The lead designer of F1 2010 says that designers shouldn’t bother attacking the sales of used games.
Stuart Hood, design lead on the newly released racing sim F1 2010, told CVG that instead of focusing on reducing the market for used games through gimmicks like EA’s Project Ten Dollar, game designers should focus on making great games that consumers don’t want to trade in the first place.
“People who didn’t plug into the hype or didn’t follow what was going on, when they are looking for the game and they find a pre-owned one, they’ll probably go for the pre-owned,” Hood said. “Let’s face it, we’re not making any money from that.”
The sales of used games are a problem for gamemakers, because all of that revenue goes to the retail outlet instead of the people who actually made the game. Hood points out that is because used games are priced cheaper, but that it’s up to the designers to make a game worth playing.
“I don’t think it’s enough for developers to go round whinging about cutting that market up because you get rid of a game when you’re tired of it or you want to move on to something else,” said Hood (I imagine in an English accent). “So first and foremost, it should be our attempt to get the game more entertaining over the long-term.”
So Hood’s idea to reduce the used game market is to make great games that people would never want to part with at all. Sounds great in theory, but isn’t that what all game designers have been doing since the industry began? I’m not sure that this is some big new revelation, or if focusing on making good games isn’t what most developers already do.
Source: CVG
