Case Against Valve In Germany May Lead To Used Game Sales on Steam

[Zeven]

As CinemaBlend reports, a consumer rights group is trying to push this matter into court right now. Unfortunately a date of the trial is not fixed, we hope it will take place this year. Until then, it is not realistic that Valve will change their policy. But our chance to win the process is very good and that will be really an improvement for consumers: then they can sell their games to others.

Valve responded to the issue: We are aware of the press release about the lawsuit filed by the VZBV, but we have not yet seen the actual complaint. That said, we understand the complaint is somehow regarding the transferability of Steam accounts, despite the fact that this issue has already been ruled upon favorably to Valve in a prior case between Valve and the VZBV by the German supreme court. For now, we are continuing to extend the Steam services to gamers in Germany and around the world.

Whereas what Valve and Steam have done is to be appreciated, I sincerely hope that the court rules in favor of allowing resale of digital content. We should be able to own what we buy, and we cant own what we buy until we have the option of selling it on.

The above is only an excerpt. Here is the source.

Before I add my opinion to the table, what do you lot think?

[kalniel]

Old news? (February)
http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/...ed-game-sales/

Steam have already put in some measures that could help:
http://pcgmedia.com/game-lending-coming-to-steam/

And with the market place, seems they've got everything they need to implement if they're required to.

[Zeven]

Old news? (February)
http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/...ed-game-sales/

Steam have already put in some measures that could help:
http://pcgmedia.com/game-lending-coming-to-steam/

And with the market place, seems they've got everything they need to implement if they're required to.

The article itself is from a few days ago, as is its source. Considering the time difference between your article and the one I posted, it's most likely an update on the subject matter. As you said, it wouldn't be difficult for Steam to do nowadays.

[outwar6010]

Used games don't really apply to downloadable games. To be able to swap games more liberally would be nice though.

[Ferral]

I honestly think Valve / Steam will start allowing the resale of used games with the things they are gradually implementing presently, they don't do things by half.

I think it is only a matter of time, at the minute the marketplace can be used to sell trading cards and bits and pieces from some of the games. If it 100% working the way they want it they will implement something else, so next step will most likely be the game lending and if that works then we could start seeing the sale of games.

[Spreadie]

I don't see why you shouldn't be able to sell on your Steam games. I'd even accept Valve taking a small percentage of the sale value for handling the transfer of ownership within Steam.

[Pob255]

On thing the TB brought up is that if this goes ahead this could well be the end of steam sales and big discounts epically on relatively new games.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbRY0nIVnts
Not sure if he's right but it is an interesting point, you're going to get two things, 1 - people buying in the steam sale with a hope to sell them later for a profit.
2 - people buying cheaper 2nd hand before the sales so fewer going to buy during the sale.
both points will make publishers less willing to put up games for big discounts in the sales because both have a big impact on unit sales when the big sales are not on.
Unless Steam is making stupid profits on games there's no way they can offer 50% or more discounts without ether selling at a loss or the publishers agreeing to also drop charges.

We could also see a general raise in prices as 2nd hand will have an impact on unit sales so prices will have to go up to counter it.

[kalniel]

We could also see a general raise in prices as 2nd hand will have an impact on unit sales so prices will have to go up to counter it.

Unless publishers are placated with a cut from the 2nd hand sale as well...

[Pob255]

But that would have to be a rather large cut, the general costs of actually having a game on steam is going to be fairly low so the majority of the cost price is going to valve & publisher, depending on what the actual figures are I'd not be surprised if the publishers are getting 50% or more of the list price.
So if a game costs £30, valve is getting £15, let's say running costs for steam eat about 10% so they actually make about £12 and the publishers get £15
If valve want to run a 50% off sale, so you get it for £15, it's still going to be costing them £3 for running costs so the money valve makes drops to around £4.50 and the publishers get £7.50
But now you want to trade your game, it's still going to cost valve £3, so that's a minimum cut into your sale without the publisher or valve getting anything.
And this is the major difference between this and resale of a physical disk, when you sell a physical disk the publisher gets nothing from that resale but it costs them almost nothing too, but because this is a pure download service the costs would be the same to valve if you bought new or 2nd hand.

ok granted I'm making up figures here, so this is just a possible scenario, but it's all we can do as valve doesn't give out any actual or even rough figures.
I'm just trying to highlight that this could well be bad for us consumers in the long run, heck worst case scenario is that it could make steam simply uneconomical and valve just shut it down and we all lose our games.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The problem is if it means the games end up costing more brand new.

[kalniel]

The problem is if it means the games end up costing more brand new.

Which arguably it should do, because now games aren't just consumables, but have a resale value you can use to rebate your initial purchase.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Which arguably it should do, because now games aren't just consumables, but have a resale value you can use to rebate your initial purchase.

I would rather have lower up front prices than having to bother selling games.

Its not like PC games are that expensive nowadays,although perhaps the Blizzard ones could be an exception since they are generally £35 to £40 or thereabouts usually!!



OTH,games like D3 give you a silly amount of hours so TBH,so in reality they are not that bad in retrospect.

[kalniel]

I would rather have lower up front prices than having to bother selling games.

Then you would be catered for by the secondary market It's like cars. If you want the new shiny latest model you pay for it. If you don't mind waiting you can get it later at a knock down price.

Its not like PC games are that expensive nowadays,although perhaps the Blizzard ones could be an exception since they are generally £35 to £40 or thereabouts usually!!

Even £40 is much cheaper than PC games used to be, and as you say, you get hundreds of hours out of a good one.

[shaithis]

Hopefully we will start to see oem and retail games soon. 2 license models, 2 prices.

I do not want to be paying 55ukp+ for a BASE game, a la xbo/ps4

[kalniel]

Hopefully we will start to see oem and retail games soon. 2 license models, 2 prices.

Yeah, smart suggestion.

[=assassin=]

I would think used game sales on Steam would be a terrible idea - Valve are the ones paying to host and support the network that allows the games to be downloaded, and second hand would automatically mean alot less money going to them to pay for the up-keep. As someone said, the only way to counter-balance would be higher costs for new, and probably cutting out the sales they have. The makers of the games are also completely cut out of second hand stuff, and I do think that money should go to them by buying 'new' since they did all the effort creating the game. Second-hand just benefits some random user and could even inflate prices of some games. Tbh with the bargains I picked up in the last Steam sale, I can't honestly understand why people would be so damned bothered about selling things on. I do like to have a collection of games, even the ones I'm unlikely to play a second time!