PS4 Dev Thrashes GameStop’s Business Model

[Clark Bruce]

PS4 Dev Thrashes GameStop?s Business Model - IGN

Developer Ru Weerasuriya of Ready At Dawn studios has recently spoken out about the business model of major retailer GameStop. He states how the employees at GameStop will sometimes try to sell off a used game as new and how their form of business is hurting the gaming industry. Interesting take on GameStop as I'm sure many other developers have felt this way as well. I wonder if things will change?

 

[Esperahol]

Tch. This guy is just finding someone to yell at because he's too scared to yell at the people truly screwing him over. Its much easier to point at a place like Gamestop instead of looking at publishers and the retail industry in general. Everyone has to get paid, but the publishers are going to get their cut and then some, the retailers are going to get their cut at some point, and then finally the dev teams might see something. That business model wasn't invented by Gamestop and even if you killed them off today it wouldn't change. The only difference is there might be a drop in sales because fewer people would ever bother getting hooked on a series or franchise. I played God of War 1 and 2 as used games - then I bought 3 as well as the PSP game(s) that paid this guy's bills for a while. So without Gamestop he never would have seen a dime from me and people like me. It's just stupid and it puts the blame in the wrong place kind of like the DRM junk.

 

[Ersatz]

The only difference is there might be a drop in sales because fewer people would ever bother getting hooked on a series or franchise. I played God of War 1 and 2 as used games - then I bought 3 as well as the PSP game(s) that paid this guy's bills for a while. So without Gamestop he never would have seen a dime from me and people like me. It's just stupid and it puts the blame in the wrong place kind of like the DRM junk.

This. It's just like what MMO developers are seeing with F2P -- if you have a player who's hooked on the game, that player will WANT to pay for it. The only way to make money in this industry is by getting players hooked and then offering them a service or product they think is worth the cost. Why am I going to shell out $50 for an unknown game? I'm not. But I'll pay $10 or $20 for a used game to try it out, and if I like it, you bet I'll buy a new game from that developer.