Game designer Soren Johnson has written an essay entitled "The Case for Used Games" in which the Civilization 4 designer and Spore programmer expresses the feeling that "a few words should be said in defense of used games."

At the outset, Johnson concedes that he agrees with the main argument against the used game trade: "the less money developers get from sales of their games, the harder it is for them to take risks further down the road, let alone stay in business."

Nevertheless, his first claim in defense of used games is that GameStop is integral to the games industry and should not be seen as separate from the industry's publishers and developers. "One has a hard time imagining how the overall games market would be healthier without a strong retail chain dedicated purely to gaming," argues Johnson.

The numbers side with the designer. GameStop sales totaled $7.1 billion in 2007, a year which NPD estimates generated $17.9 billion all together.

Johnson's claims that used games are part of "market segmentation" found in more mature industries. "Consider the movie industry, which segments... Read more

Nintendo's voice chat accessory Wii Speak releases on November 16 alongside the village life sim Animal Crossing: City Folk, but the Wii Speak Channel, the software that allows voice chat without playing any game in particular, won't be available to gamers who buy the accessory used.

MTV Multiplayer received a press copy of the latest Animal Crossing, bundled with the voice chat peripheral, and found that attached was a Wii Download Ticket Number, a 16-digit code to be used to download the Wii Speak Channel.

The code "cannot be replaced by Nintendo or your retailer if it is lost or stolen," meaning that there will be one download code for every new Wii Speak microphone.

A Nintendo representative confirmed to MTV that the Wii Speak Channel won't be available in the Wii Shop Channel for purchase. While in-game voice chat for supported games will still work on a used device, it does mean that one of the accessory's major functions will be restricted to those who buy the hardware new.

While Nintendo has not stated its intentions, the move reflects a subtle jab at the used games trade, which is controversial for leaving game companies' potential profits in the hands of retailers. Publishers and developers have started to fight back by new-copies-only DLC and they may be at work on more radical methods.

Epic president Mike Capps hinted recently that methods aside from new-copies-only DLC might appear to incentivize gamers away from the used game trade, which for years has taken potential profits from developers and left it in the hands of retailers.

"I've talked to some developers who are saying 'If you want to fight the final boss you go online and pay $20, but if you bought the retail version you got it for free,'" explained Capps to GamesIndustry, explaining one possible strategy that could take form.

Epic's Gears of War 2 is taking a stance against used game sales

Around the Epic offices, used games aren't exactly welcome. "We certainly have a rule at Epic that we don't buy any used games--sure as hell you're not going to be recognised as an Epic artist going in and buying used videogames--because this ... Read more

Bungie audio director Marty O'Donnell has served up three multi-million-selling games with the company, but that hasn't stopped him from noting the effects of used game sales on developers such as his studio.

"It's hard to gauge the effect of used game sales on Halo, but I'm sure it's big," O'Donnell told GamesIndustry. "Complaining about sales when you have a multi-million seller is somewhat difficult to justify, but it seems to me that the folks who create and publish a game shouldn't stop receiving income from further sales."

Gaming mega-retailer GameStop reported that a staggering... Read more

Jens Uwe Intat has declared the sale of used games "a very critical situation."

Speaking to GamesIndustry, the Electronic Arts Europe VP denied that the current cottage industry for used games can be compared to the highly developed industries for second-hand cars or books.

"We are actually giving away the rights to play," said Intat, "and if you just pass it on, pass it on, pass it on, that is not comparable to second-hand sales in the normal physical goods area where you have physical wear-out."

On solutions, Intat was vague but optimistic. "We're not going to be overly confrontational [with retailers], we're going to solve it with better, more interesting and online offerings going forward."

Intat echoes other industry leaders in his concern that used game sales are potentially dangerous to publishers and developers, as sales of new games at retail generally make up the sole revenue stream for games. Meanwhile, game retailers like GameStop make significant portions of their earnings from the sale of used games.

Without any major promotions, retailer GameStop has recently seen an increase in the amount of games being traded in, a feat it attributes to the sluggish US economy.

"Because of the economic condition, we did not have to be as promotional on the buy side of games, because it just seems like we were naturally getting consumers trading [games in]," COO Dan Matteo said today, according to Edge Online. "That's why our margins are slightly better than they were in the second quarter last year."

In exchange for used games, GameStop offers in-store credit that's generally around 30% of the title's worth, with the game then sold for about $5 less than a new copy. In other words, the retailer buys low and sells high.

The used game market has been an extremely lucrative source of profit for GameStop. Despite accounting for 26.1% of the company's total sales in Q2 2008, used games sales made up 49.7%, some $234M, of its quarterly profit.

High profit margins on used games have long represented a sore spot for some publisher and developers, as they do not see a kickback from used games.

Rumors have been spreading today that the software licensing scheme Sony will be using with its upcoming PlayStation 3 will make it illegal for consumers to buy and sell used PS3 games. GamesRadar claims that it has received the news straight from retailers, who state that Sony said "there will be no PS3 pre-owned sections in their stores." The wording of the article suggests that this is not a technical limitation but rather an illegal one that would be enforced mainly on the retail side of things. Realistically, Sony would have to provide retailers with significant incentive for such a move, as current game retailers derive far more profits from used games than from new games.

It seems that Sony is planning to adopt a licensing system that will mean gamers won't own the PS3 titles that they've paid money for. Instead, they will only be purchasing the licence to play the game and that the software itself will still be Sony property - meaning that the disc won't be the customer's to sell.

We assume that the thinking behind this move will ultimately be to stop PS3 games being resold several times - which currently snatches potential sales away from Sony - and to counter the impression in consumers' minds that games are only really worth their pre-owned price and are not worth buying new.

The scheme is similar to that used in much current software, though it has not traditionally been strongly enforced when it comes to used sales through retail.

Bear in mind that the GamesRadar story is not sourced and should be taken with a great deal of salt. Unsurprisingly, Sony has not officially commented on this current rumor. However, last year, a similar rumor surfaced. In November, reports emerged that PlayStation 3 would physically disallow usage of previously owned games, as opposed to the current rumors that used game sales will simply be legally prohibited. Those previous rumors were flatly denied by a Sony representative, who said, "I would like to clarify that this is false speculation and that PlayStation 3 software will not be copy protected to a single machine but will be playable on any PlayStation 3 console."

There are a few possibilities as to these related reports. They could in fact be describing the same policy, with Sony denying that there is any technical limitation in place but not commenting on legal restrictions. They could be completely unrelated, giving no indication one way or the other as to the veracity of this new one. They could also both be completely incorrect and founded on the same original misguided information.