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gamedesignonmymind

Nice, i'v been hoping that feedback would cover this topic. I'v done a lot of thinking about this, and the more i think about it the more complex the issue becomes. However i will attempt to cut to the heart of the issue. Used games have always been part of the industry, what hasn't always been a part of the industry is the enormous cost of producing a game. The amount of games that need to be sold for 60$ is much higher than it was in the past, due to higher production cost. The production cost have risen due, partially, to our growing expectations of what a AAA game contains, but also due to the fact that producers are funding less games at a time. This cycle (of making less games, that then in turn need to succeed, causing more spending to insure they succeed, which in turn raises our expectation) causes an unsustainable business model. The producers don't want to change the business model, for a variety of reasons, so they blame used sales as a scape goat. Now that we know why used game sales have become an issue we can discuss solutions. There a several that would satisfy one group but not the other, but this will always be the case no matter what because one group directly benefits from used game sales as the other group is hindered by them. This being the case i will limit the solutions i offer, to what i believe to be best for the customers (with the understanding that whats good for the customer is good for the producers/ developers). The solution that i think is the most likely to happen, is a fully downloadable marketplace. There are some downsides to this (limited space, limited downloads, etc) however, with the producers seemingly unwilling to change, this is the most optimal solution. It cost a lot of money to put a game in a box and ship it all around the world, with a digital marketplace that money can be used for other things. Unfortunately that money would likely be spent of advertising or something other than another game which means the games will still cost $60 to recoup the losses. Therefor the only solution that would satisfy all involved, would be for the producers to diversify more. We have seen the success of cheaper titles on the current generation of systems so we know it works. The expectation that every game needs to be 100+ hours and sell a billion copies isn't healthy for the industry. Those games will always exist, but we need to see more games like Journey or Limbo that have different requirements for success. Those games that are cheaper to produce can still sell a billion copies which means massive profits, but they don't NEED to sell that much to still be profitable. This is a good thing that should be attractive to producers, but for some reason they have been resisting this. So to summarize a more diverse portfolio on the producers side leads to cheaper games for the customers as well as still having used games for places like game stop to sell, however those used games will not make up a large percentage of the games the producers have to offer, limiting risk and maximizing profits, as well as satisfying gamers. (customer satisfaction leads to repeat customers and community growth)

Ok question time!
What can we do as consumers to get publishers to fund smaller cheaper games?(by smaller i really mean something the size that games used to be like 30 hours)

Do you think we will see games like COD of Battlefield being sold as 2 versions? One with the single player campaign and multiplayer, and the other with only multiplayer. I personally don't like the campaign of either and would rather spend half the money for the part that i use.