Treyarch combating trade-ins by supporting Black Ops multiplayer

by Griffin McElroy on Sep 10th 2010 10:07AM

Developers and publishers have gone to some pretty drastic measures to prevent having their new products put through the Gamestop wash, such as EA's Project Ten Dollar, or Ubisoft's highly controversial "Pre-Owned Smart Bomb," which, upon sensing a player's intent to trade a game in, destroys his or her entire city. However, according to Treyarch's Mark Lamia, the developer hopes to combat resales of Call of Duty: Black Ops by making its multiplayer component positively unquittable.

"We're going to support the hell out of Black Ops," Lamia recently explained to MCV. "That will be our focus post-release: making sure we keep our fans engaged, and hopefully as a result, they'll want to keep playing our game and won't want to trade it in." A noble goal, but people really love trading in their games, guys. We're afraid of how things might escalate if Treyarch fights to keep their wavering attention. "No, wait, don't go," they might say, "now the game has dinosaurs!"

Source: MCV

Tags: activision, Call-of-Duty-Black-Ops, fps, mark-lamia, microsoft, pc, playstation, pre-owned, ps3, treyarch, xbox

Reader Comments (114)

Can I have candy? I won't trade it in if they give me candy.

Love It. Ever since i learned that gamestop doesnt give a cut of sales to the publishers of these games I have completely boycotted them.

I hope anyone who loves a game will pay the extra 5 to buy it new, or get it from amazon or bb NEW. if your gonna buy a used game, use craigslist or something.

GAMESTOP IS SLEAZY! I have no idea how if I were to pirate something its illegal , but they can sell me a game and not give a % to the publishers/producers of the game.

Really I wish every game co. just had a distribution option on their site. like the ea store does. Cut out the middle man that stealing their money.

@Doc McFish
Do you think the used car dealers give a cut to the car manufacturers? Do you boycott them? Flea markets? yard sales?

@Doc McFish
Don't ever buy a used car, a used home, a used DVD, a used anything. Games are physical media, which means you can do what you want. If you buy it off craigslist, does the person give a % to the developers either? No.

@Doc McFish I urge everyone who plans on buying this game to buy it used.

@Doc McFish

WRONG!! Don't use craigslist unless you want to get raped. Go to Goozex if you buy used. At least then ALL of your money is going to another gamer to help them pay for more games.

@SuperWoody64

Actually I boycott yardsales all the time. It's quite an event. Pull my nonexistant truck up to the driveway and tailgate while waiting for them to start. Then I surprise, annoy, and disappoint the hell out of them when I stand in the street just off of their property holding a sign that says "Yard sales are the devil."

@Doc McFish

The publisher screws everyone, why do you want to support them so bad? Do you even know how video game sales work? The publisher pays the developers a salary that is unchanged even if their final product is massively successful. Occasionally a company like Activision will offer a "bonus" if they reach a certain sales marker, but if you saw what happened with MW2, you'll see that they'll do anything to avoid that as well.

Basically, post-production, all the of the money goes to the publisher, not the developer.

@Doc McFish

Well I hope you enjoy buying all your products new because I don't know of ANY used business that kicks back part of it's sales to the original producer/publisher.

Oh, and you also shouldn't buy anything new but on clearance since that often means a charge back to the company that provided the product inn the first place.

@Doc McFish
TBH, only rubes and idiots buy used games at gamestop when they're not on some sort of super sale.

I buy my used games on ebay or amazon's marketplace.

Save $5?
How about save $25?

Most games now a days drop in used value on ebay and related sources SUPER fast. The value of games is constantly fleeting, so if I just wait a couple of weeks, I'm almost always assured to at least get $20 off a game. $30-40 if I wait a month or three.

So, yeah. If I can get a game that cheap, I'm frigging getting a game that cheap and there's not a damned thing that's going to stop me.

@Themoreyouknow
I dont really understand this argument, every game on the market has been bought full price through wholesale, meaning that the publisher has already recieved its cut of every game sold, does the games industry actually expect to be paid multiple times for a single unit?

@Raiki
BINGO! Finally. a commenter on a video game blog that actually understands how freaking software distribution and sales works! All the morons around here act like sales go directly to the "poor" devs like the games industry is some kind of not-for-profit charity.

