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EU Rules You Can Resell Downloaded Games


Leonardo
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This will be interesting to follow and see how this effects everybody as a whole. I do miss the days of actually owning my games, you know, just pop in the disc any time I want and be done with it. I will expect to hear about the companies fighting this though.

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I would LOVE to sell some of the games I have on Steam. But I am in the US, so...

Which leads me to think, if Valve doesnt like this ruling, then they can just suspend all sales to the EU. Which would hurt them more? Make all games "tradeable" or cut off a region of the world? And if they did that, then what would happen to games like Skyrim which need updates through Steam?

This will be interesting for sure.

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Steam could charge a small fee for supporting the sale of games connected to it. They would make money, folks could buy/sell games, and most would be happy. The only unhappy folks would be the game companies, not getting some of that income.... Of course, they aren't really getting it now either, but, try explaining that to them.

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Simple to explain: welcome to reality. If I sell my car Volkswagen isn't getting a single cent to. Why should they, they sold it, I bought it, it's mine. I sell it, it's my money.

Oh, I wholeheartedly concur with you. :D Seems the software companies want to maintain "ownership" of their software though, in perpetuity..... A lot of what they have done so far, with DRM, digital distribution, and the likes of Steam, are all efforts at destroying the secondary market, as they like to look at that as a "lost sale". What they just don't seem to get is, a large percentage of those folks wouldn't have bought the game at full price in any event, and a significant percentage of THAT percentage would simply pirate the game. Either way, they don't profit from it.

Must be some new variety of "fuzzy math" they are using......

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Which leads me to think, if Valve doesnt like this ruling, then they can just suspend all sales to the EU. Which would hurt them more? Make all games "tradeable" or cut off a region of the world? And if they did that, then what would happen to games like Skyrim which need updates through Steam?

Not going to happen since the EU is a much bigger market than the US (potentially, at least: not sure what the actual figures are in terms of buyers.) They'd be insane to walk away and say "well, ner, we just won't sell to you". That'd certainly strain relationships with the publishers who use Steam as a distribution platform.

About time, though. The software publishing industry has for too long been acting as if it's somehow unique and special when it comes to not respecting consumer rights, and it's about time it was yanked into line with every other type of business.

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I think eventually.. (to my dismay of risk of no career) we'll see a stall in the industry for awhile. Least until there's some stark revelation that comes where they realize that maybe if you let the used game market flourish it MAY be a form of free advertising.

I buy a used game from a company I never got games from before. I enjoy it and when the sequal comes out.. I buy it based on expectations of the game being good. (exception of Bioware with Dragon Age 2.. I digress)

For example.. I had bought Oblivion for the ps3 the goty edition(and normal for skippign through certain bugs like the vamp)... I enjoyed the game so much that I bought the pc version then had got my hands on fallout 3, morrowind new vegas and skyrim. While some I haven't played much(at all) That "cheap" used game brought me into buying more from said dev. Maybe when they realize... used games= free advertising to them which runs into tens of millions of dollars per top notch title... that's millions of dollars in their pockets to be spent elsewhere.

just my 2 cents... and being concerned for the industry.

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Can't say that comes as much of a surprise. Although, what they are going to do about compliance in the EU remains open to question. I don't think this particular battle is over yet. The one comment I saw on the article "Bring on the Lawyers." is probably going to be quite accurate.

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Can't say that comes as much of a surprise. Although, what they are going to do about compliance in the EU remains open to question. I don't think this particular battle is over yet. The one comment I saw on the article "Bring on the Lawyers." is probably going to be quite accurate.

The EU has been getting into the habit of levying quite heavy fines at companies who refuse to comply; I'm not sure Valve would be well advised to play that game. I'd also be surprised if they abandoned the European market out of sheer petulance, though stranger things have happened.

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Can one not play Skyrim on the consoles, not internet required?

Yes, but on the PC it requires Steam for activation and downloading patches. Once you activate the game via Steam, it's tied to your account and you're stuck with it - no reselling if you don't enjoy it.

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Not going to happen since the EU is a much bigger market than the US (potentially, at least: not sure what the actual figures are in terms of buyers.) They'd be insane to walk away and say "well, ner, we just won't sell to you". That'd certainly strain relationships with the publishers who use Steam as a distribution platform.

About time, though. The software publishing industry has for too long been acting as if it's somehow unique and special when it comes to not respecting consumer rights, and it's about time it was yanked into line with every other type of business.

Actually, the EU is about the same size as the US economically, so I expect it's about the same size market - it also requires the additional cost of localisation.

They could ignore it, it will depend on whether or not they want to fight an embargo or pay fines. A few years ago the EU ruled Microsoft had to be broken up - it didn't happen, they just sort of compartmentalised the company.

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Actually, the EU is about the same size as the US economically, so I expect it's about the same size market - it also requires the additional cost of localisation.

Games generally cost quite a bit more though, so I think that cost is covered. I understand the price difference isn't so bad in the UK, but I think I've yet to see a game that's been localised for the UK market.

But even if the market is economically the same size as the US, my opinion is still that they'd be nuts to flounce off and say they're not playing, especially as it'd leave the market wide open for a competitor to come along who doesn't have a problem playing by the rules.

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Games generally cost quite a bit more though, so I think that cost is covered. I understand the price difference isn't so bad in the UK, but I think I've yet to see a game that's been localised for the UK market.

But even if the market is economically the same size as the US, my opinion is still that they'd be nuts to flounce off and say they're not playing, especially as it'd leave the market wide open for a competitor to come along who doesn't have a problem playing by the rules.

It would still be a big deal, but they might be willing to put up some sort of stink in the belief that they can hold out until the EU caes, or they might just lock the EU out of Steam, which would hurt EU gamers at the expense of potentially releasing their games with weaker DRM.

Basically, they take the DRM off but offer less support as a result.

I can see that happening.

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It would still be a big deal, but they might be willing to put up some sort of stink in the belief that they can hold out until the EU caes, or they might just lock the EU out of Steam, which would hurt EU gamers at the expense of potentially releasing their games with weaker DRM.

Basically, they take the DRM off but offer less support as a result.

I can see that happening.

I dunno, they may try some sort of retaliatory move, but ultimately it'll risk damaging their reputation with their customers. I still think that it's unlikely that they'll either retaliate or dump the EU as a market: to look at it another way, can you see a games publisher trying to undermine the North American market if there's a piece of legislation they don't like? As someone else pointed out to me recently, DRM is most likely there to convince shareholders that their investment is protected and I suspect that most are likely to be more pragmatic about the risk of adversely affecting a very large percentage of that investment's income.

But if Valve did try to pull such a stunt, I suspect that the games studios would simply find other publishers who are more prepared to cooperate with the legislation of one of the biggest markets. Part of me hopes they will do it actually: I'm a bit tired of the assertion that I'm only leasing a copy instead of buying it and that I have to beg for permission every time I want to play. Maybe it would bring a bit of honesty back to the market.

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I actually don't own Skyrim, because I couldn't play is with Steam, I'd have to crack it.

As that's illegal, and would put up creek lacking paddle if a mod went "boom" I haven't bought it.

The only game I actually have with "phone home" DRM is Dragon Age: Origins, and that just takes the form of "you can't play your DLC without a connection", which is fine by me given that I need said connection to even download DLC.

So, there you go, one fewer Skyrim unit sold - and I honeslty expect it will stay that way until the game has massively dropped in price, if I ever buy it.

Right now, I'm working on positioning myself as an "established" Oblivion modder for when OB gets its second wind like morrowind has - now that all the Big Guns have moved to Skyrim.

:yes:

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