The price and cost of 2nd hand.
On the main site [URL=http://www.gamepolitics.com/2009/01/29/t2-whines-about-used-games-day-after-industry-touts-record-sales]page[/URL] beemoh has been discussing why 2nd hand sales are damaging the industry.

IMO it’s not something that can be touched or should be touched just for the chilling effects it will do to all CP works.

IMO the nature of the console war model (IE multi systems) that takes billions away from software development is more damaging between multi platform development and licensing fees it drags the industry down if developers and consumers save money on the console war mubo jumbo that’s billions saved by the industry and billions saved by the consumer to buy more stuff.

There are comparisons that can be made between film/DVD and game profits theatrical releases aside the reason why DVDs can be so cheap is you have one hardware to build media around and a more simplified license system (compared to the console industry as a whole) because you have a smaller more simplified hardware system you sale more hardware thus directly leads to more media sales and that’s means you sale so much you can price point items lower, this is a reason why new Blu ray films have dropped below 25$ even 20$.

The game industry is split 3 ways and prices have to do 2 or 3 times higher because they have bills that have to be paid, now with the conglomeratization of the industry prices could fall on big brand titles because they can sale more of them but all in all because you have a lesser focused worldwide business model you have higher costs that have to be passed on to someone.

Of course there are other issues spending so much on a project to just break even the industry is top heavy and is simply spending itself into debt. The industry has to change on its own accord or be collapse under its own arrogance. The more they cut polish and bug testing the more undermined they are making themselves out to be.

And those cost on the consumer end are offset more by consumers being allowed to trade in used crap. Its crap not because I have a tree up my read about modern gaming but because the modern consumer have been trained by the corporate mentality of disposable media, we as a modern society do not cherish things as much as we use to, once an item has fulfilled whatever worth the owner has for it can be done away with without a 2nd thought it can always be replaced, all the more reason to not try and make the sale of used copy righted works complicated… .

Quality is not going to magically show up if they make their profit projections the corporate mentality in publishing and development is much to prevalent in the industry, and I am not raging on profit’s I am ragging on the cost cutting measures that tend to cost them more in the long run. People are buying more games but they are not going to be able to buy twice as much to placate the industry into improving itself. The industry is going to have to balance itself out or become irrelevant, it can do it if it cuts back on graphics, modeling will fallow having less detailed thus less time taken on it meaning more time for real polish work like bug testing and even refining gameplay but they have to start with something and I do not see them adding on 12-36 months to finish up a project.

You simply cannot make a addict change his ways when he’s higher than zippy on a grammatical bukkue high, the industry is going to have to take charge itself before it goes off the rails!
At least these are some of my thoughts, got anything to add please do!