The Inevitable Death of Used Games?
Kotaku may overstate the case a bit, but recent comments from Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick are hard to not get hyperbolic about. Apparently thinking that if Microsoft gets a cut of used games sales then the producers of the games, in this case Take-Two but one would hope Zelnick also means the entire industry, should get in on the action too.
Not that I don’t think studios are entitled more of the cut of what they earn, Activision is basically riding Blizzard for World of Warcraft and IW/Treyarch for Call of Duty and I doubt either one of those studios see a really fair wage for how much they support Activision, but at the same time if all the studios clamor for their cut of the proceeds then they will kill the used market. If the consoles end up like Steam, with discounts all the time and reasonable pricing structures, then that won’t be too bad.
But if they don’t, the consoles have just priced themselves into oblivion. Only time will tell.
