The issue of pre-owned sales at retail is a thorny one with publishers, with some folks believing it’s a bigger threat to the games industry than piracy. But speaking to MCV, some UK retailers have discussed a solution: they’re happy to share some of the pre-owned revenue with publishers, providing they remove ‘Online Pass’ features from upcoming games.
This is an interesting one. We’ve discussed the relationship between publishers and retailers quite extensively here at Kotaku – with most retailers claiming that selling pre-owned games is a necessary part of their business. Now Game has just released a new video encouraging gamers to trade their games in at their store.
The sale of pre-owned games is a major talking point in the games industry; with publishers complaining that the sale of used titles is adversely affecting both their profit margins and their ability to continue producing top quality AAA products. But this is only one side of a multi-faceted story. In this feature, we attempt to peel back the layers of the pre-owned games debate by speaking to everyone affected, from the publishers to the retailers themselves.
HMV is pretty sure games are going to be bigger than music, and as part of their slowly shifting focus they’re rolling out their very own pre-owned game program, HMV Re/Play. Launching this Friday across approximately 160 HMV Uk retail locations, the company will begin accepting game trade-ins across all major console and handheld platforms, exchanging used titles for store credit good for anything the store carries – DVD’s, games, and even music…but who buys CDs anymore? “Our launch into pre-played games and the acquisition of gamerbase.com underlines HMV’s long term commitment to games as it becomes an ever-increasing part of our overall product mix,” said HMV managing director Simon Fox.
