Do you buy second hand games/consoles?

Swerved

Ive heard about Game apparently selling 2nd hand games as new, but I buy from Game and never encountered any problems, also buy 2nd hand from them too and never had any issues. Although one time I did get the wrong game in the box, bought COD:MW1 but got MW2 in the box! Worth more, but already had MW2 so went back and got it changed.

szam_

I usually buy new for Console - I buy second hand older games as it's all you can really find in Games shops these days, and I prefer to get it on the day than delivered.

PC games, I either buy from Steam or prefer downloadable.

Given the price of a "full" game on next gen, between £45 and £60... plus some games and their £40 additional "club" to get an abysmal amount of further content on top... If I enjoy a game enough, I may fork out for this, however it's a kick in the teeth to other developers whom I'd have paid full price to for their games in support of their work, which I now cannot afford.

I haven't paid much for any "add-on" content over the years as I think it's a turning in to a complete joke to be quite frank, the last only times I have was the old Halo 2 map pack on Xbox Original, and League of Legends (in support for a game I really enjoy). If a game was cheap, for example £20, and you get about half the content, enjoy it enough and fork out another £20-£25 to get the rest, fair enough. But game prices of up to nearly £100 for the game plus add-ons? Gamers will get disillusioned at some point.

At this point, I'm glad I'm a cynical gamer who is very picky about what I like.

cjd1991

I bought a second hand PS3 and had no problems. Even had a years warranty should there have been any issues with it!

Personally it's down to preference! If you're not too snobby then why not look at second hand games, they do the same job!

fozzeh

cjd1991 wrote: »

I bought a second hand PS3 and had no problems. Even had a years warranty should there have been any issues with it!

Personally it's down to preference! If you're not too snobby then why not look at second hand games, they do the same job!

Exactly!

There was Splinter Cell Blacklist on HUKD this week for a deal - £4.99 for a used like new copy on Play or £9 in Tesco new. Still the same thing...and the copies on Play were as good as new. Still, debate was to be had about it.

Only thing I will buy new is something extreme and only if I can get it for a good price. The 'sub-£20-release-day-FIFA' challenge I set myself is always a good one :rotfl:

Tropez

cjd1991 wrote: »

I bought a second hand PS3 and had no problems. Even had a years warranty should there have been any issues with it!

Personally it's down to preference! If you're not too snobby then why not look at second hand games, they do the same job!

I don't see not wanting to buy second hand games as being snobby.

Virtually every game I buy is discounted in some way but it's either downloadable (PC) or new (Xbox).

I know that there will be no problem with activation codes (and thus no need to pay extra for one) and that the discs will be in perfect nick, but more so because it supports the developer.

The second hand games industry does nothing to support developers. They don't receive a penny for the sale of second hand copies as all profit goes to the retailer. They won't receive as much if I'm buying a game in a Steam sale but they'll receive something.

I don't particularly care about EA and Activision's bottom lines but the smaller developers and those that are part of the big distributor's operations make games that I enjoy and by ensuring that they get something for their efforts it is my hope that they'll continue to produce such games. It's idealistic and in some cases it won't make a blind bit of difference but it isn't based on snobbery.

StuC75

Have to disagree - What it does support and improve is that people will buy more new games that are released, as trading in helps to reduce the cost of buying new games..

think of it this way :
1 - Buy an Title1 at launch - full price - shop & developer get full amounts
2 - Weeks later, ive had enough of Title1, so trade it in as credit & Buy Title2 paying £10/15 on top of the credit I had. who is affected by the discount given? the shop or the developer in what they receive?
3 - I then trade in Title2 , to buy Title3 (a long the same lines)..

So far Ive played 3 top games, but only spend maybe less than what 2 would cost at full retail - this 'avg' lowers the more times I do that..

When the shop then sells on the traded in Title1 & 2 - they are 'realising' the credit they gave to me, with bit extra to allow for time they've held it.. The developers benefit in the newer titles that are selling on (its all about the big launches)..

My alternative would be to sell the games via ebay, and then buy the new title when its cleared.. but that can take time.. here there is a convenience factor...

Your steam argument is probably similar to musicians getting a fair cut from spotify royalties....</ Tongue in cheek >...

Tropez wrote: »

The second hand games industry does nothing to support developers. They don't receive a penny for the sale of second hand copies as all profit goes to the retailer. They won't receive as much if I'm buying a game in a Steam sale but they'll receive something.
QUOTE]

Tropez

StuC75 wrote: »

Have to disagree - What it does support and improve is that people will buy more new games that are released, as trading in helps to reduce the cost of buying new games..

think of it this way :
1 - Buy an Title1 at launch - full price - shop & developer get full amounts
2 - Weeks later, ive had enough of Title1, so trade it in as credit & Buy Title2 paying £10/15 on top of the credit I had. who is affected by the discount given? the shop or the developer in what they receive?
3 - I then trade in Title2 , to buy Title3 (a long the same lines)..

