if our games didn't work on each others' consoles. 

[BanditVol]

Interesting to me, because a year and a half ago, Gamestop was one of the most shorted stocks on the market.  Wall Street saw the beginning of streamed games and just figured Gamestop was "the next Blockbuster".  Plus, at the same time Best Buy decided to enter the used game business.   I discounted both opinions.  First, no way IMO were gamers ready to go to a completely streamed world. This is not movies...people IMO like to own the disc, have possession of it and do what they want with it, like resell it.  I may be practically inactive currently, but back in the day I played a lot of games, so I feel like I know the industry.  Also, I didn't think there was any way Best Buy could compete with used games.  They have so much else going on and the service there is often horrible.  And I agree with BDV....I have never had a bad service day at Gamestop though I have not been as often.

I actually bought stock in Gamestop in 2009, held it about 9 months a made a tidy profit.  Rumors of it's demise were greatly exagerated.  Even at that time though, the CEO acknowledged that games might be purely electrons in the future and Gamestop actually bought a couple of small "cloud providers" to get a foothold in that area.

I haven't really kept up with it since, but Gamestop is popular with gamers and whenever I ask, gamers say they prefer a disc to streaming.

Of course, if Xbox is planning to lock the actual discs, then that could still put a damper on it, but IMO their sales will plummet.

[ReVOLver]

Interesting to me, because a year and a half ago, Gamestop was one of the most shorted stocks on the market.  Wall Street saw the beginning of streamed games and just figured Gamestop was "the next Blockbuster".  Plus, at the same time Best Buy decided to enter the used game business.   I discounted both opinions.  First, no way IMO were gamers ready to go to a completely streamed world. This is not movies...people IMO like to own the disc, have possession of it and do what they want with it, like resell it.  I may be practically inactive currently, but back in the day I played a lot of games, so I feel like I know the industry.  Also, I didn't think there was any way Best Buy could compete with used games.  They have so much else going on and the service there is often horrible.  And I agree with BDV....I have never had a bad service day at Gamestop though I have not been as often.

I actually bought stock in Gamestop in 2009, held it about 9 months a made a tidy profit.  Rumors of it's demise were greatly exagerated.  Even at that time though, the CEO acknowledged that games might be purely electrons in the future and Gamestop actually bought a couple of small "cloud providers" to get a foothold in that area.

I haven't really kept up with it since, but Gamestop is popular with gamers and whenever I ask, gamers say they prefer a disc to streaming.

Of course, if Xbox is planning to lock the actual discs, then that could still put a damper on it, but IMO their sales will plummet.

I think you are dead on, unless Sony sees the move as more profitable and decides to go there as well. If both major manufacturers lock out used discs, any drop in sales will be negligible.