The Hand-me-down Effect
by The Rook
Sadly, the introduction of "pre-owned" to many high street stores means this is no longer the stairway to heaven
There was a time when you could go into a games store and browse a selection of games to buy at various prices. The new games were proudly displayed in multi-tiered shelves; the slightly older games, albeit still in the games chart, stacked sideways with the spines showing in a uniformed fashion. Or the old games which, the games store still having stock left over, were sold off at cheaper prices.
When it comes to choosing your preferred method of gaming, there are a lot of choices to be had. There’s the main three consoles – Xbox 360, Playstation 3 or Nintendo Wii; there’s PC gaming (with its numerous customisation options), and then there’s the handhelds with multiple variations of the DS or the PSP (is anyone still buying these?). The size of the store will determine how much space can be allocated to each gaming platform.
Choice is good. Walking into your local gaming store and having options is great for us gamers. However, (you knew this would turn at some point), what appears to happen when you go into most game stores now has changed. There’s still the wall of shiny new games, but where are all the older titles, the cheaper titles? You can still find them, but the selection is so small that you may not notice them straight away. So what is taking up the space previously allocated to our fine selection of budget games? That would be the pre-owned section.
Now I understand that the games stores buying back used games and selling them at a higher price will be good profit for them. As a business plan it makes sense, and I also understand that it means the consumer can buy a selection of games for whatever budget they are on. It can also be a great way for parents to buy games for their children who constantly scrape the discs so they can no longer be read. (The floor is not a suitable storage space for discs kids)
It wasn't so long ago that game stores were predominantly new releases and older titles, all brand new, with a smattering of second hand titles... euphemistically renamed as "pre-owned" to soften the blow
I’m sure the stores will do some sort of check on the games they buy back, but they will not have the time to check that every copy of every game plays without problems, and I certainly don’t want to invest numerous hours playing a game only to find it crashes at the end boss. Sure, you can bring the game back, but you may not be able to get a replacement copy. If the manual was dog-eared, if the box was damaged or even if the game cover has a stain or tear, I would not be happy. Don’t get me started on the games that come with a sticker on the cover which, once removed, leaves a gummy residue… (deep breath, serenity now, serenity now).
Personally, I prefer to buy my games new (and shiny). Whether it’s taking off the cellophane wrapping, breaking the security seal across the opening of the case, reading through the pristine condition manual, (yes folks, I one of those people who actually reads the manual BEFORE playing the game), or loading the game for the first time, this is my game, and I’ve paid for all these first time nuances.
It annoys me (if you hadn’t guessed by now) that most game stores now offer you pretty much two choices – chart titles or pre-owned games, with little to no options for older titles at cheaper prices but still brand new. It seems you can’t buy a game without the staff reminding you to trade in your old games. How can I build my game collection if I trade my games in all the time?
The time will come when the supermarket chains will drive out even the corporate game stores that won't be able to compete with their discounted prices and buying power
You can still find bargains online, which is great, but the experience of walking into a games store and finding that game you missed out on at a discounted price seems to be diminishing whilst the pre-owned sections of the stores are taking up more and more space.
I have also noticed that those good offers seem to be coming from the supermarkets like Tesco, Sainsburys or Asda. They may be huge chains that sell everything and can offer good deals for us gamers, but shouldn’t the best offers come from those stores that are dedicated to games?
I guess that I am fortunate to be able to afford to buy each game I want and not trade in my completed games to get money back (I don’t drink or smoke so I have to spend money on something), but it’s always good to pick up a bargain.
Last five articles by The Rook
one of my buddies on my friends list lady friend works in a gamestation, and they have a new policy (since game bought them out) that new titles get stacket to the rafters and old ones including pre owned are only allowed two boxes for each out on the shop floor (unless on special offer). its an odd policy but for anybody who isnt a gamer or new to gaming that walks into a game store this week would think that there are only 4 games in the world. Mass effect 2, modern warfare 2, MAG and wii fit.
I blame the wii for this, its attracted stupid people in to our shops.
and has anybody noticed the new £42.00 price tag for some games? where the hell did that come from?
I agree with you Rook, im not a fan of pre-owned games and you often find that many publishers and developers aren’t fans. None of that pre-owned money goes back to the developers so it takes money away from the industry. Ive always been more of a collector when it comes to gaming, ive got a three level bookshelf in my bedroom and the back wall of my bedroom actually stacked with games some of which i would never play again. Would i trade them in, hell no, its my collection.
Great article Rook!
I too collect games… sealed games… not by choice, just by circumstance. To be honest though, whenever I venture into a game store I’ll head for the new releases section to see what’s out then head straight over to the pre-owned section to see if I can get it cheaper. I’ve just never been comfortable paying £40 for a brand new game when I know that, three months down the line, it’ll be £30 and another few months on from that you’ll find it in Argos for a fiver.
