This year it has become clear that publishers want a slice of the pre-owned pie, EA were first to make the move when they launched project ten dollar.
This means that their games are shipping with a single use redeemable code for an assortment of in-game content ranging from maps in BF:BC2, to the Midnight Show in The Saboteur and the Cerberus Network in Mass Effect 2. These are obviously included in the initial purchase price, but as the codes are single use, it’s likely if you buy the game pre-owned that the only way to access this content is by paying the aforementioned ten dollars.
It’s not just EA though, because THQ, Ubisoft and Take2 were quick to embrace the new revenue opportunity, and recently Sony have got in on the act with ModNation Racers on the PSP which was followed up by a statement of intent from SCEE President Andrew house during a Gamescom interview which surely means we haven’t seen the last of single use codes as far as Sony are concerned.
There is however one company which is still to show its hand in the so called war on pre-owned, and that is Activision. An interview given to trade publication MCV by Activision studio and Call Of duty developer, Treyarch gives the clearest indication yet on where Activision stand on the matter of trying to generate revenue from the pre-owned market.
This may come as a shock to some people who believe all sorts of rubbish they believe on the internet but Treyarch believe providing a quality multiplayer experience will dissuade people from trading the game in. Studio head Mark Lamia said “I want to take that in the other direction and bring consumers really great reasons to keep their games, rather than trade them in”
“Multiplayer is critical to the success of this series. It has such tremendous staying power – there are millions of people playing Call of Duty every day. It’s entertaining people on a magnitude that’s mind-blowing and we work really hard to make sure it’s supported for a long time. We’re going to support the hell out of Black Ops. That will be our focus post-release: making sure we keep our fans engaged, and hopefully as a result, they’ll want to keep playing our game and won’t want to trade it in.”
Talking about whether secondhand customers would have to pay extra to join in on the multiplayer action Lamia went on to say ““You won’t see that for Black Ops, the multiplayer comes with the game you buy – you don’t have to do anything else for that.”
So there you have it whatever the analysts might have suggested and whatever myths have built up around the comments section’s of internet-land, there is no subscription, no premium clan system or paid for wager matches, just good ‘ol fashioned, traditional buy your game, stick it in yer console and enjoy!
iAvernus
That’s pretty cool. I was buying my copy new anyway. Pre-ordered the Hardened Edition, and looking forward to this. I this will be the game that determines if I buy another CoD game.
moshi
Dont most people buy/play CoD for the multiplayer anyway hence they will not trade in the game
Tuffcub
“the multiplayer comes with the game you buy – you don’t have to do anything else for that.” – So that seems to me to say the the mutiplayer costs are factored in to the intial purchase. One person can play the game at a time, so intial purchaser pays for that – and resales and subsequent players do not cost Activision anymore.
Which means every single arguement games companies have about “lost revenue” from second hand market is utter bollocks and they are just money grabbing.
Thanks for clearing that up Treyarch.
gazzagb
Its a Day 1 purchase for me anyway, but its good to know that Treyarch care a little bit.
solidsteven
*spits drink out from shock* fuck me acti is doing something right O_G
Charmed_Fanatic
At last, a person talking sense!
skibadee
the way it should be.
toutski
They will be getting extra revenue from the map packs which won’t be traded in.
Still good to see in the short term anyway.
aerobes
With the way things are going this move is to be applauded, especially seeing as this is going to be very close to the top of the sales chart if not on the top.
DJ-Katy
Well it’s a good thing of course, but one has to wonder what planet Mark Lamia is on.
I’m going to hazard a guess that more people are interested in single player than multi-player as a rule of thumb across all games, so they will trade in. For the people who play online, when you’re fed up of a game you’re fed up of it, no amount of multiplayer action can halt the inexorable progress of game fatigue. So the stated strategy is completely misguided IMHO, and I assume what will happen is that he will quickly realise this once the game is released and won’t “make that mistake again”.
This changes nothing.
a inferior race
That may be true for many games but a few of my friends haven’t even completed the story for MW2 or COD:WaW for that matter. Yet, these are the only games that these people really play.
bigdon_23
that is sometimes true i.e gtaiv rdr, but for fps’s online is the game (imo) and sp is just a sideline.
i traded in mw2 cause i found the online to be rubbish (also imo) but i still have cod4 codwaw and fc2