The increasing hostility of publishers towards used game sales has often (and fairly), been criticized on Destructoid. Other writers have already covered the topic well so it is not necessary for me to go over the same arguments. Rather than argue of why I am against such hostility and the annoying measures taken against used games, I thought it would be better to just give an example of how used game sales eventually got Epic Games some of my money.



I did not own an Xbox 360 in 2006 for Gears of War or in 2008 for its sequel. I bought my Xbox early in 2009 a few months before the release of Resident Evil 5 which was the game I originally wanted the console for. I never had much interest in Gears of War, despite its huge sales and critical praise. I didn’t actually come across a copy until I stayed with my brother late in 2009. One day I picked it up and decided to play my brothers copy. After about three extended sessions I was finished and thinking it was a good game, I made a note to check out the sequel. Epic Games got none of my money.

I later found the sequel by chance in a game shop for less than $20. It was used and I eagerly picked it up and played it. I enjoyed it even more than the first one and I later bought a used copy of the first one to play it again. I also ended up playing co-op through both games with friends. Again Epic Games got none of my money.

After beating the single player campaigns of both games on Insane, I decided I wanted to try multiplayer. For some reason, I was blocked from downloading the map packs to both games so I was unable to give Epic games any of my money for the All Fronts Collection.



This year, I eagerly pre-ordered Gears of War 3 and a one of the Limited Edition Controllers. Epic Games finally got some of my money and they wouldn’t have got any if it wasn’t for used games.

I could write the same thing for multiple games over many years.

Used games helped me discover Gears of War and help the industry.




P.S. Gears of War 3 totally deserved an 8.