David Jaffe would prefer that gamers butt out of the used game debate and leave game companies and retailers to battle it out.
In his never-ending quest to comment on every new major gaming issue that tends to spring up on a weekly basis, David Jaffe of God of War fame recorded another video message, this time in response to the news of Toys ‘R Us reselling used games.
“Whenever this stuff comes up, gamers get excited and upset, developers get upset, and there’s all this kind of tension on the internet between developers and gamers and publishers,” examined Jaffe.
He personally advocates gamers supporting used game sales, as it allows them to gain the most direct benefit from gaming by saving money for quality, tested titles.
“The fans will tell you, and they’re right, consumers are always right. I’m a believer in that the customer is always right,” he explained. “Look, if they can get a game for $5 and there is somebody selling them out there legally for $5, whether it’s a used copy or whatever, go for it. Get the best deal you can get. It’s not your job to look out for the developer or publisher or anybody except your self. I have no beef with gamers who partake in any kind of deal they can get for themselves.”
“The issue though really has to do with developers and publishers and retail. I don’t mean this in a mean way, like it’s none of the consumers business,” he commented. “But literally, it’s none of the consumer’s business. It should not affect the consumer at all. The consumer should really be out of the argument. All the consumer should worry about is, can I get the best deal possible?”
Jaffe navigated the issue of used games into game prices and whether high-quality, low-priced titles combined with digital distribution would eventually cause the issue to be moot. Until that point though, how much of a say should the players themselves have in the arguments over used game sales? Would the government and legislators end up being involved to ban used game sales in retail stores?
Published: Mar 4, 2009 09:45 pm