Crysis 2, the second major game installment in Crytek’s graphically-astounding Crysis franchise, generated $3 million in sales within four months, according to the game’s publisher, Electronic Arts (or EA). While sales for the title were certainly impressive, considering the crowded game-space it targets, profits could have been higher for both Crytek (the developers) and EA (the publisher) if it weren’t for piracy and “second-hand” game sales.
The question of whether or not anti-piracy and anti-resell measures would be beneficial for next-generation consoles came up during ComputerAndVideoGames’ recent interview with Crytek’s director of creative development (Rasmus Hojengaard) - his response:
From a business perspective that would be absolutely awesome. It’s weird that [second-hand] is still allowed because it doesn’t work like that in any other software industries, so it would be great if they could somehow fix that issue as well.
While Hojengaard is partially correct, considering game developers would benefit from this measure by generating additional revenue to then reinvest in future game development, he’s also missing the other side.
If next-generation consoles were to incorporate the prevention of playing used games, chances are that resellers such as GameStop (who make the majority of their profit from revenue generated by reselling games) simply won’t be able to hack it. Additionally, it’s likely that some owners of previous consoles simply wouldn’t adopt the newer hardware on the principle of such limitations alone.
In the end, it’s a matter of which party has the most to lose regarding the decision to include a security implementation such as this: game developers or game resellers. Stay tuned for more coverage related to next-generation consoles and the additional security measures that may, or may not, accompany them.
