Apparently, blocking pre-owned games is no longer “awesome.”
Crytek’s director of creative development, Rasmus Hojengaard, seems to have had a change of heart regarding the current industry whipping boy, used games. Last week, he told CVG that if the rumor that next-gen consoles are to prevent players from playing used games is true, then it would be “awesome” from a business perspective. He went on to add that it’s “weird that [second-hand] is still allowed because it doesn’t work like that in any other software industries, so it would be great if they could somehow fix that issue as well.”
This of course has attracted the ire of the gaming public, who tend to be rather fond of their used games. Following some presumably less than kindhearted feedback from fans, Hojengaard has recanted. Today he issued the following clarification via CVG.
“My comment made in the interview released on the 24th of April, touching upon ‘blocking sales of used games’, was not intended to be taken seriously nor representative of the opinion of Crytek.”
Despite the unpopularity of the position, numerous developers have come out against used-sales. Silicon Knights boss, Denis Dyack, claims the practice drives up prices, industry veteran, David Braben (of Elite fame), claims it’s killing off single player games and Volition developer, Jameson Durall, thinks console developers actively preventing the use of used games would be “fantastic.”
What we’re essentially witnessing here, gentle readers, is an enormous lovers’ tiff between publishers and their longtime bed-partner, Gamestop. It’s kind of funny really, in the same way that domestic disputes that haven’t yet graduated into murder-suicides are grimly amusing. That is until the star-crossed lovers start fighting on the lawn, ruining your rosebushes and keeping you awake all night. Then it becomes rather irritating.
