President of Nintendo doesn't believe used games are in consumer's best interest

[Brian Moy]

Venture Beat interviewed Reggie Fils-Aime, president of of America.  I find it interesting towards the end of the interview where Reggie states used games are in best interest of consumer, and further believes that its best for consumers to hold onto games, and play them all the way to completion.

It is a good feeling opening up a new game - but saving half the price (or more) by buying a game used does more than make up for that good feeling.      (Especially when you're not exactly rich as I am not, so I don't have the luxury to buy every game I want brand new)


I quoted the part about used games, but read the whole piece here - http://venturebeat.com/2009/03/31/nintendos-reggie-fils-aime-addresses-onlive-iphone-competition-and-used-games/

VB: Used games are coming up as a big issue again. Why?

RFA: More and more retailers are experimenting with the used game model. We don’t believe used games are in the best interest of the consumer. We have products that consumers want to hold onto. They want to play all of the levels of a Zelda game and unlock all of the levels. A game like Personal Trainer Cooking has a long life. We believe used games aren’t in the consumer’s best interest.


VB: Because?

RFA: Describe another form of entertainment that has a vibrant used goods market. Used books have never taken off. You don’t see businesses selling used music CDs or used DVDs. Why? The consumer likes having a brand-new experience and reliving it over and over again. If you create the right type of experience, that also happens in video games.


VB: Could this be rectified if the retailers share some of that used game revenue with the publishers?

RFA: That could make it more palatable. But we just think it’s a bad idea. The one retailer that has a substantial business in this has figured out a way that is effective for the consumer. That’s tough for other retailers experimenting with this, in part because their employees don’t have the expertise in this market.

[KingHippp0]

Wii Fit outsells Halo 3 and this guy is worried about used game sales?

I think that 50 dollar shovelware hurts the consumers more than a used copy of Super Galaxy.

[drale]

Yes you are more likely to get a game in better shape if it's new, but if you are passionate and like to hold onto your games, yet buy used. You know how to find those good condition used games for cheap. Also "They want to play all of the levels of a Zelda game and unlock all of the levels." is a bad argument against used games. It's not like the discs save the game files to them from the last user. And with cartridges (a thing of the past) you just delete the game saves.

"The consumer likes having a brand-new experience and reliving it over and over again." We relive our experience by getting on Amazon and buying a used game we used to own or only played demos of.

[G.A.Pster]

Telling someone not to buy your new products, just got some major respect points from me.
You wouldn’t ever catch anyone from Sony of Microsoft saying that.
 
I buy 90% of my games used; I’ll wait years to save $5.