interesting data, although most of the article is a bit of a rant.


http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Report-DLC-Makes-Just-Much-Money-Used-Game-Sales-56174.html

Good lord, that's written like some of the less articulate people here would write it, like a piece of dribble.

Wow, it only took me four lines to stop reading thanks to Godwin's law.

So, apart from all the derogatory commenting he did towards the people that disagree with him, it seems his argument is that DLC sales (for NA) do better than used sales (for Gamestop alone), therefor all the arguments people make about used markets are invalid....

I'm going to stay out of this. I see these type of posters on forum threads all the time and they're the most unreasonable types, that just scream nonsense at you, and lines of derogatory comments to plaster you into a corner where they think you belong, meanwhile ignoring everything meaningful that's actually being 'discussed'.

Best left alone.

Yes, I hit the exact same brick.

You stopped reading thanks to Godwin's law??? Not reading sounds like something Nazis would want you to do....

sort of. I think what he is saying is similar to the DRM issues. Companies claim DRM saves them money, Data trends seem to show other wise.

Companies are claiming used sales are killing them, but the data he quoted means people are choosing to buy digital and DLC even when they have the option to buy trade-able games currently. So peoples choices are debunking the claims of the industry.

For me, I could care less about his slant... I just liked the numbers from NPD which aren't accessible to consumers.

-------------------------------

Used games sales dropped by 17.1% in 2012.

Digital content went up by 33% in 2012

Gamestop reported $1.59 billion in used game software revenue for 2011,

and they've further reported $2.4 billion in 2012, for total pre-owned sales, including both hardware and software.

digital software DLC sales totaled $2.22 billion in revenue, while used games saw a 17.1% decline.

Electronic Arts' own digital revenue alone has seen a 45% increase over the previous year, accounting for $1.66 billion in 2012, as noted in their fiscal report for 2013.

Eh, I've only glanced the rest of the post but the numbers he seemed to be comparing simply don't compare well.

For instance, he's putting meaning behind used sales trending down according to NDP, versus DLC sales being up .... No kidding. Used sales are curbed more and more due to Uplay/Origin/Steam etc, Indie purchases which are only digital, and more. They're down because measures are being used against them. (Something which would be completely destroyed if digital resale was forced)

He also belittles the numbers involved in Used game sales, even though we're talking well over a billion dollars pure profit on used games per year for Gamestop alone. The Profit margin for used games for gamestop is almost 50%

Anyway, DLC is becoming more and more common, and there's measures being taken against used sales on a lot of sides. That one shows an increase and one shows going down, does not suddenly mean any arguments about their effect become meaningless. That's all I wanted to say :)

And yeah, I used to like NDP charts a lot too. Although, unless they've changed over the years, they didn't include digital sales, or at the very least lacked significant data. For instance, Steam numbers were never in there, they used to be based on retail. At least back when I looked at them.

I agree, but I also think that user mentality is going digital as well. Some have been there all along, some are still clinging to books and discs.

In addition to digital, the DLC seems to attract quite a few users. I stumbled across that article because I was looking for DLC sales. I won't buy it at standard pricing as I'm not a huge fan to begin with. But when its decent looking content at acceptable pricing, I'll get it. I'm also blown away by the number of avatars and themes that are for sale on PSN... I want to ask... WHO BUYS THIS STUFF????!! But I'm guessing the number of items and their price tells that some people do. Good for them, but its not my cup of tea... BUT, going full circle, some people are buying DLC and locking into non-tradable content by choice (even though I agree some don't have a choice as well, as you pointed out).

I think the major issue is clearly in how he chose to present the article.