Depending on who you talk to, used games are either a good thing for the industry, or they signal the death knell of gaming. Silicon Knights boss Denis Dyack added his two cents to the discussion when speaking with Games Industry earlier this week. Not only does Dyack believe used games cause the development cost of new games to increase, but he also believes that used games will end the industry as we know it.
"I would argue… used games are cannibalizing the industry. If developers and publishers don't see revenue from that, it's not a matter of hey 'we're trying to increase the price of games to consumers, and we want more,' we're just trying to survive as an industry. If used games continue the way that they are, it's going to cannibalize, there's not going to be an industry," Dyack said. He went on to explain that before used games became so prevalent, a game could sell for a longer time. “Literally, you will get most of your sales within three months of launch, which has created this really unhealthy extreme where you have to sell it really fast and then you have to do anything else to get money," he added.
The increases in game budgets will also lead to some turmoil down the line, Dyack says. "On the top side of the triple-A, highly-funded titles, you have $100 million games, and looking towards next generation people once again are saying we're going to have development costs that are two or three times of what they were last generation. I cannot see how that economy is going to continue," Dyack stated. “We need a system with recurring revenue and that's why I think digital distribution is going to play a big role in things to come.”
SOURCE: Pre-owned increases cost of games, cannibalizes industry, says Dyack [Games Industry]
