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“I think what most consumers don’t realize,” says Volition's Jameson Durall, “is that every time they buy a used game... all of those profits are going directly to the re-seller.” Guest-posting on AltDevBlogaDay (via CVG), Durall lauds the rise of post-launch DLC as a way of reducing used game sales. However, he calls the current trend toward Online Passes “a band-aid on a large wound,” and suggests that next-gen consoles that refuse to play second-hand games “would be a fantastic change for our business.”
“Even though the consumers would be up in arms about it at first,” says the Red Faction: Armageddon designer, “they will grow to understand why [the measure's being implemented] and that it won’t kill them.” He points to the rumors of Microsoft's next console employing such tech, theorizing that Xbox Live already provides the means to implement a new-only lockout. This needn't end the games rental market either, suggests Durall: “I could see Microsoft implementing their own rental service.”
Article continues below“We put [games] on the shelves for only $60,” points out Durall: “Maybe something as simple as educating [consumers] could help solve the problem.” That problem isn't just the matter of lost revenue for developers, but the inevitable backlash that would result from a console that wouldn't play second-hand titles. Durall's fellow developers and pundits have plenty of counterpoints, as seen in the comments for his post; would you be upset with a console that didn't let you play used games?
