CD Projekt MD Adam Badowski has said that the used game lockout feature rumoured for the next Xbox "can be a bad thing".
"It can be a bad thing," Badowski told Eurogamer in discussion of the rumoured feature.
"We are losing money not because of pirates; we are losing money because people decided not to buy our game," he added.
"We should invest more power to upgrade and polish our products and convince players to keep our products, to be with us, to understand our needs - because we are an independent developer, we have to prevent lay-offs, we need to grow up and have the power to create new games.
"Most hardcore and hardware solutions will be OK for short periods, but a strong relationship with players, with customers, can change the situation. And for us, this is a better way."
CD Projekt Red's Michał Platkow-Gilewski chimed to emphasise the importance of player-developer relationships - something that he says a used games lockout could damage.
"We want to do as much as possible for our players, our gamers. We don't want to force anyone. It's like we did with DRM-free: we give them freedom and we believe they will stay with us."
But gamers selling their games isn't the only issue. "There is a problem, because you know that Microsoft policy prevents us from giving people content for free," added Badowski, which is something he says "we need to think about".
Comments
11 comments so far...
metallicorphan on 7 Feb '12 said:
I am really starting to like these guys,and looking forward to The Witcher 2 as well
solamon77 on 8 Feb '12 said:
The solution to all of these problems is developing a strong digital distribution system (DDS) ala Steam. It would simultaneously offer gamers better prices, increase the developer's / publisher's cut, get rid of used sales, and offer a way to monetize publisher's back catalogs.
For instance, who is making money off of a game like Prey right now? Nobody except maybe Gamestop. With Prey 2 on the horizon, surely there is going to be some interest in going back and revisiting Prey 1. Why isn't this game available for me to download and play for a price that is competitive with what Amazon is offering? I can buy it for $17 new or about $7 used off of Amazon. I can buy it used for less than $5 at Gamestop. Seems like a missed opportunity to me. If the games industry doesn't jump on internet distribution fast, they are going to get passed by like the music industry was.
billysastard on 8 Feb '12 said:
so stop thinking and announce that your games will only be available on non ms platforms for the excellent reasons you gave.
billysastard on 8 Feb '12 said:
the more they jump onto digital distribution the more people jump off the train (or get forced off), tiny bit of difference between downloading a few mb of mp3's or games at gigabytes for people with limited or no connection.
Dralel on 8 Feb '12 said:
Why aren't these guys politicians? -.-
sepewrath on 8 Feb '12 said:
No it isn't, despite the technical hurdles that cant be cleared at the moment, the simple fact is the audience has shown themselves to be open to pricing standards, without any real thought to worth. Even on a digital system, prices would not go down, at least not in any significant manner. You already see that, on Live and with the Vita, not to mention with a digital system, it would take forever for game prices to drop, because they don't have to compete for shelf space. Its not a good idea.
And its amazing that such a simple concept of the benefits of good customer service is lost on so many in game industry. Many who think they are entitled to consumer support, instead of having to earn it.
Old Skool Gamer on 8 Feb '12 said:
There are people who don't have internet access around the world and don't want to buy online anymore after PSN and others have been hacked.
rhyfel on 8 Feb '12 said:
if this rumour turns out to be true "i hope it isn't" then microsoft can go and screw its self, ive spent alot of money over the years with microsoft and if this is how loyal customers are going to be treated and basically held to ransom then mr bill gates can go and boil his head, and this just proves that videogame customers must love being s**t on from a great height because whatever underhanded scummy schemes these developers come up with we just let them treat us like dirt, no other industry treats its customers like the videogame industry, take it out on the retailers not your customers.
TOKEN on 8 Feb '12 said:
Funny how developers state something before a game release to gain favour from gamers to buy their game,and will jump ship next gen.
MONGnotmii on 8 Feb '12 said:
INDUSTRY CONSOLE ALERT INDUSTRY CONSOLE ALERT INDUSTRY CONSOLE ALERT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BLATENT INDUSTRY BULL ZHIT BLATENT LETS MILK MONEY FROM BLIND INDUSTRY SLAVES AKAS HARDLY EVER BEEN CORE RED NECK CHAV IDIOTS
THIS IS CLEARLY A INDUSTRY MOVE AS THEY ALL DONT MAKE MONEY ANYONE BACKS THIS WITH A PURCHOSE NEEDS THERE HEADS TESTING
I GAME FOR ME NOT THE GOD DARN INDUSTRY
FixBeatGames on 8 Feb '12 said:
what on earth are you blabbering on about?