GAMESTOP/Used Sales are GOOD for the consumer. That's YOU and ME. Don't bend over and grab your ankles for the software publishers who are making BILLIONS off this industry and jacking up prices and nickel and diming everyone with DLC for half finished products just because you mistakenly think you're helping to keep some "poor" software engineer or 3d artist (who actually pulls in a nice salary doing a job he really enjoys) from starving.

@beefbearsupreme

Your too easily bought!! At least go for something a bit more upmarket.
Ask for a replica AK47 :D

Why do the games industry bitch and whine about trade-ins so much? No other industry complains so much about reselling.

And when people like Activision pull shit like upping the RRP £10 higher than every other game out for no good reason, why do they deserve my money?

@beefbearsupreme
I heard they are offering sour soothers to people every week if you hang onto your copy.
But if they actually continuously add new modes to the game (like bungie does), then I am gonna be so pumped
The first thing that needs to be added is a mode that when you try and fire a noob toob you get kicked from the match (also for the RPG if they are fired at a rate of more than 1 every two minutes)

@ll features ll
I'm not saying it is. I'm saying why it shouldn't. The first commenter seems to believe that devs/publishers deserve every game to be bought new. Then he says to buy off Cragislist. Do the sellers on Craiglist give a % back to the developers? NO. How is that any different from Gamestop (Except pricewise)?

@Raiki

That situation is entirely dependent on the contract between the publisher and developer. Bonuses and a percentage of game sales are pretty standard.

So, when you buy used, in most cases, yes, you are making sure the developer does not get their percentage.

Also, when you buy a used car, you receive a discounted price because it has in fact been used.

When you buy a game, the bosses aren't already beaten, the character still needs to complete his quest.

You still get that full game. Which is what you're paying for.

I'm happy to see that Treyarch is paying attention, but if it's just going to come in the form of more $$ DLC then... well, I'll buy it if it's good.

@oJMan240o "Don't use craigslist unless you want to get raped."That's the sole reason I go to Gamestop, for the sweet, sweet raping.

@NathanDTS -- I agree. I am convincing all my friends to wait and buy it used. I know how people feel about Activision, but my disappointment is towards Treyarch. Having just replayed WaW and seen gameplay footage of BO, doesn't seem like they learned anything....

@Doc McFish I'm voting you up, Doc! I completely agree with you, Gamespot even sells used games as new.
I hate them.

@Raiki.

Uhh from my understanding the developers get a % cut of the total sale price. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that would mean that buying new DOES help the developers, even if it's only 10%.

Also, I don't get your argument. You don't want to buy new because the big game publishers are ripping you off. So you buy used from Gamestop? The same company that just bought your game for $20 and is now selling it for $55. Really? That's a pretty piss-poor argument.

@Otimus
Unfortunately there are a lot of idiots around!

I went into gamestop the other day, looking for Demon's Souls. New it cost $40, the pre-owned was.....

$37.99!!!

And of course they were 'out of stock' of the new copy and only had used ones. The guy even told me "you won't find it new anywhere else". Unfortunately for him I had just been in two other game stores within 5 minutes walk and found multiple copies of the new game. And yes of course I went back to one of those and paid the extra couple of $s.

@PhilipJWitow

I don't recall saying that you should support GameStop, but maybe if you read my post, you'd know that.

I'm just saying the publisher screws everyone, which in no way implies "GO TO GAMESTOP". You can buy games used at other places, you know. eBay, Amazon, or even in person with friends.

Dinosaurs? That would be cool. Time to move on from the played out zombie thing.

@WMcPete WORT WORT WORT

@WMcPete
Dinosaurs?!?!?

Would be so much cooler than zombies and would become a day 1 buy

@ColdHeat

I like your thinking..you're hired

@WMcPete
If there was a mode allowing us to ride dinosaurs and shoot each other while they fight I would never put it down.

@WMcPete

why not just make another Dino Crisis.. PLEASE! SOMEBODY!

Yo, we're going to make you addicted, you want to trade it in, but never can't.

@jameskond
wut

"We're going to support the hell out of Black Ops,"

So in other words, there will be monthly $20 map releases.

@Mayor West
Even if they did that, i don't think i would buy into it, don't get me wrong new maps help but in the long run, i go for replay value or just cause the game is so damn awesome. Metal gear, ninja gaiden, demon's souls, etc. they never did that stuff and guess what... they are currently in my collection and all of my friends collections. Support is very important but not as important as raw value (story, gameplay, etc). They should stop popping out games like they're on crack.

