Feature: 'Question of the Week: New or Used?'

In today's Gamasutra feature, we print the answers to our latest Question of the Week in which we asked our audience of game professionals: "As part of a community of game publishers and developers, do you buy used video games or go out of your way to buy new ones? If you do buy used, are you concerned about the financial implications of the used game market, or does the free market trump revenue concerns for the game business?" In this excerpt: SCEA's Simon Booth maintains that curbing used game sales would do more harm than good: "..the ability to sell it later is often an important consideration in the purchase of a new game - if the buyer doesn't like it, they know they can get some return on their investment by trading it in for another. Given the price of brand new games, the alternative to the used market is surely going to be piracy for many, and that's a far worse way to lose sales. And an anonymous submission from Humongous Entertainment adds: "Personally, if a customer found a game of mine used, and bought it, I'd be quite happy because s/he's still playing my game! That's what matters most - getting my game in their hands and on their minds. Hopefully they'll like the game enough to buy the next one new." You can now read the full Gamasutra feature on the topic including many more thoughtful responses on the topic (no registration required, please feel free to link to this feature from external websites).