With most games these days being, for me anyway, disposable and pretty drab… it’s not the best idea to fork out full price for a title. It’s either going to be played for an hour and then set aside because it’s just not pulling me in OR it’ll never even get that far because the games which HAVE pulled me in are continuing to do so and monopolise my gaming time.
I can understand why the developers aren’t keen on pre-owned titles though, it just creates an exponential loop of non-revenue for them and revenue for the game stores. It comes down to this though… throw us in some better packaging, a lovely fancy box with maybe some embossing or spot varnishing, maybe even a well made figurine and then I’ll say that the game is worth the £40 price tag… but shove it onto a regular DVD disc, in a regular case, and compare it to the latest DVD release that costs £14.99 and you have to wonder where they get their price point from. Sure, they have development fees, marketing budgets, PR company expenses etc to cover but so do movie houses. They rely on the “bums on seats” to cover their costs at reasonable ticket prices and reasonable DVD release prices, but the games industry wants more money quicker rather than a drip feed.
I can’t afford brand new games, especially not these days. Pre-owned will likely be the only way I’ll be able to continue gaming for the forseeable future.
This is something I completely agree with. I hate pre-owned games with a vengeance. For me they are an absolute last resort, when a game I really want to play is apparently impossible to find new, which does sadly still happen once every other year or so. Even then, I stand at the till and say to the drone behind it that I will see the disk and the manual, and the sale is not final unless I am happy with the condition of both; they don’t like it, and generally neither do all the other gamers in the line behind me, but I stand by my demands in such circumstances and the thought of potentially losing a sale guarantees that the shop will back down. Anyone who buys a pre-owned should do this, it’s the only way to know what you’re getting. Most times though I just refuse to even look at the pre-owned section, and woe betide the shop assistant who tries to harangue me into selling my beloved collection to them for a fucking pittance. I will breath flames and smoke.
The problem with supermarkets, and with Woolworths when they were still going, is that whilst they now fill that spot in the market for selling older discounted titles new, they open the seals and take the disks out to “prevent shoplifting”. This too winds me up, because without that intact seal, especially 360 titles where the supermarket perforates the genuine Microsoft seal under the shrinkwrapper, I don’t see the title as brand new and pristine. It’s been violated. It’d be like finding out your “virgin” bride may not have been used fully by another man, but he’s put his hand up there and ruined the feel of things for you anyway on the wedding night. Again, I’ve started to demand to see the disks, because sometimes the supermarket employees are so clumsy or in such a rush to remove the disks from the cases that a supposedly new game will have a mark or a scratch on it. This was especially true at Woolworths, and at my local Tesco, where they store the disks in a filing cabinet with little rough card dividers for each title, but otherwise just fling them in until needed.
Great article, Rook. But you’ve got my blood rage up now by reminding me about all this, heh. *insert Grunt’s “I AM KROGAAAAAAAAN!” battle cry here*
It wouldn’t bother me as much if the pre-owned section was contained; it’s taking over the majority of the floorspace in stores for some platforms.
In Belfast there are two GAME stores and two GameStop stores both within minutes walking distance to their other store. It would be nice if one would concentrate on first time puchased titles (both new and old) and the other concentrated on pre-owned. At least I could choose my preferred store to suit my tastes.
Is that why a man goes down on one knee to propose to his would-be bride; he’s actually checking things out?
I couldn’t say; if it were me, I’d probably ask for a mining helmet, a canary, and a magnifying glass. When I check disks in shops I get right under the light with them and look closely for the slightest hint of trouble. You have to be thorough with these things.
We have no less than six gaming stores in Plymouth, all in five minutes of each other. And they are all the same in what they offer as selections, and within roughly the same price brackets, except for one. There is a single GAME that has a pre-owned section that is just a single shelf. And that’s only because that particular GAME is a hole in the wall just outside the entrance to the new shopping centre, taking advantage of people walking in and out of the centre. You can only get about 10 people into the shop at once, and it feels crowded then. Still, that’s now my favourite non-independent gaming shop.
Great Article The Rook. And I totally agree. I have 2 stores to buy games from where I live, GAME and HMV. HMV wasn’t too bad until recently. It’s one of the stores that waited a while before starting the Preowned thing. Since that started It’s getting harder and harder to get the older games without all the dog eared books and scratched discs. Especially since my game only has to outer walls for new games, and some of that is still preowned games, and it’s a small store!
You know, I hate that aswell. I like being able to buy Original Xbox games if I can in the store but nowhere sells them anymore (and the Xbox is soon to be defunct anyway).
Anyone else annoyed at people who spend £40 on a game and don’t even take care of it? I rememebr buying a pre-owned Conker for Xbox and the state of the disc was absolutely atrocious. It was like they’d used it as a frisbee with a dog.
