The publishers are losing money this gen due to higher cost of development, and lower economies. They also have long standing arrangements with stores like GameStop where if a game flops they will buy back the product at full price or eat the cost and make zero money back if the store decides to price cut it down to move inventory. Combine that with the fact publishers only make a portion of what the games sell for and the retailer makes the rest. Then you have used games which the publisher makes no money on at all and sells for nearly the same price as a new game. All these factors tie into the reasons developer studios are closing left and right and publishers are charging for things that should be free or included in the initial buy.

While I am not condoning this tactic of sales, they must do something to keep afloat and continue making games. Places like GameStop have stated in the past they don’t believe the next gen would discard used games as a possibility to maintain income on new games. However, companies like Capcom have already done things like lock the ability to make a new game save on their Resident Evil 3DS game. I personally believe retail chains and publishers need to set a new agreement in this new age. Give back a percentage of used sales; make the portion of new sales higher, even unlocking the MSRP cap would be something to look into. We all know some games are nowhere near worth the $60 price set by publishers.

We do have a silver lining in this though. GameGavel.com; a video gamer auction house; has started a new company called EKGaming. Their goal is to take on places like GameStop and give money back to the publishers. Every used game sold will send 10% of the profits back to the publisher. It also promises 20-30% lower prices than competitors. Likewise in California, GameStop must now warn customers when a used game came with a “Free DLC” or “Online Pass” code. This could help curb the used game issue by letting potential used game buyers know they will end up spending the same or more as a new purchase anyway. Regardless of what happens next, let’s hope something gets worked out here or we could lose gaming as we know it.