So far Ive played 3 top games, but only spend maybe less than what 2 would cost at full retail - this 'avg' lowers the more times I do that..

When the shop then sells on the traded in Title1 & 2 - they are 'realising' the credit they gave to me, with bit extra to allow for time they've held it.. The developers benefit in the newer titles that are selling on (its all about the big launches)..

My alternative would be to sell the games via ebay, and then buy the new title when its cleared.. but that can take time.. here there is a convenience factor...

Your steam argument is probably similar to musicians getting a fair cut from spotify royalties....</ Tongue in cheek >...

Perhaps, but I'd argue that the vast majority of people who buy games full price at launch would do so anyway. There may be a small but sizeable percentage who do so in order to get the later discount from trading it in but the video games industry itself is dubious about this claim hence why virtually every game, whether it makes sense or not, is having development time taken from the main game and put into (often poor) multiplayer modes to attempt to increase the longevity of the game and discourage people from trading it in. From a personal point of view, I'd have much rather the dev time spent on putting multiplayer into Tomb Raider or Mass Effect 3 was spent on added hours of content, or not releasing a game with a mess of an ending. :rotfl:

I personally don't believe that there are enough people who buy the games at full price to trade in later that would otherwise not have done so to make up for the hit the second hand games industry gives to the developers. At the very least, I've not seen enough evidence of this yet as there's very little data on it.

Furthermore, I've encountered certain game stores actively attempting to encourage people such as myself to buy second hand copies over new copies when I've taken them to the counter. In one case, I took F1 2012 on the Xbox 360 to the counter while it was priced at £17.99. The sales assistant spent more than a few minutes trying to encourage me to spend the £10 on a second hand copy. Presumably this is because their margin on the second hand copy is higher but as I don't trade games in then all I would be doing by taking that deal is taking the financial gain away from the developer and shifting it all to the retailer (minus whatever they paid the person who traded it in to begin with). Codemasters are a well established but not particularly large developer. I want to support them so that they don't go the way of similar sized developers like THQ.

In the case of Steam sales, I'm sure that the developers themselves are hardly full of joy over them but they do still have control over the prices that Valve pimp their games out at; hence why Activision's main titles, such as Call of Duty, retain comparatively high prices (I've yet to see the first Black Ops game drop below 19.99 on a Steam sale). In this case, it's more the opportunity to shift a large number of units in a single day through a cost-effective medium that encourages the developers to allow Steam to do this and since it has to have developer support in order for Valve to sell the titles at those prices (many devs actively promote the sales through their own social media channels) then I feel happy enough that I'm doing something for the developer by purchasing at the price Steam offers it for.

cjd1991

Tropez wrote: »

The second hand games industry does nothing to support developers. They don't receive a penny for the sale of second hand copies as all profit goes to the retailer. They won't receive as much if I'm buying a game in a Steam sale but they'll receive something.

I don't particularly care about EA and Activision's bottom lines but the smaller developers and those that are part of the big distributor's operations make games that I enjoy and by ensuring that they get something for their efforts it is my hope that they'll continue to produce such games. It's idealistic and in some cases it won't make a blind bit of difference but it isn't based on snobbery.

I understand where you are coming from with regards to supporting smaller developers, but in today's day and age it's only people like yourself who are really into their gaming that want to support developers.

Most people are just trying to save themselves a bit of extra cash, and you can't begrudge them that!

Tropez

cjd1991 wrote: »

I understand where you are coming from with regards to supporting smaller developers, but in today's day and age it's only people like yourself who are really into their gaming that want to support developers.

Most people are just trying to save themselves a bit of extra cash, and you can't begrudge them that!

I wouldn't say I am "really into" gaming, I play maybe four to five hours a week, if that these days and some games it can take me months (or more!) to complete.

I just like seeing people rewarded for their efforts, just as I like to be rewarded for mine!

I have friends involved in creative arts - including the video game industry, but also in film and music. They're not household names or anything but you can find some of them on IMDb, or see their names attached to books. I see the amount of effort they put in to what they do, even though I'm sure none of them have any illusions of being big stars, or making Triple AAA titles, and I think they're deserving of something for what they do.

I can understand people wanting to save money, I do that myself when I purchase from the Steam sales but as I say, I just don't like the second hand industry for cutting the developers out completely. I don't begrudge that you do it but it's not something I feel comfortable with doing myself.

Percy1983

It hard to say a second hand sale stops a new sale, the effect of the trading in means more new games are sold, so in short if they stop second hand sales they will lose new sales.

How many new cars are bought with an old one traded in, the same effect.