Used Games Are KILLING THE INDUSTRY and It's YOUR FAULT

This actually made me pretty mad. Cory Ledesma of THQ has gone on record as saying that they don't care about people who purchase used games, and says the following:

"We hope people understand that when the game's bought used we get cheated."

Consider three things, Mr. Ledesma.


1) The economy is bad. Getting ever-so-slightly better, but still bad.

2) Used game sales only happen because someone bought the original game.

3) Major publishers rarely, if ever, lower the price of new games until next year's version comes out.

It's ridiculous comments like this that send me into a froth. Consider my following story, which I have recounted repeatedly:

After being unimpressed with Super Mario Sunshine and 3D Mario games in general, I passed up Super Mario Galaxy until I could find it used for $30. I loved it so much that when Mario Galaxy 2 came out, I preordered it and picked it up on day one.

That would not have happened otherwise. I wasn't going to drop $50 on a game that I didn't think I was going to like. No one will unless they have disposable income, and fewer people have disposable income than any time in the industry's short lifespan.

Now, it's true that the companies only have one distribution level, i.e. games at retail. Unlike the movie or music industry, they don't have touring or theaters to prop up their business model.

However, whose fault is that? The fault of the consumer, so that they should have to pay to prop up your poor decisions? Or is it the fault of the business owner who is only depending on one stream of revenue? Just because publishers are only making money one way doesn't mean that the consumer needs to get punished for it.