Thu, Jan 21, 2010 | 10:56 GMT
Green Man Gaming to sell pre-owned digital games
UK start-up Green Man Gaming said this morning it intends to sell pre-owned digital games.
“Previously the minute you had paid and downloaded your game it had no resale value,” said COO Gian Luzio, previously of Play.com.
“This is extremely expensive for the gamer and does not encourage the consumer to try new genres or franchises. Our leading edge technology gives downloaded games a value that gamers can trade-in at any time.”
Luzio was quick to add that there’ll be a IP-owner kick-back on all sales.
“We will pay significant royalties to the publisher each time the game is traded in perpetuity,” he said.
The company’s claiming it going to launch with 400 titles at the end of Q1 2010 with over 2,000 games available by the end of the year.
Exactly how this is all going to work hasn’t been detailed as yet. Expect it to be soon, however.
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Posted in: Hot, Retail, UK
Tags: Gian Luzio, green man gaming
10 comments
#1
JPickford
21/01/10, 11:00 am
LOL
#2
anjin
21/01/10, 11:20 am
Yeah. . .I really can’t see how this is going to work. Most of my digital games are bought through Steam anyway, I really can’t see them going near this.
Likewise Xbox Live and PSN. It just sounds a bit mental.
#3
NGCes26294BIV
21/01/10, 11:26 am
Oddly, I’ve been wanting to do this for AGES. It was one of those ‘big ideas’ I was convinced would work really well.
I was too lazy (and broke) to do anything about it though, so I’ll just sit by and watch other people make the money I should have been making! Or watch it fail and vindicate my entrepreneurial apathy.
#4
JPickford
21/01/10, 11:50 am
How would you achieve it? How is it even possible to transfer the license of a Steam\Wiiware\XBLA\PSN\Any-other-system-out-there title? I can’t imagine anyone running those services would co-operate.
#5
mington
21/01/10, 11:54 am
i would sell most of my XBLA games in an instant if i could, even if you only get ms points back or a pound a game it’ll still be worth it
#6
Psychotext
21/01/10, 11:55 am
I’d wager the way it’ll work is that you can only resell games which you’ve bought through their service.
#7
JPickford
21/01/10, 12:05 pm
I suspect you’re right. And then why would anyone buy a new game if a ‘pre-owned’ one was available?
The very idea of selling a pre-owned digital game is bizarre.
The only workable idea I can think of is to give the user some credit when they relinquish a licence. But I can’t see the idea of re-selling being workable.
#8
OliverKO
21/01/10, 12:29 pm
Double-You. Tee. Eff.
#9
Freek
21/01/10, 12:43 pm
In a digital world of perfect copies, second hand is a meaningless term.
#10
AHA-Lambda
21/01/10, 2:05 pm
If this was actually applied to Steam/xbla/psn etc this would work wonders!!
Let’s face it we’ve all bought games we don’t want anymore and we get rid of them somehow; if it is a dlc game though you’re f***ed
For example I used to own rock band and got rid of it and got most of my money back but I still have dlc for it on my psn account that I can’t get any money back on.
Admittedly the idea of a pre owned digital game is ridiculous but trad ins? Count me in