CD Projekt RED - Next Xbox Blocking Pre-owned Games Can be a Bad thing

aries100 · February 8, 2012

Adam Badowski, the managing director of the studio has commented, via Eurogamer, on a rumour that the next Xbox may block pre-owned games. He does not like this very much:

"It can be a bad thing," Badowski said of the rumoured next Xbox technology.
He explained: "I assume you know we decided not to continue our beautiful journey with lawyers seeking pirates...
"We are losing money not because of pirates; we are losing money because people decided not to buy our game.
"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.
"This is our approach, our policy - we want to change industry."
"We want to be treated fairly.
"Most hardcore and hardware solutions will be OK for short periods," Badowski bombarded, "but a strong relationship with players, with customers, can change the situation. And for us, this is a better way.

And there are some news about what the standard edition on Xbox 360 will contain,
according to CD Project RED's head of marketing, Michal Platkow-Gilewski:

"We are trying to change, a little bit, standards on every platform," Platkow-Gilewski pronounced, explaining how the standard edition of The Witcher 2 on Xbox 360 will come with much more than tends to be the industry standard: two DVDs and a printed guide, manual and a "nice big map". "It's already one of the richest SKUs you can find on the shelves, and it's still regular price," he said.

More information.

Fraper · February 8, 2012

Now thats the dev team and company that deserves full support from theyr customers.

Treat as you want to be treated.

rich ruffo · February 8, 2012

CD.P , The gentlemen of gaming. Microsoft, The cancer of gaming .

rune_74 · February 8, 2012

Amazing you get that big releasing a whole 2 games? Yeah, that's it

rich ruffo · February 8, 2012

Your right ! It is amazing !

Zloth · February 8, 2012

Upgrading and polishing your product will help with some games - namely the ones with a lot of replayability. If you don't have that, though, nobody is going to care that you've introduced an extra quest or added another level. They're going to sell your game on the used market and that's that.

Mount & Blade, Egosoft's X games, Gal Civ 2, and Sword of the Stars have all been following this model but those are all games you play long term. The vast majority of games are one shot deals. Some are two shot deals (Witcher 2 comes to mind) where somebody might hold on to a game longer but not forever.

All in all, I think the pay-as-you-go new models sound more promissing to me. Play the first quarter of the game for free or very cheap then pay $20 for each quarter after that (or pay $50 for the last three together).

KapitanUnterhosen · February 8, 2012

If most people really don't bother finishing games then devs would only be getting a fraction of the regular amount using that system.

It also doesn't seem to do anything to get more people to try the game than a free demo already would, where's the advantage?

Zloth said:
Upgrading and polishing your product will help with some games - namely the ones with a lot of replayability. If you don't have that, though, nobody is going to care that you've introduced an extra quest or added another level. They're going to sell your game on the used market and that's that.

I'd say future expansions and dlcs are better reasons to keep a game rather than replayability which is rarely enough to make a game worthwhile after a year has passed.

guenthar · February 8, 2012

I think that marketing is really where they need to improve since obviously games don't need to be polished to sell well but usually the ones that sell well are the ones that did a lot of marketing.

JDR13 · February 8, 2012

rune_74 said:
Amazing you get that big releasing a whole 2 games? Yeah, that's it

Your point?

Ah.. that's right. Since they're not American or Canadien, you can't comprehend how they could be popular. :roll:

rune_74 · February 8, 2012

JDR13 said:
Your point?

Ah.. that's right. Since they're not American or Canadien, you can't comprehend how they could be popular.

I meant that they haven't published enough games to be that popular yet. For the record I like their games. But two games is not enough to make you a top publisher. Do you ever tire of acting like this?

Gorath · February 8, 2012

rune_74 said:
I meant that they haven't published enough games to be that popular yet. For the record I like their games. But two games is not enough to make you a top publisher. Do you ever tire of acting like this?

Two games? Obviously you aren't aware that CDP published ca. 75% of all western RPGs since Baldur's Gate in Poland and often large parts of Eastern Europe. They've published hundreds of games.

rune_74 · February 8, 2012

Gorath said:
Two games? Obviously you aren't aware that CDP published ca. 75% of all western RPGs since Baldur's Gate in Poland and often large parts of Eastern Europe. They've published hundreds of games.

OK Cd projekt red has developed only two games that have been published elsewhere.

