BioWare: DLC System Not There to Stop Pre-Owned Sales
BioWare founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk have rejected the idea that its Cerberus download content system is a way of curbing pre-owned game sales.
The system offers DLC to users who buy a brand new copy of BioWare games such as Mass Effect 2 or Dragon Age: Origins and enter the supplied code. Users can also get access by paying $10 if they bought a pre-owned version of a supported BioWare title.
When asked if the system had reduced pre-owned sales, Muzyka said: ‘œFrom our perspective, it’s mostly around providing content, however someone got the game. As long as we are providing a great content stream for them to partake in, then I think that’s great. We all win in that concept.” Which most likely means “probably, but we’re not going to say that.”
Zeschuk said that the system was designed to build ‘œa service orientation for our customers’ and that ‘œwe appreciate their business, so we are going to continue to drive really high quality stuff for them.”
This comes on the same day as GameStop CEO Dan DeMatteo said using DLC to dissuade used game buyers “[isn't] compelling” because they’re usually price conscious and wouldn’t shell out for the DLC anyway.
I don’t believe it goes far enough. If putting your music online for no financial gain is a crime, how is it ethical to sell your games for money, to a company that will sell them on for more money, wholly cutting out the developer. Were developers to hold back significant plot portions or perhaps even restrict their games to demos until the player enters a code that is bundled with a new copy or available to buy, I would have no problem with that whatsoever.
I can’t say I agree. You can easily sell DVDs, CDs, phones or guitars as trade-ins. You have a certain degree of ownership once you buy a product.
I think it probably does hurt devs, but almost every industry has a similar market. Used cars as once huge example. I think also, there’s the question of whether you own the game, or just a license to play it.
When a place like CEX/Cash Generator etc “trades in” CDs or DVDs, what they are actually doing is agreeing to act as a middleman to sell the item on your behalf for a commission. It’s a bad example and I don’t know how well this translates to used game sales, but if you look into the law regarding the actual transactions, the company makes every effort to cover their tracks as they are treading a very fine line on ownership and possession. Either way as far as I see, trading in games (or for that matter anything else) or buying them used is just a bit of a dick move, and if you do so you have no right whatsoever to complain about anything found therein.
While I think the second hand market is morally neutral at best, who does EA/Bioware think it’s kidding?
If incentivizing new purchases versus used wasn’t the point, it would have all been free.