While the majority of developers and publishers have displayed hatred and fear of the used games’ market, THQ is taking an entirely different stance. The developer slash publisher is looking to take pre-owned games head on and it also plans to crush them in the process. Speaking in the latest investor call, CEO Brian Farrell, revealed that the company has ways and strategies it will unveil that effectively downgrades the value of the used game market.
The strategy Farrell is hinting towards involves offering premium downloadable content for each upcoming major release in hopes of extending game play thus creating less trade-ins of the game. Unfortunately, this strategy could fall flat on its face if it’s implemented in any way like UFC 2010.
According to Farrell, the company plans to deliver “robust downloadable content and premium online play.”
He added: “We believe this will increase our digital revenue, engage players with our games for a longer period of time and reduce the impact of used games.”
This isn’t the first time a company has attempted this type of strategy. Electronic Arts was the first to pave the way in this direction with its EA Online Pass for its season of 2011 sports titles.
Do you guys support THQ in this endeavor or condemn them like EA Sports?
I would like THQ to do what EA does by offering free DLC with new games.
They just answered the question why buying used games is the better alternative. Downloadable content. They make people pay 60 dollars for the game and then purposely leave out content so that they can get extra cash. If all DLC was free, there will be nothing wrong with releasing DLC. DLC has ruined gaming for me because I know I’m not getting everything when I buy a new game(the main reason why I stopped buying games). Gaming used to be so simple, now its just disgusting.
I think they should do what they did nwith battlefield bad company 2 so everybody that buys the new game gets a free stuff each month