@Brodehouse: There is absolutely nothing about the used game market that 'helps' a publisher.
Well consider the fact that there are a lot of people that can only afford to buy those new $60 games from the publisher when they first come out by being able to trade their old games in for it. I rarely ever dish out a full $60 cash for a game. I usually trade at least $20-$30 worth of games in towards it and pay for the rest.
Publishers would sell at lot less copies week one without people having the opportunity to trade in stuff towards it. Of course, then someone would also have the option of buying it used eventually, but it works both ways. They sell more copies week one because people have that option, and they sell less new copies later on because people have that option.
I can guarantee you that with a high profile game such as Call of Duty or Halo, more copies are sold the first few weeks than the next couple months following combined.
What this all comes down to is the cost of making a game. Last generation of consoles, this would have been unheard of, even with the light online capabilities of PS2. But now that games are so much more expensive to make, publishers want another outlet to increase their profit. Which is fine, it is a business after all. But the reasoning behind it doesn't add up. And it's an annoyance to the consumer, which any industry should be careful of. I mean.....look at PC games and the music industry. There's an eventual backlash to trying to limit the consumer.
Not sure if anyone has noticed this, but Gamestop has been lowering their prices on used games that require an online code. For instance, most new games that go for $59.99 the first week of release go for $54.99 used at Gamestop.
But those requiring an online pass that is $5, Gamestop will sell it for $47.99 and those requiring a $10 pass they will sell for $39.99. So technically, instead of saving $5, now you are saving $7-$10. So nothing has really changed. Gamestop makes so much mark-up on used games that they can play this game all day with publishers.
The funny thing is, your regular customer that goes into Gamestop to buy the new Mortal Kombat, but isn't going to play it online; they're now more likely to buy a used game for $39.99 when the new one is $59.99 than if the used one was $54.99. Not sure if publishers thought that one out really, but meh. This will neither hurt nor help either side in the end. Just an annoyance to the consumer.
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