It's no secret that developers make absolutely no money from the used games market, nor is it news that the heads of gaming companies are constantly trying to monetize this lucrative sector -- Epic Games president Mike Capps is no exception.
"The secondary market is a huge issue in the United States. Our primaryretailer makes the majority of its money off of secondary sales, and soyou鈥檙e starting to see games taking proactive steps toward that by ... ifyou buy the retail version you get the unlock code," Capps told GamesIndustry.biz.
"I鈥檝e talked to some developers who are saying 鈥業f you want to fight thefinal boss you go online and pay $20, but if you bought the retailversion you got it for free鈥? We don鈥檛 make any money when someonerents it, and we don鈥檛 make any money when someone buys it used - waymore than twice as many people played Gears than bought it," he added.
I'm not going to decry Capps' idea as "ludicrous" or "drivenentirely by typical corporate greed." The devil's advocate in me sees his point and my life would probably remain largely unaffected by any such scheme thanks to my job -- thus I don't think any of us gaming writers are in a position to properly espouse opinions on Capps' idea.
Instead I leave it to you, the common gamer, to weigh in: Is Capps' downloadable finalboss scheme a viable plan and something you'd pay extra for if you'dalready purchased a used title, or does this entire plan rub you thewrong way?
Image courtesy Epic Games
Correction: Mike Capps is the president of Epic Games. Apologies.
Michael Capps - Part Two [GI.biz]
