I read an article here on BagoGames, Sean House’s “The Next Generation: A Restricted Area,” that inspired a little back and forth in my own head about how there are just so many reasons why cutting out the market of used games shouldn’t (and, as I argue, will not) happen.
The gentleman Mr. House brings up points I would never have even considered, and yet are all excellent arguments that illustrate how and why it would be a downright grievous offense of Microsoft and Sony to begin restricting the sort of games the new Xbox 720 and Playstation 4 will play. House cites the gaming community, trends, and the entire market of selling used games as reasons why Microsoft and Sony shouldn’t do this.
Well, I’m saying they won’t.
You read correctly, this isn’t going to happen; so maybe Sony and Microsoft should quit with their fancy threats and focus on making real statements about their upcoming consoles (and perhaps Microsoft could get on renaming their XBOX 720- seriously, that’s way to similar to the joke name of Tom Haverford’s pathetic company in Parks and Rec, they can afford to get a little more creative over there.)
Why isn’t this going to happen? Well, there are of course the reasons House, and hundreds of other people online, have brought up; the GameStops and Gameflys of the world would go broke, people won’t be able to share games, and buying a game will become a rare and well researched purchase for the majority of gamers.
But here’s why. Long term it makes absolutely no sense.
As much as the big players in the video game industry like to pretend they can make decisions like that,
I know we all love games, but the truth is if there was an apocalypse tomorrow, very few of us would be dropping to our knees and cursing god that we never got to see The Witcher 2 on Xbox 360.
It’s a secret, but not really. Video games are optional; and as much as the gaming industry likes to feel like it’s a necessity, it isn’t. People pick up and drop hobbies everyday, and if gaming became an imposition on personal freedoms to the point of making significant dents in everyone’s bank accounts I’m sure gaming on Sony and Microsoft products would begin to take a back seat. This would probably open the doors for a new product, a new console, a new company- but this scenario doesn’t bode well for Sony or Microsoft, and the people who run them aren’t stupid.
As a dedicated gamer myself, it’s difficult to imagine making the decision to stop playing on Xbox and Playstation consoles; but at the same time it isn’t impossible. After being a World of Warcraft addict and ranking guild officer for almost two years I got tired of being frustrated with some of Blizzard’s changes and quit; my gaming experience with WoW got to the point that every moment I spent playing was tainted, and the effort and time was no longer worth it. Now I play mostly console and PC games, but at the same time I’m starting the Star Wars: Old Republic up, so my love for MMORPG’s didn’t die, it just went under while I invested in alternative forms of gaming.
All gamers do this at some point, and we can always do it again.
Unfortunately for Sony and Microsoft, they don’t quite rule the gaming world yet, and there are still alternatives. By simply banning all used games on their consoles Sony and Microsoft would be dramatically limiting their consumer base, which would only open the floodgates, allowing for and encouraging the production of cheaper consoles by new start up companies- companies that could quickly grow from small to big in an environment where two of their biggest competitors feel that providing games for the lower and middle classes (and economically conscious) is beneath them.
Additionally Sony and Microsoft know that as wonderful as video games are, they don’t trump film, art, literature, and education- which are all industries that wrangle with the second hand market of reselling used products. If universities across the nation can resell books, libraries can lend, and movies can be resold, it would be a hugely arrogant and unforgivable move if Sony and Microsoft decided they were “above” that.
My best guess is that this is a power move; Sony and Microsoft claim to be considering blocking used games on their upcoming consoles, and in the end when they decide not to, they can all claim it was because they have too much consideration for their consumers and fans. When in reality if that thoughtfulness was real, there would have been no discussion on the matter. These claims are to rabble rouse, to get us talking and thinking about their new consoles, and to threateningly remind us that they make the games and systems; we just play them.
But we also pay for them, a fact these companies should consider before they start slinging threats about ending such a huge part of the gaming community and experience.
So bravo Sony and Microsoft, you got us all talking.
And the consensus seems to be….we’re starting to not like you.
