We Support an R18+ game Classification

Put this logic through your brain for a minute. Pirating games is completely illegal and receiving or passing on pirated goods, even if no money is exchanged, will net you a fine in the hefty thousands of dollars. Word has apparently crossed into the mainstream media that Microsoft's flagship holiday title Halo: Reach has been leaked into the public realm and will probably be available to people who don't mind having their Live account permabanned. But, and this is the constant face slap to all the arguments against piracy, the type of person to go to the trouble of obtaining the hardware modifications and software to play the game were very unlikely to purchase a copy of Halo: Reach anyway, effectively no money is lost.

But what if someone buys a second hand copy from EB Games or JB HiFi the day after it's released?

Well for a start they're probably saving themselves $10 to $20 dollars for a disc that someone may have rubbed obscenely all over themselves before trading it back to the store (I know I do), but they're also paying with money that goes 100% to the store and 0% to the developer and distributor. Second hand game sales cost developers and distributors millions a year, it's money that, in the vast majority of cases, would have been spent on a new game if the second hand option wasn't available. In other words, unlike piracy, it really is a cost to the industry. But buying and trading second hand games is completely legal all over the world.

Yet the FBI is setting up a multi million dollar task force to battle piracy of movies, music and yes games. Well at least my tax dollars aren't going to be spent on something moronic, wasteful and ineffective right? (oh, except this thing)

Sorry, going on a bit of a tangent there, back to piracy versus second hand sales, so to summarise:

Pirated Games = debateable/potential small loss to the creator = Illegal

Second hand games = definite loss to the creator = Legal

Back in my student days I depended on the second hand market and trading scheme to allow me to play new games at the cost of losing older titles (oh War of the Monsters, how I miss you). But I honestly believed a small portion of the money I paid was still going to the good folks at Bungie, or Squaresoft or THQ or where ever the game came from. My logic being that an increment of all film and game rentals goes back to studios, an increment of second hand sales must find its way back to the developer as well. I've since learned that my assumption was bogus, a second hand game purchase only benefits the store.

THQ honcho and Creative Designer Cory Ledesma is tackling the issue as many developers are these days, by granting one time codes to people who purchase original copies of the games they make, in this case the upcoming Raw Vs. Smackdown. Over at CVG (read the whole thing here) Cory had this to say:

"I don't think we really care whether used game buyers are upset because new game buyers get everything. So if used game buyers are upset they don't get the online feature set I don't really have much sympathy for them."

"That's a little blunt but we hope it doesn't disappoint people. We hope people understand that when the game's bought used we get cheated," he continued.

"I don't think anyone wants that so in order for us to make strong, high-quality WWE games we need loyal fans that are interested in purchasing the game. We want to award those fans with additional content."

It's a smart move, and one we've actually seen before, earlier in the year for THQ's last UFC game and for Pandemic's swan song The Saboteur. I certainly sprinted to my local game dealer to get early access to the 'nipple patch' available to first time buyers of the Word War II game. It's certainly a much smarter move on the parts of the developers than any of their ham fisted attempts to deal with piracy which have mostly been loud and empty PR stunts with little in the way of fines and criminal charges resulting.

Personally I don't buy second hand games or sell the games I own (and it goes without saying I don't pirate games) and that's a personal choice. I certainly don't want to lambast anyone for taking advantage of the cheaper option if it means they can enjoy their favourite hobby with more variety. I just think it's worth noting that while piracy is a pretty hollow but vilified threat to the game industry, if anything is responsible for hurting sales and driving developers bust it's the second hand market. It's worth thinking about it next time you're considering if a saving of $10 is really worth it.