Steam users free to resell their digital games, court rules
www.gamingbible.com
Those who purchase digital games are free to resell them, the Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled.

Finally some good news! I’ve been waiting for quite a while for such a ruling.

Edit: Seems this cites an article from 2012, I didn’t notice that (and it’s still news to me). Though there’s still hope that it’ll happen, EU is slow, but usually eventually gets shit done.

  • Gabagoolzoo@kbin.social
    512·
    1 year ago

    Being able to resell digital games would completely fuck single player games. I imagine a handful of licenses would get sold at launch and then redistributed between people endlessly, until sales just bottom out completely when you can get a second-hand key for pennies. There would probably be a big shift towards games with lots of replay value like multiplayer or roguelikes.

    • ADHDefy@kbin.social
      20·
      1 year ago

      Tbf, that’s not what happened with physical games. Idk why it would be any different for digital keys.

          • 520@kbin.social
            5·
            1 year ago

            They’re saying physical games have wear and tear and are subject to people not knowing how to care for stuff. You don’t have any of that for digital purchases.

      • Gabagoolzoo@kbin.social
        14·
        1 year ago

        One is a physical collectable and the other is not. It’s like comparing an NFT to a Funko pop, there is a reason the latter never took off. If you think digital goods have value as collectables, then surely you also think NFTs have value as collectables? (The current NFT market would state otherwise…)

      • Gabagoolzoo@kbin.social
        32·
        1 year ago

        Why? What exactly would keep a second hand digital games market afloat? Physical games have collectability. You might pay a little extra to buy new, so you know the physical goods are in pristine condition. Digital goods have no inherent value. You can show them off on your Steam account and that’s about it.

        People would buy the keys at initial lauch, finish the game and then sell the keys. Next group buys those keys for cheap, finish the game and then sells for even less. This cycle continues in a race to the bottom. Unlike physical media where it could get lost, destroyed, etc. those keys NEVER go away. Prices will go down infinitely. There is absolutely no scarcity whatsoever.

        Companies are only able to sell a certain amount of keys total before the third market economy kicks off and everyone just uses that. Companies then have to maintain price parity with the third market and sell their games at perpetually low prices because there is NO downside to buying used in a digital market. Aint no way in hell a company is sinking money into big-budget single-player games if they have to sell the game for $5 a month after release. They would need to shift towards making more replayable games to incentivise people to hang on to their copies.

        Please, tell me where I am wrong.

          • Gabagoolzoo@kbin.social
            21·
            1 year ago

            Lol, this website is so fucking shit. Sorry for trying to discuss things on a discussion forum.

              • Gabagoolzoo@kbin.social
                21·
                1 year ago

                … Jfc, I didn’t make any kind of moral argument about ownership at all. At no point did I ever say you should or should not be able to sell the things that you own. Maybe read what I fucking said.

                  • Gabagoolzoo@kbin.social
                    21·
                    1 year ago

                    I didn’t say you should or should not be able to do anything, I’m just talking about what effects such law might have.