GameStop commits to Xbox One despite pre-owned issues

[Motoko.]

GameStop has committed to a continued partnership with Microsoft for its Xbox One.

The US retailing giant has said that concerns regarding the company's new policy of instituting a paywall for pre-owned games will not affect their relationship.

-Microsoft And Game Publishers Will Reportedly Take A Cut Of Xbox One Used Game Sales

-Gamestop only gets 10% of the cut

digitalspy

forbes

[Davo]

Uh, why?

The publisher made their money when the game sold.

[George P Global Moderator]

Maybe there's more to this than what we all know and GameStop has more info under NDA? If it's all doom and gloom for used games like some make it sound then wouldn't GameStop be tossing a fit about this? I haven't seen them do so, nothing like how some individuals are. Makes you wonder what's really going on.

[Motoko.]

Maybe there's more to this than what we all know and GameStop has more info under NDA? If it's all doom and gloom for used games like some make it sound then wouldn't GameStop be tossing a fit about this? I haven't seen them do so, nothing like how some individuals are. Makes you wonder what's really going on.

Wouldn't surprise me if MS payed Gamestop the amount to buy Europe twice over.

[+virtorio MVC]

So, if they didn't "commit to it" then what, they wouldn't be selling Xbox hardware and games anymore?

Yeah, I bet that would work out really well for them.

[George P Global Moderator]

Wouldn't surprise me if MS payed Gamestop the amount to buy Europe twice over.

For what? You can't just pay huge sums of money to another company and not have it show. It's not only GameStop either, what about the other guys out there that do the same stuff? What about any retail shop that handles returns of games? That's kinda the same idea to. I don't hear anyone from retail making a issue out of this. I believe it's telling how GameStop, Best Buy and others who sell games aren't saying anything.

So, if they didn't "commit to it" then what, they wouldn't be selling Xbox hardware and games anymore?

Yeah, I bet that would work out really well for them.

They'd sell hardware and new games but Gamestop makes the majority of it's money from used games. That's a fact, they say it themselves. If something cuts into the huge profits they pull in from used games that would hurt their business in a big way, why wouldn't that be making a large media issue out of it then? If you were gamestop and they told you you have to do this and this and that your cut from used games will be tiny now, when before they'd get the whole thing from the resale, you wouldn't go online and say anything?

[Motoko.]

Gamestop will not have a future if they fight against MS on this. This box will unfortunately sell in the masses and there's nothing anyone can do to stop it, not even Sony.

This is a clear violation of the first sale doctrine:

"The first sale doctrine, codified at 17 U.S.C. ? 109, provides that an

individual who knowingly purchases a copy of a copyrighted work from the

copyright holder receives the right to sell, display or otherwise

dispose of that particular copy, notwithstanding the interests of the

copyright owner. The right to distribute ends however, once the owner

has sold that particular copy."

They'll also get money from beyond the 1st sale.

Why should they be allowed to? I don't see the same with cars, movies, books, why are games as a product should have special needs?

Gamestop is cancer but this move will also affect people who never used Gamestop for anything ever, only because Microsoft wants to get money they shouldn't be entitled to.

[spedanden]

-Microsoft And Game Publishers Will Reportedly Take A Cut Of Xbox One Used Game Sales

-Gamestop only gets 10% of the cut

digitalspy

forbes

Wheres the ratio info from? Is it your guess? And the Forbes link leads to their home page.

[Torolol]

since by MS standard that Gamer are not buying the game, but rather the license to play the game,

the xbox-1 need to came up with Licenses Manager?, to allow gamers (licensee) to managed theirs.

Common cases:

1. To transfer licenses directly to another account (used games as gift or used games direct selling),
   
2. To lend license to another, but retain right to revoke 'em back (lending used games),
   
3. Deactivate licenses, so another activation would immediately transfer to whomever account that activate'em. (used games sales/gift, without asking for buyer account info)
   

This way second hand sales will still there, 1st Hand Sales doctrine are honored, and Publisher get money according to License sold.

The problem with this 'Licenses Manager' is its not profitable to microsoft & the publishers ....

[Motoko.]

Wheres the ratio info from? Is it your guess? And the Forbes link leads to their home page.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2013/05/24/microsoft-and-game-publishers-will-reportedly-take-a-cut-of-xbox-one-used-game-sales/

[BajiRav]

Uh, why?

The publisher made their money when the game sold.

Gamestop also made their money when the game was sold as new.

[Elessar]

How much will "pre-owned" cost? Do we know this yet? The last I read, "used" prices would be close to paying full price or something like that?

[George P Global Moderator]

How much will "pre-owned" cost? Do we know this yet? The last I read, "used" prices would be close to paying full price or something like that?

That was not the case it seems. Any cut MS/publishers get as far as the newest set of rumors go is small. There was a $35 price floating and initially people said that was the "fee" or the cut MS/Publishers would get but last I heard that's the full used game price and any cut back to MS/publishers is a few dollars which is already part of that price. I think the deal with retailers is that they pay, say, $2-$5 back and keep the rest. Just my guess at this point.

[srbeen]

"Making a fraction of the money we once did is still beneficial due to the PR. It will pull people into our retail locations, especially when 'making a game used', so they can see our inventory and hopefully buy some of this useless crap nobody wants anymore...."

How much will "pre-owned" cost? Do we know this yet? The last I read, "used" prices would be close to paying full price or something like that?

As much or little as MS and the developer wants it to. They will be setting the 'make it used' fee, which the store has to pay them to be able to resell it... They could also use big data to adjust prices for maximum gouging across regions, depending if the system is setup pre or post customer resell. If the cost of activation, and thus the game cost is determined at purchase something along the lines of, "Hmm, seems we had 4 copies of halo 5 activated on 4 consoles all in the south region today, Those 4 accounts have more friends located in the south region so lets put their used copy prices up by $8 in that region for a bit which will put them on-par with a DLC copy" Of course the system would have the intelligence to make these changes on a daily or even hourly basis.

If they will do it pre, meaning its value is determined and set on the day of trade-in/exchange, meaning they can gouge the customer trading in rather than buying depending on what the local market looks like for that particular title that day. Either way its setup to maximize cash flow to both developers and MS itself which should result in more developers making more money and making better games. hopefully. Theres a reason MS is jumping from 15k servers to over 300k.