Next-Gen editor Collin Campbell wrote a lecture on the evils of selling and buying used video games. He claimed resellers of video games like GameStop are costing the industry $1 billion (source?) because when GameStop sells used games, the publishers receive no additional revenue. Instead of backing up his position with facts, Campbell follows the common practice of claiming that publishers have some entitlement to more money, rather than letting the market decide and recognizing that there is more money to made thanks to the second hand market.

Video game companies have been critical of used game sales for years, with Sony even attempting to build-in copy protection on PS3 games to prevent them from being resold (Sony did not include this feature). Even book publishers criticized Amazon.com, claiming selling used books would hurt the sale of new books. But no study has shown used game sales hurt the video game industry, though one study has shown sales of used books can actually help the industry. Campbell’s unsupported $1 billion cost to the industry is only attributed to how much GameStop makes selling used games, meaning Campbell is assuming every used game sale would transfer to a new game purchase. Of course, Campbell’s claim that GameStop forces used games on its customers is contradicted by reports that 17.6 percent of GameStop’s holiday sales came from used games - 43.2 percent came from new games.

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