Rumours have become an everyday occurrence over the last few months, what with the build up to E3 and the February 20th meeting between Playstation, it’s investors and the media, where we will supposedly get our first details on the PS4.
GameStop have now stepped in to let us all know what they think about one of the more popular rumours, the one that says the next-generation consoles, the Xbox 720 and PS4 (names not confirmed!) are ready to kill off the second-hand games industry overnight by blocking the use of pre-owned games.
In an interview with Bloomberg, GameStop spokesman Matt Hodges stated that:
“We know the desire to purchase a next-generation console would be significantly diminished if new consoles were to prohibit playing pre-owned games, limit portability or not play new physical games.”
The statement wasn’t just said off the cuff, the spokesman revealed that the opinion comes from the survey of the 21 million and more members of GameStop’s PowerUp Rewards program.
We all know that Microsoft and Sony, as console holders and publishers, they would love to block out the sale of pre-owned games. Even more so, I think most developers and publishers would love it. It forces players to pay top price for a game, even if it turns out to be shit, generating more of the precious money that these companies crave.
Personally, I despise the capitalistic nature that surrounds my favourite pastime, something that has risen more and more over the last ten years. If it wasn’t enough that these companies are constantly trying to rip us off with shoddy games, poor DLC, or even worse, DLC that is included on the disc that you have to pay to unlock, the ultimate nail in the coffin would be the demise of used games. Not everybody can afford to buy games brand new, some people have to wait a bit longer for the price to come down to a level they can justify spending money on, there’s no shame in that. The real shame is that something as simple as playing a video game, something that used to be relatively cheap if you were a frugal gamer, could soon go the way of the dodo and be limited to only those who have deep enough pockets.
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What do you think about used games? Would you still buy a PS4/Xbox 720 if they blocked them? Let us know in the comments below.