The recent trend for publishers to lock out content to customers buying pre-owned versions of games was supposed to be a swipe at GameStop, but the giant retailer reckons the move won't hurt it one bit."We support the creation of added downloadable content for popular franchises, as we see that as extending the life of titles and broadening the base of game players", GameStop's Paul Raines has said.
"We do not anticipate an impact to our used margins due to this program. The amount of used game buyers currently playing online is low, and as it grows, our proprietary models will manage trade and sale pricing to reach margin goals."
And how will the company do that? One guess is that they'll simply slide the prices of any affected games accordingly, but another reason is a little more obvious.
"Lastly, we believe that the online pass process will allow publishers to better leverage their IP content through DLC sales to both used players and new game buyers". Which suits GameStop just fine, seeing as it's the biggest single seller of pre-paid vouchers for online marketplaces.
Doesn't matter how much the milk costs if you also control the sale of the cows...
MovieMiguel.com
