Dear Reader:
Atari says used game sales are 'extremely painful' for the industry
“Second hand game sales represent consumer choice and desire. Obviously, it has economically been extremely painful for the industry… the publishers don’t benefit. But as games change and they become more and more network centric, the disc in the box becomes only one part of the experience. As that experience grows then it becomes not such a problem.” - David Gardner, CEO of Atari
“There’s no doubt that second hand games sales has a macro-economic impact on the industry and a lot of people get miserable about it. But it’s no coincidence that the most valuable games, the one’s that have the most lifetime as a game experience, are the one’s that don’t get resold, that don’t get traded. The games that have the embedded community, the embedded commerce, the extended, expandable experiences, are the one’s that you would never want to trade, the one’s you want to keep hold of. And that’s perfectly in line with our future strategy so we’re not that concerned about it.” - Phil Harrison, president of Atari
Remember, GameStop said that they plan to address this issue head-on after the holiday season. I bet they are going to fill up on eggnog to make these discussions a bit less painful!