My ninja gaiden history: bought the black editiion on the xbox, bought it on the 360 and when that broke (for the fourth time), i got the ps3 version. And with no DLC (unless i missed something)!!!

Even DLC expansions, they are fun but i coop buy them with friends.
Maybe a mix of both. But what works with me is special editions of something PHYSICAL (from toys to DVD) i will hunt down... Bonus skins or weapons don't do it for me...

Give me a RAR if you're with me!

It's impossible on consoles since you the owners of the console have to give you permission. If you really want to support your game unhindered the only way is on PC. Look at Valve's dreams for TF2 on Xbox and how over the passed 2 years not a single update has happened.

@Themoreyouknow It's impossible to support our game because we have to give ourselves permission? What?

@Themoreyouknow
Oh shush you PC fanboy, nobody takes you seriously.
*starts to sing*
"The more you know!!"

@Danthaman
No, in order to do something for the consoles they have to get permission from Microsoft/Sony and then they have to do it the way Microsoft/Sony wants. In the case of TF2 Microsoft wouldn't let Valve release updates for free. They want to charge since they get fees whenever you buy the DLC. On a PC Valve can do whatever they want for however much they want, which has been 100% free.

@Themoreyouknow

You sir, need to set down the haterade there for a bit and work on your grammar.

Based on what I could understand from your post... if you're allowing other people, no matter who they are, free access to do things to your computer over the internet... you're an idiot.

@Nirvash Planeteer Power of Capt

The smarter you're supposed to seem...

@Themoreyouknow

I prefer gaming on a PC, and even I am sick of hearing you ...

@oJMan240o
No. Not have access to your computer. Say the company wants to release a free map pack because they are a good company. Microsoft comes along and says "No, we want you to charge for it b/c then we make a % of your profits' Where as on a computer the company can make a game free, give updates free, do whatever they want whenever they want without someone telling them "No, you're going to charge for this content"

Is that so hard to understand? Sure Treyarch may say they plan to support the hell out of the game, but what if their plans for support are to release a few DLCs for free? Then they can say "Oh, too bad we planned on supporting this title but Microsoft said we have to make you pay and that doesn't fit with us. So we're instead going to give you a map pack with 4 maps and charge $15."

Vavle wanted to support TF2 but Microsoft had other plans. So they haven't released anything for it in 2 years.

If Call of Duty: Prehistorical Warfare comes out next year, I would definitely be on board.

@mbarriault

First kill streak reward: Fire on a stick
Second kill streak reward: A hammer
Third kill streak reward: A wheel

Wait. The game DOESN'T have dinosaurs??

No sale, sir.

i'd buy a second copy if there were dinosaurs

@its a SEABEAR
100% of gamers agree that dinosaurs would complete the call of duty experience

Why not just make DLC a download code, and make it cost like $20 if you buy it used?

Seriously, its not hard to kill the used game market.

@Kaemon Whoopes, I mean make online a dlc code.

@Kaemon
Or both.

People, or unwashed masses as I call them, tend to give Treyarch a hard time, because they are not Infinity Ward. Say what you will atleast they have a good additude, and work hard to step their game. It's pretty much the only part of Activision that doesn't want to make me puke.

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Call of Duty: Black Ops

Treyarch combating trade-ins by supporting Black Ops multiplayer

Reader Comments (114)

Posted: Sep 10th 2010 10:13AM beefbearsupreme said

Posted: Sep 10th 2010 10:28AM Doc McFish said

Posted: Sep 10th 2010 10:34AM SuperWoody64 said

Posted: Sep 10th 2010 10:43AM Themoreyouknow said

Posted: Sep 10th 2010 10:52AM NathanDTS said

Posted: Sep 10th 2010 10:52AM oJMan240o said

Posted: Sep 10th 2010 10:55AM oJMan240o said

Posted: Sep 10th 2010 11:25AM Raiki said

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Posted: Sep 10th 2010 11:59AM Otimus said

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Posted: Sep 15th 2010 3:25AM Raiki said

Posted: Sep 10th 2010 10:14AM WMcPete said

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Posted: Sep 10th 2010 10:33AM Nirvash Planeteer Power of Capt said

Posted: Sep 10th 2010 10:45AM Themoreyouknow said

Posted: Sep 10th 2010 10:50AM oJMan240o said

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