14 DAY TRIAL // It seems that with the hot summer season approaching and with big game launches slowing down, the videogame industry has some time for self-reflection, the used games market being the topic of the day.
After Electronic Arts announced the introduction of Online Passes, with THQ following with paid multiplayer for those who get UFC Undisputed 2010 second hand, Sony has also weighted in on the issues, talking about how it seems the issues form the publisher position.
Rob Dyer, who is the senior vice president of publisher relations at Sony Computer Entertainment of America, talked to Gamasutra about the new initiatives to limit the impact of the used games market, saying, “I have very mixed emotions. I am a big believer in encouraging the gamer to have a reason to hold onto and to continue to play, and for the publisher to be able to see something if there is a second sale because right now, for years, as a publisher, we saw nothing. Very frustrating.”
From the tone of the statements made by Dyer, it appears Sony is pretty close to also devising a system to get some money from the used games market, mainly represented by specialist retailer GameStop. One of the main reasons is the pressure of revenue and profits, especially in these tough economic times, when both publishers and developers are deep in the red.
The big test for the current move to limit the used games market will be the launch of high profile games like Madden NFL 11 or FIFA 11, titles that have big audiences and offer quite a bit of content linked to the multiplayer component. If Electronic Arts sees more players who get the games new and some used games buyers who pay for multiplayer, we can expect to see all publishers create a variation of the Online Pass concept.