Some of the pre-owned games I’ve bought over the years… I wish to hell someone HAD used them to play frisbee with their dog, then maybe I wouldn’t have been subjected to them. I used to be a collector of rare vinyls and it used to annoy me that I could have 30 year old albums in pristine condition yet some other tosser could sell an album a year after release and it looked like they’d tried “automatic writing” on the surface with a scalpel. Don’t get me started on the dog-eared corners either.
Ok ok own up… who just pushed my rage switch!?
I can’t say that the make-up of game shop floors gets me angry, but I enjoyed your piece very much nonetheless The Rook!
As for getting hold of new games that have been out a few months, I must confess that it’s not an issue around here. Game and Gamestation have a satisfactory level of that stock, and HMV has huge shelves full of older “new” games on special offer (usually 2 for £30).
On the supermarkets, I do have gripes. Our choice here is Sainsburys and Tescos. They are very convenient to get to, and so I would happily buy games regularly from them, were their prices any good whatsoever.
Example off the top of my head: I saw Halo Wars for £24.99 in Sainsburys last night. As I understand it, this is now a “Classic” title and so should retail at £19.99 at the most outside of Harrods. I’m not seeing low or even competitive prices from those two supermarkets on a regular basis.
The market and volume is right there in the store, but they have to get the pricing right more consistently from what I’ve seen.
I agree with you Cuddles about HMV, they have a good selection of 2 for £30 titles, obviously all the games that interest me are games that I already own anyhow.
There do have a selection of older titles for budget prices and their pre-owned section is not too obtrusive. However, they are still a multi entertainment store, with a wide selection of CDs, DVDs, posters, t-shirts, calendars, concert tickets, MP3 players, MP4 players, and accessories for all manner of things. They have a good games section but are not a dedicated games store.
The Tesco store in town I’ve looked in a few times, usually have DS titles cheaper, sometimes even up to £8 cheaper than everywhere else. Sainsburys obviously had that great offer to get Moden Warfare 2 for £26 on release day and the local store to me currently sell Wet for £12, which is the cheapest I have seen it anywhere. My local Asda is usually good to pick up games cheaper but they aren’t reliable enough to always have all games I like on launch day, and they keep the disc and manual behind the counter, as a few people have mentioned being another grievance they have.
The local Xtravision (Blockbuster type place – may even have bought the chain but lept the original name here) have a great selection of pre-owned games, some at silly cheap prices, unfortunately, I don’t like buying pre-owned. So that expanding niche in the market, doesn’t appeal to me.
I take back what I said about Sainsburys!
Just went there and in the course of a day it appears to have been shaken up here big-style.
All for 360: Halo Wars is now £19.99. Dragon Age is £24.99! Fuel is £19.99. Fight Night 4 is £17.99. Prototype is £24.99.
Amongst many others. That’s very competitive. I’ll be dropping in regularly.
Sainsburys bigwigs must have read my blog about the better offers coming from the likes of them.
That’s what I told the man on the till!
Great piece and I couldn’t agree more. I hate the nag to trade in a game that I am only just buying, even with some indi shops that I use. Like you say, I don’t swap my DVDs everytime I go in HMV or whatever, so why a game, especially if I enjoyed it? I recently traded in a few 360 games for the first time ever to get a wad of money off of The Saboteur and I felt like shit. I hate doing it.
My issue with shops is that, as others have said, the pre-owned disks are a fucking mess. Not only that but Game plaster their ugly arsed orange stickers over them…not only the plastic cases though…but ON THE ACTUAL COVER AND SPINE! You will never safely remove them without ruining the cover as I recently discovered to my absolute livid rage.
I will *sometimes* buy pre-owned, and from now on, will be asking to see the discs at the counter as Preacher suggested, especially with money bing tight..I can’t afford a game that will conk out at the last moment. As someone who is a collector, I like all my stuf to be in as pristine condition as possible though, which is why I will usually always buy new. With most of my shopping done online anyway, there are some fantastic bargains to be had if you shop around, thus eliminating the need for pre-owned.
My pet hate about stores though, aside from everything else, is the fact that the pre-owned are often liberally sprinkled through the new releases, rather than contained in a section of their own. So if you weren’t paying attention, you could end up with a 2nd hand copy. I have to double check these days when buyng from a bricks and mortar retailer that it is actually a new copy.
Ta-da! I told you your article was next on my to-do list
Very valid points and it does seems to vary from area to area. I love cheaper pre-owned games as my budget sometimes dictates I can’t spend much on games and there’s the odd bargain if you rifle through. As for new older games the choice is limited in a lot of places. My local HMV has row upon row of new games and not all recent releases which is great. They sometimes have a better selection than Game which is a recent change.
Still huffing? ;D
Oh hey Kat. Didn’t expect you to read this after a busy week.
I don’t huff…. well not after I’m given cheesecake. :p
Pre-owned works for some people, but I like my games to be shiny and new.
Oh yeah I definitely would prefer them shiny and new too ^_^ I hate that first few minutes with a preowned game wondering if it’s actually going to work or not :/