Crippled "Rage" Yet Another Dumb Attempt to Kill Used-Game Sales
iD Software's shooter Rage is the latest high-profile game to be crippled for used game sales. Now gamers who buy a secondhand copy of the title from, say, GameStop won't get the same experience as someone who buys it new. This tactic hasn't failed to discourage used game sales in the past, and it's earned more than one company a black eye in the process. Hard to see what iD thinks it can really achieve here.
A touchy subject
Calling Rage "highly-anticipated" is an understatement, as Doom creator John Carmack has been working on his latest bloody first-person shooter for years. Now, with the game coming out in October, iD Software Creative Director Tim Willits dropped a bombshell on Eurogamer.net:
If you bought the game new, [those secret levels] would be open for you... That's our first-time buyer incentive. But as you can tell, most people never even see it... I think that's fair. It's cool. It's outside of the main path. We're not detracting from anything. But I know some consumers, when you can't avoid it, then you get a little touchy subject.
Cutting through the PR speak, Rage gamers who buy the game new will find doors leading to whole new levels to explore. Rage gamers who buy the game used will find proverbial brick walls instead of doors. However, because these are "secret" levels, the gamers won't even notice. How, um... thoughtful of iD.
Real enemy, wrong target
The chances of this "hidden exclusive content" approach backfiring against the game company are pretty high. For starters, it's already backfired twice this summer:
- June 2011: Capcom's latest title Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D doesn't allow gamers to completely restart their game, which means only first-time owners can experience the game fully. Capcom has spent the past summer defending itself -- and scrambling for sales.
- July 2011: Namco Bandai's Pac-Man and Galaga Dimensions seemingly makes it impossible to reset high scores, which defeats the main goals of Pac-Man and Galaga. Namco Bandai later said a secret code could be used to reset the scores -- something the company probably put in as a fail-safe in case there was a backlash.
Finally, iD Software is essentially biting the hands of GameStop, the largest game-focused store. The outlet sells new games, but, as my BNET colleague Constance Von Hoffman recently noted, half of GameStop's profits come from used titles. It's not an exaggeration to say that less used sales of one of the most anticipated titles of 2011 will affect GameStop's bottom line.
Gamers will balk at buying crippled used games -- and GameStop will, no doubt, be having a conversation with iD Software and other like-minded game companies. It's hard to believe that gamers or stores would allow this trend to continue much longer.
Photo courtesy of iD Software
Related:
- New Resident Evil Game Tried to Rip Off Consumers, but Does It Badly
- How the Netflix of Video Games Squandered its Lead
- GameStop Is Either a Canny Cannibal, or It's Whistling Past the Graveyard
- John Carmack's Rage: Why the iPhone Game Is a Success
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