14 DAY TRIAL // Most developers and publishers see the used games market as an annoyance that limits their income, but one legendary developer believes that the phenomenon is a clear sign that many gamers are disappointed with the quality of games they are getting and fight back by paying less.
Speaking to GamesIndustry, David Jaffe, who leads the development team at East Sleep Play, said, “Consumers feel games are too expensive and they shouldn’t have to care about the machine behind the scenes of how they get their games.
“They should feel that they’re getting great value for what they spend. They should feel that they’re being respected by the people who make the games and that they’re being entertained well beyond what they paid for their entertainment.”
The developer also believes that at the moment companies, especially big ones, are doing a poor job of actually listening to the player base.
He added, “I think it’s going to be a lot of pushing and pulling and changing to find something that feels fair and respectful. But I think the big thing that we have to listen to – it doesn’t matter how this gets solved or what Sony does or Microsoft does – what does matter is that we need to listen to what the customer is saying.”
Jaffe believes that even if companies do not agree with the solutions that players are coming up with, including used game sales and piracy, to the solution of poor game value, they should embrace the emotion and make sure that they come up with a way of solving the problem.
The developer also thinks that digital distribution, which is currently dominant on the PC and also making inroads on home consoles, will be the main solution to delivering more quality while lowering prices.
Eat Sleep Play recently launched a reboot of Twisted Metal and their future projects are not yet clear.