Games Thirst – Amazing Life
Ready At Dawn, the independent developer that’s closely aligned with Sony, worked on many PSP titles and is currently developing The Order: 1886 exclusively for PS4, has come out swinging against GameStop used games sales model, stating that the company can’t continue to make a living at the expense of everybody else.
That’s what Read At Dawn boss Ru Weerasuriya lamented in an interview with GI.biz, adding that consumers will see less games from developers if a solution isn’t found.
“I think the problem is right now there are retail outlets that are really taking everybody for a ride. You can’t make a living at the expense of everybody else. Unfortunately, they’re not just making a living at the expense of developers but also the consumers because the consumers will see less and less games come out if developers can’t get revenue to make more new titles and keep going as a business,” he complained.
“I think this is something we need to curb on the retail side. We’re putting the consumers in an awkward spot and we shouldn’t have to. Why should they be the ones to deal with a flawed system? They are the guys we do this for. They are the ones who should be able to benefit the most from being able to buy it.
Weerasuriya’s bad taste for GameStop seems to have been derived from a bout he had while at one of the mega retailer’s chains.
“I walked into a GameStop, asked for a new copy of a game and without telling me he tried to slip me a used copy and wanted to sell it to me for $5 less. I flipped out in front of the guy. I was like, ‘Dude, wrong guy,” he recalled. “You’re doing this to the wrong guy.’ I don’t think people realize, and the guy was trying to justify it to me. I was like, ‘You have no idea.’ There are developers out there who are making games for [years] and some of them will go down purely because the revenue stream is basically flawed and creating this place where developers don’t see even a little part of it.”
Weerasuriya was quick to point out that he doesn’t think consumers should have to pay for this problem, instead a solution should be found where part of the used games money can be recouped from GameStop and other outlets like it.
“I don’t think we should stop used games, but we should do something about getting part of the revenue back from GameStop and places like that. That’s not penalizing the consumers; they’ll still get what they want. But I don’t know who’s going to address it.”
Do you agree with him? My stance is, once something is already sold, I don’t think developers should be crying about getting money off of it again. But if GameStop is actively trying to push used games instead of new, then that’s a problem that must be fixed. That I can agree with. What’s your take on the situation?
