this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2026
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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.

top 11 comments
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[–] areakode@riskeratspizza.com 13 points 1 hour ago (2 children)

Gamestop has become TOO POWERFUL!

[–] mursejoy@lemmy.zip 1 points 12 minutes ago

That power up rewards card was more powerful than we all thought I guess.

[–] adarza@lemmy.ca 2 points 59 minutes ago

given who's running that show these days, i wouldn't shed a tear if they got run out of business.

[–] rursta@retrolemmy.com 1 points 18 minutes ago

Please don’t mistake this explanation as an excuse.

Threadiverse does this often.
It even uses the “worth reading” system as an incorrect way of saying “I dis/agree.” Can't wait for pylova to become the norm.

trades that game in and the store resells it for $40, they get all of that, and the publisher gets nothing.

In some countries, resale laws exist to deter this. So this argument is kinda naught.

[–] Zedstrian@sopuli.xyz 7 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 47 minutes ago)

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

By raising the prices for all their games, raising them again for physical copies, and allowing the use of game key cards, Nintendo decided the carrot or stick alone just wasn't profitable enough, and thus chose both.

[–] DigDoug@lemmy.world 2 points 52 minutes ago

🏴‍☠️

[–] BrightCandle@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago (2 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.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 2 points 47 minutes 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 32 minutes ago

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

[–] adarza@lemmy.ca 2 points 54 minutes 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 1 points 48 minutes ago

Fucking obviously...

Did people really just figure out their hate for discs was the hate for resellers and rentals?

Fucking hell man, next you're gonna tell us they sell consoles at a lost to trap consumers in their ecosystem of expensive games and not out of the goodness of their heart.

If you just fucking realized this, it's better than not.

But it doesn't mean you should be listened to, because everyone that actually cares enough to string two thoughts together figured this out fucking years/decades ago.