GameStop Used Game Lawsuit

[Mar 26, 2010, 11:42 am ET] - Share - Viewing Comments

A lawsuit has been filed in the Northern District of California against GameStop, citing deceptive practices relating to used game sales. IGN has details on the suit, which stems from a customer buying a used copy of Dragon Age: Origins with the belief that additional DLC was available for free based on the cover blurb. Of course this DLC is part of the new trend intended to impede used-game sales, which the customer learned when they tried to get the DLC, which set them back an additional $15.00, making their final purchase price for the used game $10.00 more than the cost of a brand-new copy (that sound you hear is EA execs exchanging high-fives). IGN has a copy of the complaint in Adobe Acrobat-format, and an article on this on Gamasutra offers thoughts from an analyst saying that GameStop will probably be able to remedy this problem by affixing stickers to used games clarifying DLC availability.

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84.

Re: The used game market is just capitalism at work.

Mar 27, 2010, 00:27

Ruffiana

If I buy a book or DVD, I can resell it no problem, but in the case of this PC game, I am prevented from reselling by the publisher. Is there a right to resell something you buy? From my perspective, there is no difference between "used" game and "used" movies. However, the movie industry has a primary market in movie theaters and a secondary market through licensing agreements with television. They're in a much better position to absorb missed sales from used DVD trade. By the time it gets to that point, it's all gravy. Does that make it okay? No, not in my book. But I don't think it's going to lead to any radical shifts in how movies get made. Games don't get that luxury. They've got one market for recovering the money required to make them. Can that change? Sure, but it's not likely to change without fundamentally changing how games are made now. And frankly, I like games now and really don't want to see their development change in response to the business of making money rather than change in ways to make better games. Books are a bit different. It doesn't require hundreds of people and millions of dollars to write a book like it does for a movie or video game. However, it does require quite a bit of money to print a book. Proportionally, it's more expensive to create and distribute the physical book than it is to conceive and create the narrative word. So there is an inherit value in owning a physical book. Even when a book is available for free, on the internet, there is a market for having that written word in a physical format. Books degrade over time. They get torn or dropped in the bath tub. There's a reason to want a new book over a used book, especially of the difference in price is nominal and that used book is really used. I find the "used" game market to be more financially impactful of game sales and the business of games than outright piracy. That's a potential consumer who has money, is willing to spend it on a game they want to play, but are ignorant of where their money is actually going and what impact that has. But, on a personal level...I get it and I don't hold any animosity towards someone who buys "used". My animosity is towards the people who sell "used" games, because in reality what they're doing is re-distributing a game in a way that ensures no money is going back to the people who make that game. Someone who illegally distrubutes copies of a game or someone who freely downloads a game is much more personally insulting to me as a developer. It's the giant fat middle finger of "your game is good enough for me to want to play, but I'm too damn cheap to want to give you any money for it" that I find infuriating. The insinuation that whatever you do to earn money, your $50 is more valuable than the years of hundreds of people's lives, hard work, sweat, and tears that went into making it. As the creators of games, I feel it should be our unquestionable right to decide who does and who does not get to play what we've worked so hard to make. And the requirements for it are pretty simple and straightforward. Pay us. Pay us so that we can justify doing what we do and can continue to make games for people to play.

