Zelnick: Don’t punish gamers who buy used

Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick may be the head of a highly successful publisher, but unlike the heads of other publishers, he doesn’t have his panties in a bunch over used games. In fact, he thinks criticizing them is “irrelevant” and that recent methods to combat secondhand gaming won’t work out.

“It’s irrelevant to be critical of the used-game marketplace,” says the android-faced executive. “You don’t want to use a stick punishing users for buying used; you want to give them a reason to buy new.”

Zelnick believes that the first six weeks are the most important for used games, and the best way to fight it is to first make a quality game, then let players know more quality for that very game is coming in the future, thus getting them to keep hold of their discs.

“By letting consumers know there’s more stuff to come, it stands to reason they’d hang on to their titles,” he says. 

And you know what? I like the cut of this man’s jib. Someone put him in charge of EA and THQ, too!

Take-Two: Quality key to combating used sales [Gamespot]