this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2026
128 points (98.5% liked)

Games

49401 readers
1192 users here now

Welcome to the largest gaming community on Lemmy! Discussion for all kinds of games. Video games, tabletop games, card games etc.

Rules

1. Submissions have to be related to games

Video games, tabletop, or otherwise. Posts not related to games will be deleted.

This community is focused on games, of all kinds. Any news item or discussion should be related to gaming in some way.

2. No bigotry or harassment, be civil

No bigotry, hardline stance. Try not to get too heated when entering into a discussion or debate.

We are here to talk and discuss about one of our passions, not fight or be exposed to hate. Posts or responses that are hateful will be deleted to keep the atmosphere good. If repeatedly violated, not only will the comment be deleted but a ban will be handed out as well. We judge each case individually.

3. No excessive self-promotion

Try to keep it to 10% self-promotion / 90% other stuff in your post history.

This is to prevent people from posting for the sole purpose of promoting their own website or social media account.

4. Stay on-topic; no memes, funny videos, giveaways, reposts, or low-effort posts

This community is mostly for discussion and news. Remember to search for the thing you're submitting before posting to see if it's already been posted.

We want to keep the quality of posts high. Therefore, memes, funny videos, low-effort posts and reposts are not allowed. We prohibit giveaways because we cannot be sure that the person holding the giveaway will actually do what they promise.

5. Mark Spoilers and NSFW

Make sure to mark your stuff or it may be removed.

No one wants to be spoiled. Therefore, always mark spoilers. Similarly mark NSFW, in case anyone is browsing in a public space or at work.

6. No linking to piracy

Don't share it here, there are other places to find it. Discussion of piracy is fine.

We don't want us moderators or the admins of lemmy.world to get in trouble for linking to piracy. Therefore, any link to piracy will be removed. Discussion of it is of course allowed.

Authorized Regular Threads

Related communities

PM a mod to add your own

Video games

Generic

Help and suggestions

By platform

By type

By games

Language specific

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
Dremor@lemmy.world
JonsJava@lemmy.world
Dremor@jlai.lu
PerfectDark@lemmy.world
128
Killing ownership is the method, killing the secondary market is the objective. (lemmy.zip)
submitted 4 hours ago by HairyTeeth@lemmy.zip to c/games@lemmy.world
21 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

As far as publishers are concerned, the single greatest cancer they face is the resale market. When a store sells a new game for £60, the publisher makes about £20, and the store gets between £15-20, depending on how they choose to price it. The rest is the cost of manufacturing and shipping. (These are rounded estimates, it varies)

Then, a week later, when someone trades that game in and the store resells it for $40, they get all of that, and the publisher gets nothing.

From their perspective, that's basically theft, which is why they've been trying for decades to put a stop to it, which they can't, or at least make more money from secondary sales by bundling single-use codes for "bonus" content that really should be part of the main game, which people who buy preowned will have to shell out extra for.

So that's what getting rid of physical media is all about. If they get rid of the discs and cartridges, that market vanishes.

Please don't mistake this explanation as an excuse. All of the platform holders have had the means to kill off the retail market and usher customers onto their digital storefronts for at least a decade. All they had to do was pass on even a fraction of the savings they make selling digitally, which cuts out the manufacturing, shipping, and retailer costs, onto the customer. But they haven't. Games cost the same on the Playstation Store as they do on the Gamestop Shelf. Sometimes more!

They could have used the carrot, but pure greed means they're now opting for the stick.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] BrightCandle@lemmy.world 4 points 3 hours ago (5 children)

Steam very successfully destroyed the resale and lending of PC games and the same approach with digital rights management of downloads will do the same to the consoles.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 1 points 6 minutes ago

I'm not convinced it wasn't mostly dead before Steam, TBH. I mean I guess there was "lending" (read: copying), but there was never a "GameStop for PC games" the way there was for console games. And even the "lending" was somewhat curtailed by CD-keys and account registration before Steam existed.

[–] HakFoo@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 hour ago

Used games held the console market in balance. You knew if you didn't like a game, you could trade it and get something back, or at least buy a cheap used copy if you weren't sure on a title.

The PC game market is kept in balance by constant discounting and availability. You manage risk by saying "I'll wait a few years and get it for $4.98 instead."

The presence of secomdary sellers (Fanatical, Humble Bundle etc) and even distinct markets (GoG, itch, service games that sell through their own accounts) means Steam still doesn't have the same market-defining power Sony will in a post-disc world.

[–] Noja@sopuli.xyz 4 points 2 hours ago

Not 100%, you can share your (almost) whole digital Steam game library via family share. There are very few games that block this feature.

[–] adarza@lemmy.ca 5 points 3 hours ago

single-use codes and 'activation' were around and gaining traction before steam came about. but steam did help dig the hole and put the some of the nails in the coffin.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Steam very successfully destroyed the resale and lending of PC games

What?!

You think before Steam people could resell and loan PC games like console?!

Why just make shit up? You know Steam ain't that old and people remember pre-Steam...

Right?

[–] Venator@lemmy.nz -1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

I think steam might be older than Bright Candle...

[–] grue@lemmy.world 1 points 4 minutes ago

You forgot the leading @ and your username mention turned into a mailto link.