Reggie Fils-Aime, the savory Nintendo of America President, has been making wild claims about used games, joining the ranks of those in the industry who only like the parts of Capitalism that benefit them, and wish certain parts would go away so they can have their meatloaf and eat it too.
"You don't see businesses selling used music CDs or used DVDs," claims Reggie, ignoring the fact that you see businesses selling used music CDs or used DVDs. "More and more retailers are experimenting with the used game mode.
"We don't believe used games are in the best interest of the consumer. We have products that consumers want to hold onto. They want to play all of the levels of a Zelda game and unlock all of the levels."
Quite how the concept of secondhand games means that customers can't hold onto their games, I don't know. However, publishers rarely seem to inhabit the realm of Earthly logic when talking about used videogames, instead existing in some alternate fantasy kingdom where they are all given loads of money for doing nothing. Still, he continues with his inane chatter:
"A game like Personal Trainer Cooking has a long life, We believe used games aren't in the consumer's best interest. Describe another form of entertainment that has a vibrant used goods market. Used books have never taken off. The consumer likes having a brand-new experience and reliving it over and over again. If you create the right type of experience, that also happens in video games."
To Reggie, the used car market isn't real. He also seems to get the words "consumer" and "Nintendo" confused an awful lot.
Contest:
10:00 AM on 04.01.2009
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Hey guys, this weird place called a library opened near my house. It's weird, man.
Where I work, there's a library and THREE used book stores, all within walking distance of each other.
And Personal Trainer Cooking? I can understand the use of Zelda as a game people want to hang on to...but Personal Trainer Cooking?
Meaty-meat hands is insane.
What in the fuck is he talking about?
This has got to be April fools; oh wait it's Reggie. He's a year-round joke.
Consumers will almost ALWAYS go for the cheaper alternative, and that's usually the used route.
HAW.
C'mon.
What I *hope* he's driving at is "major" B&M businesses like Best Buy, Toys R' Us, Walmart, Target, etc. don't sell used games/dvds/cds. However, we have heard rumors of at least some of those places starting up used games divisions.
To his other point, Borders or Barnes and Noble do not sell used books so it technically hasn't "taken off". Used book stores (while having been around forever) are typically smaller, mom & pop establishments that come and go.
I agree with DanGale, even though there are obvious problems with it, I would vastly prefer a "We don't like the used games market because the publishers and developers don't see any of that money" explanation.
Lay off the shrooms.
Reggie rubs hands together while laughing maniacally...
"Sheep! They're all sheep!!! Ah ha ha hahha! Nintendo rules!!! I rule!!! They believe anything I say!!! I can say the most ridiculous crap imaginable and they will just eat it and give us more money!!!!! Wha ha hahahaha!!!!! They're all so stupid it's unbelievable!!!"
FIVE YEARS LATER...
A channel five news reporter on a television screen:
"And so began the downfall of Reggie Fils-Aime, it's a sad story of a once sane man who became overwhelmed by feelings of superiority as Nintendo brought in more and more money. He began to believe his own hype, and that's when he lost all connection to the real world around him, and became the babbling fool he is today.
And in business news, the once small gaming website known as Destructoid--that began chronicling poor Reggie's demise back in 2009--is continuing to dominate the interwebs, now owning majority stock in Yahoo, Google, and the Japanese mega-porn hub reallyf-ingweirdfetish.com."
He acts like the fact that the used games market exists means that people will not be able to buy new and keep their stuff if they wanted.
On a related note, I'm the Ultimate Warrior!
(My friend actually made this claim while on shrooms once)
Yeah Reggie. NOBODY sells used CDs, DVDs, and books. Ever.
Oh why won't the used game markets just leave me alone with my games? I just want to hold onto them, but instead I'm forced to sell them off. This isn't in my best interest. Save me Nintendo!
Well, how 'bout letting THE CONSUMER decide that, you arrogant piece of meat?
Proposed solution:
Publishers, cut out retailers from the new games market (also, if and when you can, developers: cut out publishers!).
Gamers, ebay your used games instead of trading them in.
The only adverse effect of this model is that it could harm piracy... :|
haha!
And after you've played a game once you can never have the "brand-new" experience with it again... so you trade the game in on a new game.
Seriously.. there are games that people like to keep around and those that people play through once and return it. If the video game industry was smart about things they'd see which type of games get returned early and not develop those ones.