It seems famed Sony Games Developer David Jaffe has had enough of being misrepresented on the internet, and has promised to see if he can “JUST SHUT THE F— UP for the next 6 months” as a result. While the developer says that he still will be doing interviews and engaging in official press press related communication, Jaffe has promised to stop all of his personal twitter and blogging activities. This is happening as a result of a war of words with another blogger over the topic of used game sales, and how harmful they are to the gaming industry.
According to Jaffe, “No matter how clear you make yourself, people simply ignore what you have to say. And so I will now forever be the guy who opposed to used game sales (which I am not).” Making things even more interesting, Jaffe has also promised free games to the first three people who catch him breaking this promise.
If you’re interested in just what Jaffe said, or how thing whole thing started, use these links to read Jaffe’s NeoGAF post where the promise was made, or the post of the blogger who started the original argument with Jaffe over his Twitter account.
If you read the links provided, it sort of seems like Jaffe might be backpedaling here a little bit. Although, Jaffe is now saying that he was misrepresented, he really did have some quite negative things to say about used games.
While he might now say that he’s not against used games, I actually support his original argument more than I do his hiding away from the internet, due to a fear of being misrepresented. But although I do agree with Jaffe that used games are a problem, I’m not sure that I agree with his opinion that game developers should be given a cut of all used games sales. At best, that sounds like punishing a highly successful business practice, and at worst it sounds like racketeering.
At any rate, it seems with this latest event, we won’t be hearing from Jaffe “off the record” for quite some time. It’s a shame too, as even when I don’t agree with him, he’s a pretty entertaining guy to listen to.
August 30, 2009
#1
I read the whole thing and Jaffe did tell the guy not to buy his games because he would "just resell the f**ker." I understand a certain amount of frustration on the part of developers with having intense connections to their intellectual property. But, it does not seem that the law is on Jaffe's side, as it stands right now and I don't think it should be.
The blogger's post is well crafted and it explains the particulars of the argument (on both sides) over used games. I don't believe that Jaffe is "misrepresented" as he claims. However, I will say that the blogger in question (and his very supportive pack of hounds) seems to be one of these ULTRA annoying humanists who enjoys the sh*t out of being right all the time and argues in a posture that seems designed to provoke people into fits of anger. I have met many people of this sort and it took me a long time to finally learn that it is just a different kind of self-agrandizement. I am sure that he is THOROUGHLY enjoying the attention that his confrontation with Jaffe is getting.
August 30, 2009
#2
I'm pretty sure he has been misrepresented, and telling the guy not to buy his game in the first place if he's going to resell it may seem harsh, but then if someone else buys the used copy instead of a new one, he's right to say he wouldn't lose anything by not having the first person buy it at all. But he's not trying to say that you shouldn't be allowed to sell your games, nor that gamestop aren't legally allowed to buy and sell them.
What he is saying (if I'm interpreting it correctly) is that there is something inherently wrong with big chains like gamestop having so much control over the retailer/publisher relationship while simultaneously doing as much as possible to profit from the publishers product while passing as little back to the producer as possible. That's no way for a business relationship to work, and in the long run it threatens the suppliers ability to make the product that retailers need in the first place.
August 30, 2009
#3
I read all the comments & my take is that Jaffe promotes the resale of property (i.e. games in this case) which I doubt anyone has a problem with. The argument here is Jaffe has said retailers should cut the developers in on any resale of games because developers think a resale "prevents" a new sale, which isn't a statement I agree with. I think there's nothing wrong with the basic tenets of the practice as it stands.
If someone trades their game in, or sells it on, they already paid for it, aren't playing it and won't be anymore. If someone sells his coffee table on to someone else, should he pay the manufacturer of the coffee table? No! A game sold back to a retailer becomes the property of the retailer to either sit on their shop floor until its destruction or to be sold on again if anyone wants it. That's the retailers "problem" though. For every game that gets resold there's probably another 4 rubbish games that don't. Who wants to buy those? Clearly retailers are profiting from this – buying back for much less than they resell for. That's an argument for *consumers* though, not developers.
Everyone knows digital distribution is moving forward. If it means video games retailers go out of business, then developers and console manufacturers will get less exposure and ultimately – fewer sales. That in turn means less jobs for everyone and the industry would struggle to grow. A smart developer wouldn't cut retailers off, they'd instead supplement and augment a game release with items of additional content (levels / maps, cars, etc), patch in trophies / achievements, voice chat, custom soundtracks, etc (on older titles) – just to give the gamer a reason to keep a game and keep playing on it for the current gen of consoles.
However you look at it, no games developer should be telling a gamer to f*** off. That's bad business and stupidity. If you're going to blog about what you think and what your experiences are, at least be tactful about it.
August 31, 2009
#4
you cant use the coffee table as a example because coffee tables could be in different conditions, it could be scratched and dented to hell.
where gamestop dont accept scratched games ive traded in a few of my old ps2 games and they refused because they were so scratched.
a coffee table you want to keep in good nik because your going to keep it for a long time, games are just to be played for a few weeks than disposed of.
i normally keep my games for 2 weeks or so than get rid of them.
digital distribution wont be a liable source for a long long long time.
download speeds are no where near fast enough, i dont know about you but i want to play my game now not in 6 hours time.
it normally takes me 40 minutes to download a demo, if a 1GB file takes 40 minutes imagine how long a 20GB file would take.
just leave it over night i hear you say.
well i cant.
