Previously: http://horuskol.net/second-hand-pc-games-20090425

I got a response today from the Manager of Preowned Operations at EB Games confirming the reason to be the use of registration keys:

The main reason we do not trade PC games is because of registration keys. … Once this has been registered to a specific PC, they cannot be reinstalled onto another computer and therefore, cannot be re-sold as Preowned.

While I disagree about it not being possible to reinstall on another PC – I have installed registered games on various PCs when I have replaced the computers with newer models. But I do agree that it is not easy, and this added difficulty lowers the resale value of PC games in particular.

It still irks me that PC games in particular are singled out for such scrutiny and ‘protection’ when piracy is not restricted to PC games (Google News: Console Game Piracy) – but that’s not the fault of the retailers.

I’m also not advocating stricter protections for console games – it has been proven time and again that any protection method used for computer users is next to useless against determined pirates and also victimises honest users at the exact same time. In fact, the protection used on PC games is being softened again after certain well-publicised PR disasters last year.

But, I fear, the registration key is here to stay – although with on-line purchasing through things like Steam, reselling might be easy enough even if there is an administrative cost.

I wandered about town yesterday with a console game and 4 PC titles that I wanted off of my shelves – the console game because it was a bonus with the Wii and wasn’t much good (Sonic Unleashed), and the PC titles because they were old Total War games and I’d just bought the Rome/Medieval II/Empire pack from Steam (Valve’s content delivery system).

I got a pretty good deal on the Wii game – $35, which is about a third of the RRP of a console title, and half of what the shop will resell the secondhand game at.

But the same shop (EB Games) wouldn’t accept second-hand PC games – although the retail attendants couldn’t explain why (I also tried the other store EB Games has in the city, but they didn’t know either)*.

There is only one other dedicated game store in the city – Game. The staff there responded much the same as at EB Games, politely explaining that it was a policy*. To be honest, I wasn’t surprised as Game’s new PC title range is pretty lacklustre, but I thought I’d try.

That leaves me with going to a Cash Converters – where I’ll probably get $5 a title (although, that might have been all I got from the main stores).

I realise that as an individual, the trading of secondhand titles will not net me a large income (or savings against the cost of the games originally), but as a whole, there are a lot of PC owners out there (a lot more than console owners). I wouldn’t even hazard on how to estimate how many PC owners have at least one game that they might not want anymore (and comes complete with disc, box, manual, etc) – but there’s got to be a lot.

On top of that, the kind of people that have computers and not consoles are not the kind of people who would necessarily go out and buy the latest PC titles (this is why PC titles seem to be in bargain bins a lot more than consoles – console games, however, either disappear or end up in an endless cycle of trade/resell). This is a two-fold factor: not only aren’t the owners interested in getting the latest titles, they probably don’t have all that new a computer and would have performance problems if they did.

But if there were a range of second hand titles, then this might interest people seeking a cheap way to spend some time on their not-so-cutting-edge computers. So, I would say that there is a market there.

And yet, the two major chains aren’t interested. Why is that?

Well, one thing that could be a problem is the minefield of digital rights management – games publishers over the past few years have been getting aggressive on game ownership and re-distribution (mainly via piracy, but also limiting ‘legitimate’ second hand resales on which the original publisher sees no revenue). For example, players register with websites and licence keys much the same as for Windows or Office, and getting that licence transferred to another individual can incur a cost (Valve transfer game keys for at least a $10 surcharge).

EA Games went even further – they placed an absolute limit on the number of computers that a licence for Spore could be used on (although only one of those computers could actually run the game under that licence key at a time). After much uproar, they capitulated by increasing the limit and then allowing people to contact EA and pay a surcharge for a ‘resale’.

Console games have much less issues with DRM – despite there being an active piracy trade in titles on all major consoles (console piracy has been around even before the rise of the CD/DVD – dodgy cloned cartridges could be bought and used on various platforms in the 80s and 90s).

In addition to the problems of locked registrations, there just might not be enough of a margin.

Those bargain bins have fresh-wrapped titles as low as 25% of the RRP, or even less. So, buying a second-hand game at $10 and offering it at $20-$25 probably doesn’t garner enough profit for something that will occupy a shelf-space. The console game would reap them $35!

Which is a shame, because now I have 4 PC titles that I don’t want, and I’m having trouble getting them off my hands – so I’ll probably end up just chucking them… I guess they’re mostly recyclable.

The situation is probably going to worsen as more and more sales are done direct over content delivery platforms like Steam – which eliminates the game stores – and while reselling and licencing is still an issue, there are methods in place for ‘gifting’ a game after you’re bored of it.

And now that consoles are beginning to have online stores of their own, one wonders how much longer the physical media will be present in the stores out on the high street.

* I have contacted both EB Games Australia and Game Australia for an explanation of the ‘policy’. I’ll post their responses if and when I get them.

A couple of years or so ago, I discovered a website called the Experimental Gameplay Project. This site is a bit mental – or at least, some of the games are. They are quite fun, but the rule on the site is to produce something that is non-standard, hasn’t been done before, breaks the mould (and probably burns it and then pee all over the ashes).

One game that stood out for me when I browsed over the collection back then was Tower of Goo – an oddly addictive game that required you to build as high a tower as possible out of cute little goo-balls.

Roll on a couple of years, and I start seeing World of Goo being advertised for the PC and the Wii. Admittedly, I’d all but forgotten the Tower of Goo, but there was that same attraction to a novel game in a sea of clones.

I finally relented over the last weekend when I saw that the game was on offer on Steam for only a quarter of its regular price.

It’s great – the game is fun, and the storyline and notes from a mysterious Sign Painter are playful and slightly twisted. The gameplay is simple, and new and improved goo is introduced at various points to add to the mix (and help you progress).

What is amazing about this independently created game (a development team of 3) is that it has outshone a huge number of more mainstream titles.

I highly recommend this game – I love it, and I’m pretty sure if you give it a chance, you will too.

Soundtrack

As I was putting this post together, I discovered that the game’s musical creator has released the soundtrack for free. It’s interesting, even with the short tracks that are used as loops in the game – when I was playing the game, I actually thought that it was Danny Elfman who had produced the music. I’m not disappointed, though – Kyle Gabler obviously has a not inconsiderable skill at producing catchy and enjoyable themes.