Game publishers are as mad as hell and they're not going to take it anymore! MCV is reporting that increased holiday pressure to sell new titles has made game publishers even more sensitive about the practice of selling pre-played (or pre-owned) games.
"The fact that pre-owned is now on PSP is frightening," commented one anonymous publisher rep. Indeed, titles often appear in pre-played format within days after they are released as new titles — an option that retailers claim is important for consumers. The pre-owned market in the UK is an estimated £100m and publishers are now contemplating ELSPA intervention and potential legal action in an effort to reverse the trend.
Epic Games' Mark Reins has weighed in and feels that a profit-sharing plan would not only ease tensions between publishers and retailers, but would also reduce the costs of new games. How would these types of agreements affect online auctioneers like eBay, who have been brokering the "private" sales of used games for almost as long?
