Rod Cousens, CEO of Codemasters has put in his two cents on the current “war” between retailers and publishers through an interview with Gameindustry.biz. He feels that this entire ordeal should end quickly before so that everyone walks away happily.
Currently the deal’s like this: publishers only get money from first hand sales. Meaning that the money they get from the sales they had shipped out, is all the money they are going to get. Now, retailers on the other hand get some extra money if they resell second hand games. Currently there is no deal in place whatsoever to get some of that money to the publishers, so that means that they are left hanging in the wind. By now it’s a well known story in the gaming world and one that is well discussed in many places. Publishers have been trying to get some of that money by initiating projects like “Project Ten Dollar” and post-launch DLC that pretty much go straight passed used copies.
Cousens brings in an example through the game Formula 1, proposing a disc that only offers six tracks, with additional tracks being available for purchase through DLC. "When you turn up in Abu Dhabi you have to pay for the circuit, and whatever the changes are to the cars that are put through. That, I think, would deal with a lot of it, and also address the pre-owned."
At the moment there are many ideas in place that could potentially help the situation out. Many different companies have offered plans and ideas. Like for instance EA that wants to use codes for online play that can only be used once. Meaning that people who buy used games will have to buy a new code for said game.
However, Cousens had this to say about how things are done at the moment: "The way it's structured today is destructive, and it's negative to creativity and innovation. I believe it has to be managed - there's an element of it which is acceptable, and there's an element that isn't."
Truth be told, this is a rather difficult subject to be debating about. Any suggestion or deal that is put on the table will harm a currently involved party. Many retailers rely heavily on the used games market and so they are being harmed by things like Project Ten Dollar”. They are going to have to take that project in account when pricing their games, because in the end the consumer is going to want to pay as little as possible. On the other hand, every time you play to the advantage of the retailers, you harm the publisher by denying them much needed money to pay many bills.
Someone needs to come up with a system pretty fast, otherwise this entire ordeal could stretch for many years to come. And whilst the retailers and publishers bicker it out, the consumers are going to sit on the sidelines and go with the flow because they have no choice in the matter.
There are plenty of talented people in the industry that could come up with a global business model that will benefit both the publishers as the retailers.
Why not have publishers make a deal with the retailers that five dollars of every used game sale goes to the right publisher? And publishers lower the price on a few older games that come close to the price they would go in retail.
Currently the deal’s like this: publishers only get money from first hand sales. Meaning that the money they get from the sales they had shipped out, is all the money they are going to get. Now, retailers on the other hand get some extra money if they resell second hand games. Currently there is no deal in place whatsoever to get some of that money to the publishers, so that means that they are left hanging in the wind. By now it’s a well known story in the gaming world and one that is well discussed in many places. Publishers have been trying to get some of that money by initiating projects like “Project Ten Dollar” and post-launch DLC that pretty much go straight passed used copies.
Cousens brings in an example through the game Formula 1, proposing a disc that only offers six tracks, with additional tracks being available for purchase through DLC. "When you turn up in Abu Dhabi you have to pay for the circuit, and whatever the changes are to the cars that are put through. That, I think, would deal with a lot of it, and also address the pre-owned."
At the moment there are many ideas in place that could potentially help the situation out. Many different companies have offered plans and ideas. Like for instance EA that wants to use codes for online play that can only be used once. Meaning that people who buy used games will have to buy a new code for said game.
However, Cousens had this to say about how things are done at the moment: "The way it's structured today is destructive, and it's negative to creativity and innovation. I believe it has to be managed - there's an element of it which is acceptable, and there's an element that isn't."
Truth be told, this is a rather difficult subject to be debating about. Any suggestion or deal that is put on the table will harm a currently involved party. Many retailers rely heavily on the used games market and so they are being harmed by things like Project Ten Dollar”. They are going to have to take that project in account when pricing their games, because in the end the consumer is going to want to pay as little as possible. On the other hand, every time you play to the advantage of the retailers, you harm the publisher by denying them much needed money to pay many bills.
Someone needs to come up with a system pretty fast, otherwise this entire ordeal could stretch for many years to come. And whilst the retailers and publishers bicker it out, the consumers are going to sit on the sidelines and go with the flow because they have no choice in the matter.
There are plenty of talented people in the industry that could come up with a global business model that will benefit both the publishers as the retailers.
Why not have publishers make a deal with the retailers that five dollars of every used game sale goes to the right publisher? And publishers lower the price on a few older games that come close to the price they would go in retail.
Source:
Gameindustry.biz - http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2010-11-16-current-pre-owned-sales-business-is-destructive-says-cousens
The Escapist - http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/105354-Codemasters-CEO-Calls-Pre-Owned-Sales-Model-Destructive
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