		Date	Subject	Author
	1.	Mar 26, 12:02	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Ruffiana
	2.	Mar 26, 12:03	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	BobBob
	60.	Mar 26, 17:35	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Dev
	4.	Mar 26, 12:07	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Blackhawk
	70.	Mar 26, 21:41	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Ruffiana
	8.	Mar 26, 12:24	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Lorcin
	69.	Mar 26, 21:33	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Fartacus
	3.	Mar 26, 12:03	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Mac
	6.	Mar 26, 12:11	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Blackhawk
	11.	Mar 26, 12:27	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Beamer
	15.	Mar 26, 12:34	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	PHJF
	21.	Mar 26, 12:42	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Beamer
	24.	Mar 26, 12:46	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	I've Got The News Blues
	25.	Mar 26, 12:54	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Beamer
	30.	Mar 26, 13:14	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	I've Got The News Blues
	34.	Mar 26, 13:23	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Stolk
	41.	Mar 26, 13:47	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	^Drag0n^
	46.	Mar 26, 13:57	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Blackhawk
	108.	Mar 28, 02:15	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Tigger
	40.	Mar 26, 13:44	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	s3ntient
	58.	Mar 26, 17:16	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	lvitriol
	5.	Mar 26, 12:10	Re: Free Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun and Firestorm	Tavil
	7.	Mar 26, 12:21	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Verno
	18.	Mar 26, 12:39	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Watter
	37.	Mar 26, 13:33	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Creston
	39.	Mar 26, 13:43	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Verno
	42.	Mar 26, 13:49	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Creston
	9.	Mar 26, 12:25	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Bludd
	20.	Mar 26, 12:41	Let's burn down the libraries too!	I've Got The News Blues
	22.	Mar 26, 12:45	Re: Let's burn down the libraries too!	Beamer
	23.	Mar 26, 12:46	Re: Let's burn down the libraries too!	Verno
	26.	Mar 26, 12:55	Re: Let's burn down the libraries too!	I've Got The News Blues
	27.	Mar 26, 13:06	Re: Let's burn down the libraries too!	Verno
	28.	Mar 26, 13:12	Re: Let's burn down the libraries too!	BobBob
	31.	Mar 26, 13:16	The plaintiff is a shill but who for?	I've Got The News Blues
	33.	Mar 26, 13:23	Re: Let's burn down the libraries too!	I've Got The News Blues
	35.	Mar 26, 13:26	Re: Let's burn down the libraries too!	Fang
	38.	Mar 26, 13:35	Re: Let's burn down the libraries too!	Verno
	43.	Mar 26, 13:50	Re: Let's burn down the libraries too!	Fang
	45.	Mar 26, 13:52	Re: Let's burn down the libraries too!	PHJF
	64.	Mar 26, 19:18	Re: Let's burn down the libraries too!	Bludd
	66.	Mar 26, 20:10	Re: Let's burn down the libraries too!	I've Got The News Blues
	73.	Mar 26, 22:05	Re: Let's burn down the libraries too!	Bludd
	74.	Mar 26, 22:28	The used game market is just capitalism at work.	I've Got The News Blues
	75.	Mar 26, 22:32	Re: The used game market is just capitalism at work.	Bludd
	77.	Mar 26, 23:12	Re: The used game market is just capitalism at work.	jdreyer
	83.	Mar 27, 00:12	Steam forbids resale of games.	I've Got The News Blues
>>	84.	Mar 27, 00:27	Re: The used game market is just capitalism at work.	Ruffiana
	88.	Mar 27, 04:01	Re: The used game market is just capitalism at work.	Jerykk
	91.	Mar 27, 14:54	Re: The used game market is just capitalism at work.	shponglefan
	79.	Mar 26, 23:26	Re: The used game market is just capitalism at work.	jdreyer
	81.	Mar 27, 00:01	Your reasoning is flawed.	I've Got The News Blues
	82.	Mar 27, 00:05	Re: Your reasoning is flawed.	shponglefan
	85.	Mar 27, 00:28	Re: Your reasoning is flawed.	I've Got The News Blues
	86.	Mar 27, 00:43	Re: Your reasoning is flawed.	shponglefan
	87.	Mar 27, 01:04	Re: Your reasoning is flawed.	I've Got The News Blues
	98.	Mar 27, 21:05	Re: Your reasoning is flawed.	shponglefan
	106.	Mar 28, 00:15	That price is too high!	I've Got The News Blues
	55.	Mar 26, 16:18	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	FloorPie
	61.	Mar 26, 17:39	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Dev
	65.	Mar 26, 19:36	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Beamer
	67.	Mar 26, 20:12	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	frag.machine
	68.	Mar 26, 20:25	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	PHJF
	80.	Mar 26, 23:33	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Ruffiana
	78.	Mar 26, 23:18	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	shponglefan
	89.	Mar 27, 13:35	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	JohnnyRotten
	76.	Mar 26, 23:08	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	shponglefan
	90.	Mar 27, 14:29	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	DG
	92.	Mar 27, 14:56	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Ray Ban
	93.	Mar 27, 15:00	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	DG
	95.	Mar 27, 19:59	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Jerykk
	96.	Mar 27, 20:36	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	I've Got The News Blues
	99.	Mar 27, 21:43	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Jerykk
	100.	Mar 27, 22:03	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	shponglefan
	101.	Mar 27, 23:11	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	PHJF
	103.	Mar 27, 23:42	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Jerykk
	104.	Mar 28, 00:02	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	shponglefan
	102.	Mar 27, 23:40	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	I've Got The News Blues
	105.	Mar 28, 00:12	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Jerykk
	107.	Mar 28, 00:47	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	I've Got The News Blues
	114.	Mar 28, 16:06	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	shponglefan
	97.	Mar 27, 20:54	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	shponglefan
	10.	Mar 26, 12:26	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Verno
	12.	Mar 26, 12:30	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Lorcin
	16.	Mar 26, 12:34	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Verno
	19.	Mar 26, 12:39	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Flatline
	13.	Mar 26, 12:30	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Creston
	14.	Mar 26, 12:31	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	mch
	36.	Mar 26, 13:28	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Creston
	17.	Mar 26, 12:34	Class Action Nonsense	I've Got The News Blues
	29.	Mar 26, 13:13	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Verno
	32.	Mar 26, 13:18	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Blackhawk
	44.	Mar 26, 13:51	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Verno
	56.	Mar 26, 16:18	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Fang
	47.	Mar 26, 14:16	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Verno
	48.	Mar 26, 14:49	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Beamer
	49.	Mar 26, 14:56	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	PHJF
	50.	Mar 26, 15:22	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Beamer
	51.	Mar 26, 15:33	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	everyone
	52.	Mar 26, 15:41	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Andrew X
	62.	Mar 26, 17:46	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	entr0py
	71.	Mar 26, 21:54	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Lokust
	53.	Mar 26, 15:54	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Stolk
	54.	Mar 26, 16:17	There's still room left for Godwin's law.	I've Got The News Blues
	57.	Mar 26, 16:34	Re: There's still room left for Godwin's law.	Andrew X
	72.	Mar 26, 21:57	Re: There's still room left for Godwin's law.	Fartacus
	59.	Mar 26, 17:34	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	entr0py
	63.	Mar 26, 19:00	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	jdreyer
	94.	Mar 27, 18:39	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Tumbler
	109.	Mar 28, 03:12	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Tigger
	110.	Mar 28, 06:47	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	everyone
	111.	Mar 28, 09:02	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Tigger
	112.	Mar 28, 10:00	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	everyone
	113.	Mar 28, 11:46	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Tigger
	115.	Mar 28, 16:31	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	everyone
	116.	Mar 28, 18:58	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	Tumbler
	117.	Mar 31, 12:44	Re: GameStop Used Game Lawsuit	GameMel