Drithius · February 8, 2012

Who cares? If you value quantity so much, feel free to buy every game published by EA.

And I really have to do a doubletake at this comment:

Guenthar said:
I think that marketing is really where they need to improve since obviously games don't need to be polished to sell well but usually the ones that sell well are the ones that did a lot of marketing.

I didn't realize a marketing exec was with us. CD Projekt got where they are through quality, not the hype that has made gamers of this generation so (rightfully) cynical. There's room in the market for both quality and hyped-up, forgettable rubbish, and you'll likely be an overnight fad if you concentrate on the latter.

bloodlover · February 8, 2012

It's irrelevant how many games they developed. More doesn't mean better.

zahratustra · February 8, 2012

Zloth said:
The vast majority of games are one shot deals. Some are two shot deals (Witcher 2 comes to mind) where somebody might hold on to a game longer but not forever.

DLCs/expansions yes, but there is also something else: Construction Set and player created content can prolong game's life/increase sales numbers at relatively small cost to the producer. BUT releasing CS is not enough. Game has to be designed with CS in mind.

rune_74 said:
OK Cd projekt red has developed only two games that have been published elsewhere.

Eastern/Central European countries outside Poland aren't "elsewhere"?

Couchpotato · February 8, 2012

zahratustra said:
Eastern/Central European countries outside Poland aren't "elsewhere"?

Its not I thought the world only consisted of china since they make almost everything the world uses. :biggrin:

Fnord · February 8, 2012

rune_74 said:
OK Cd projekt red has developed only two games that have been published elsewhere.

It should also be noted that CD-Projekt owns GOG.
CD-Projekt might not be the most well known name in gaming, but they have made a mark on the market, and while they might not be able to go head to head with giants like EA or Ubisoft, the fact that they have taken a drastically different rout than most companies and prospered should mean quite a bit.
Paradox seem to have taken a similar stance in general to CD-projekt, a more pro-consumer stance (though they have, as far as I know made no comment on the upcoming Xbox) have helped them grow as well. Heck, people buy paradox games based in part on the publisher, unlike how it works for most major publishers, where people don't buy some games in part due to the publisher.
So what I'm trying to say here is that a pro-consumer stance, like that which CD-Projekt is taking is helpful in the long run for the company, and that I hope that their success and general fan support might well help change the market for the better.

skavenhorde · February 8, 2012

rune_74 said:
I meant that they haven't published enough games to be that popular yet. For the record I like their games. But two games is not enough to make you a top publisher. Do you ever tire of acting like this?

It took one game for me to become a diehard fan of Origin, Black Isle, Sir-tech, Troika and PB to name just a few. It's not in the quantity that matters to a lot of us, but in what they make and how well they make it.

Also, what Fnord said about the publishers attitude is spot on.

Alrik Fassbauer · February 8, 2012

What CD Projekt does, gains them lots of reputation.

Sure for reputation you can't buy food alone, but you'll be remembered. Like Ultima, for example. They are gone as well, but they are remembered.

I think it speaks massive volumes that "big ones" (EA, MS) just don't care. They just don't care how bad or good their reputation is. And that means nothing but : They're after the money.

This is a perfect example of how thoughts ( = the underlying philosophy) become actions and actions form the output, or the character of something.

Falchor · February 8, 2012

"....the standard edition of The Witcher 2 on Xbox 360 will come with much more than tends to be the industry standard: two DVDs and a printed guide, manual and a 'nice big map'"

I hate that this stuff is now considered bonus material... I can still remember the days (not that long ago) when a game box included a beefy manual, a nice cloth map, and sometimes even a nice hint guide................

I am honestly sick and tired of customers being treated like crap and nickel-and-dimed by game publishers. I know this happens in other industries and it is our responsibility to buy those products that return the most perceived value, but this is my hobby and I want to play games. I'm just almost to the point of not buying games from major publishers anymore as I'm sick of being treated like a greedy crook.

+3 to CDP for bucking the trend.

CD Projekt RED - Next Xbox Blocking Pre-owned Games Can be a Bad thing

SasqWatch

Watcher

Sentinel

SasqWatch

Sentinel

I smell a... wumpus!?

Sentinel

SasqWatch

SasqWatch

SasqWatch

Prime Evil

SasqWatch

Magic & Loss

Sentinel

SasqWatch

Part-Time News-bot

SasqWatch

Little BRO Rat

TL;DR

Sentinel