How Used Games Could Work Next Gen

With all the talk spawning from the XBox One reveal last week, one of the subjects that is sticking hard to gamers is DRM and getting a handle on the Used/Rental Game Market. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not a big supporter of the Used market personally but I understand that it is there. As an IT professional we are trained in licensing and accept that you do not see a used software market. So is there a solution that can work for the industry? I think there is a fine line that could work.

Since XB1 has verified they are going to require game installs (that is a whole other subject with a 500gb drive) there is talk of how it could work that would make sense.

Scenario 1 Lending the Game to a Friend:

Johnny buys COD Ghosts new, and his friend Tommy wants to check it out. Johnny has already installed it on his system so when Tommy takes the game to his house it would deactivate Johhny’s install so Tommy can play. No Fee, just verifies which console the disk is at. When Tommy brings it back, Johnny puts the disc back in to activate at his house and Tommy’s console is now deactivated for the game.

Scenario 2 Rental Services:

Now this situation would work pretty much the same way as lending a game to a friend, but the renter will benefit from the time it takes to send back to the rental company and how ever long it takes for the game to be installed by a next renter. Just as before no fees are needed but once the game reaches another console, it will deactivate the previous install.

Option to Buy:

With the two above scenarios, it is easy to see an option to buy the game to reactivate it via the online store giving the publisher their normal profits and a cut to the console. For the Rental Service, they could have a means of selling an activation code as well letting them get the cut instead of the console online store. This is a win win for everyone and almost how it works now for the Rental Services.

Scenario 3: Used Game Store

gamestop-streaming-611x350Ok so this is where it gets a little more complicated. The key to a Used Game market is buying the game for $X and Selling the game for $Y with the difference equaling a profit. Currently the average difference is about $15 to $30.

For this to work, Johnny would bring his game to the GameStore, and would get $X. The GameStore would then turn around and need to sell the game for $Y but would need to include a reactivation license. Now it would be up to the GameStore to work a deal with the publishers so that at the end of the day the difference between $X and $Y equals enough profit to stay a viable business model and include the required activation codes. But by doing this, the publishers/devs now get their dues from the sale of the game.

At the end of the day that is what the big argument about used game sales have been based on. The current system cuts out the publisher/dev from their part of the sales of their hard work. Now we are not sure how it is going to work with the PS4 yet, but if this solution was adopted I think everyone could accept the process.

What are your thoughts on this? Let us know below.

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The next generation of consoles. Do gamers want them yet?

Not too long ago there were rumors floating around the internet that the next generation of consoles would be announced and or released in 2012 (usually concerning the Xbox 720). These were quickly shot down by almost every level headed person with a keyboard but let’s sit and think for a second. What if these rumors had been true? I can tell you I would not have been a happy consumer. I am completely happy with the way console gaming is now!

 

You can say all you want that developers have “pushed each console to its limit” but this statement is almost completely graphics based. Do you think that in 2009 when Naughty Dog’s masterpiece “Uncharted 2: Among Thieves” was released that they for a minute thought “we have done all we can for this system, now we need a new one?”  No they didn’t! They continued to see what they could do better and I honestly didn’t think the snow in Uncharted 2 could be topped but when I saw the massive desert in this year’s sequel “Uncharted3: Drake’s Deception” they once again blew my mind. So I don’t think any developer thinks that they can’t continue to improve their games on the current generation of consoles.

Now let’s move to a financial standpoint. Microsoft is still selling a ton of 360’s and to release a new console now would do nothing but hurt them financially. Sure I cannot I am eagerly anticipating Microsoft to move to blu ray and to wow me with what their new console can do but for now I am content. I also heard rumors of a ps4 release (which are even more ridiculous than the 720 predictions) so let’s bring Sony into account. They have already promised that the playstation 3 will ave a 10 year life cycle of which we are only 5 years into. They also have had a major financial hit this year (an estimated 1.97 billion) from many things such as the network crashing and very poor 3D display and initial Vita sales (with the Vita already expected to have a price drop) a ps4 launch would no doubt put them in a worse financial state than they are right now. Also now away from the company’s I as a consumer would not buy one. I being a high school freshman do not have a great income and with me getting a vita, and the games that will be releasing next year I wouldn’t be able to drop $600 on a shiny new console. Plus launch titles of consoles are typically not very good so most likely I’d just be using the initial backwards compatability feature.

 

It is known that both developers are already working on their new consoles. They have been since the current ones launched. Though they will not be released this year I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw a tech demo or some sort of blueprints this year. I think a release date will be announced in 2013 and the first of them will be released in 2014. Hey as long as I get to keep my trophies and gamerscore I’m fine. This gives developers plenty of time to continue to wow us on the consoles we’ve come to love these past few years and I hope 2012 is as great a year for gaming as 2011 was.

 

 

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