1 my ps3 or 360 are so loud they would wake up not only me but the whole blooming street.
2 its a waste of time, as i said i want to play a game the day it comes out, not the day after it comes out.
and then theres the larger problem bandwidth.
i have a 15GB per month limit and im constantly going over my limit every month, i dont download demos only once every few months, i dont download videos or music.
i want to do all these things but cant because of my blooming download limit.
and most of my mates have a lower download usage.
4 of them have blooming DIAL UP! because they go to uni and cant afford cable.
6 of them have a lower download usage than me the highest has 8GB the lowest has 3GB.
try downloading mass effect 2 with a 8GB download limit.
and your not going to get many games with a 15GB download limit now are you?
until 50GBs per month and ADSL2+ speeds are the norm, until 99% of people have them we wont see DD into place.
i think we wont see that for such a long time, streaming equipment like onlive will be the future may be even the next consoles, depending on how well and successful onlive is the next consoles may be stream based.
and may be digital distribution as in downloads wont ever happen because why download something when you can stream it?
MS instant 1080P on videos for instance, what would you rather?
use that or download the movie.
ill take the instant 1080P on thanks.
August 30, 2009
#5
Dude, WTF!?! Homeboy got flamed a little bit and in response he is going to go hide in the closet like a 6 year old girl with a skinned knee? I get flamed all the time, grow some sack Dave! Actually come to think of it if your that sensative maybe it's better if you STFU and stay off the discussion boards.
August 30, 2009
#6
I've never even heard of this guy, but he pretty much sounds like an idiot.
August 31, 2009
#7
???
you've never heard of David Jaffe????
has your head been in between 2 rocks or something?
hes the god that made god of war and twisted metal, and now has started his own development team named eat sleep play and are working on a super secret PS3 exclusive.
he has the mitus touch everything he touches turns to gold.
August 31, 2009
#8
I haven't liked a Twisted Metal game since Twisted Metal 2 and I can't stand God of War, so I guess it makes sense for me to have never heard of him. Besides, making a popular game doesn't automatically make someone famous. I'm sure there are plenty of people who don't know the name of the creator of Halo or Tetris or Elder Scrolls or any number of other popular games.
August 31, 2009
#9
i think devs should get a cut of used game sales.
they put all there blood and sweat into a game, and sadly most games these days dont sell as well with some exceptions like MW or gears 2 or halo 3.
they dont get any money at the moment from a very large amount of their games sold.
i dont know how many used games get sold but lets say 50 per week.
thats 50 coppies sold and the devs see no money, sales they lost because people bought the used over the new.
obviously not all of the 50 would of bought the game new if that was the only one available but a good majority would.
so in actual sense developers are loosing money because of used game sales and thats not fair.
most devs are all for used game sales but they should get a cut.
i dont think its fair gamestop makes millions of dollars for just selling used games.
they make more money for just sitting behind a counter selling the game, than the actual devs do now thats extremely unfair.
games need a price drop, may be if new games dropped to used game sales or close to that, people wouldent be buying used games and developers would be happy.
120 AUD for a game is a f***ing rip off, games should be no more than 80 AUD thats what they were in the PS1 and PS2 era why have they suddenly jumped 40 bucks, yes game development is getting more expensive but not 40 bucks per game more expensive.
look at it this way killzone 2 has said to cost up to 60 Million dollars (doubt its that high but what the hell) to make including 20M for marketing so thats a total of 80 Million dollars.
in the AU it cost 120 AUD in the US it was 60 USD so lets use US since thats the larger market.
60 USD multiplied by 2M sales (rounded off it yet to hit 2M i dont think but its close)
thats roughly 120 Million dollars.
guerrilla games and sony has made roughly 120 million dollars after spending 80 Million dollars on the game and marketing.
so thats a profit of 40 Million dollars.
i think they can afford the game price cut.
August 31, 2009
#10
So, next time you sell one of your used games, how much do you plan on giving to the developers? And what if you ever have a yard sale? You gonna split the profit with the people who made your old furniture and appliances?
August 31, 2009
#11
"Although I do agree with Jaffe that used games are a problem, I’m not sure that I agree with his opinion that game developers should be given a cut of all used games sales. At best, that sounds like punishing a highly successful business practice, and at worst it sounds like racketeering."
Seeing as I'm the person who wrote this article, which means the above statement happens to be my opinion, I have a question for you, or anyone else who cares to answer. If I sell or buy anything used, be it at a used car lot or a pawn shop, the original manufacturer doesn't see a penny of that money. Why should video games be given special treatment over any other type of purchase?
September 3, 2009
#12
you could use the same argument for gamestop.
they do jack …. so why should they make millions of dollars of it?
i wish i had a franchise that made millions of dollars by sitting behind a counter selling games all day.