Well, the used game market has kinda shot itself in the foot (Gamestop at least). E-bay and craigslist are much better options to sell used games and actually get a decent value out of them. GS has to make money, but their trade in values are ridiculous.nmalinoski wrote:I understand that "AAA" games aren't cheap to produce, but I don't necessarily agree that they're too expensive to develop; I think it's more that these companies are businesses, and the entire point of a business is to make money. Microtransactions and gambling mechanics allow monetization after the initial point of sale (a continual revenue stream); and concepts like digital sales, DLC, and especially Google Stadia both eliminate the costs of mass-manufacturing and retail distribution and work to eliminate the concept of ownership by the customer, which in turn works to eliminate the used game market, likely with the expectation that unavailability of cheaper, used, physical copies will drive people to buy digital licenses.
I only buy physical media. I was burned by DRM when Musicmatch Jukebox went under and I lost my music library. Wii VC did the same thing. So I'm not a fan of it, but that's because I'm old enough to remember when physical ownership was a thing and that gave you property rights (like the right to sell). Digital ownership is different and strips you of those property rights. You have the right to use that game on your console as long as long as it is supported. Until then you can DL the game again on another console if you transfer the rights over, in the event something happens to the console. But that will eventually expire, the console will lose support, or whatever. It gives them all the cards and you nothing. They can obsolete your purchase when they decide to. And you cannot ever sell it. They will be able to charge full price in perpetuity (they wont, but could), not having to compete against the used game market. They will have completely captured the market. That's the direction things are headed.
However, it's more convenient than driving to the store or waiting for it to arrive in the mail. Just DL from the couch and play then and there. As you said, it reduces cost for Developers. That's a good thing if it allows them to take more risk developing better games. And the younger generation are more comfortable keeping their entire media pile in one online basket, despite the lack of property rights. I cringe from a preservation standpoint, but I'm not their target market anymore. Their decisions are made to attract youths and young adults. They like convenience, graphics, multiplayer, and social. The way I see it, the PS6 will be a controller. The game will stream from SONY servers, no console or games required, just a monthly subscription. Then advertising and micro-transactions will fill out the monetization scheme. Thats the future where I, like my dad before me, stop playing video games (well new ones anyway). Although, I'm already 90% of the way there (I have such a backlog of retro games I've been meaning to get to).