French courts rule digital licenses must be sellable

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Big news here... I'm still in 2 minds about what it means.

On one hand I can see how developers will miss out, publishers I think make a plenty, I'm not worried about them in any way, but developers should be taking a larger percentage of the sale from the off.

It has always seemed unfair that you can't resell digital items, but I do understand the difficulty in policing it.


Does it mean they'll stop distribution to france? Or will this become a worldwide law?
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
It's not a video I'm going to watch but I heard the news via Techspot a couple of days ago.

I'm not sure about world wide, but I can see it being EU-wide. Assuming Valve don't win the appeal. I can also see our government (the departments, not discussing any specific elected people here) resisting this heavily if or when we leave the EU.

My take would be that it's always been outrageous that users essentially don't control their copy of a game such that they can sell it or give it away. If the gaming industry really is built on a model that would see it genuinely suffer with this change, then it's been living on borrowed time anyway.

Given that:
Second hand PC games were a thing for a long time (and still are with older games!) long before huge studios existed
2nd hand console games are very much still a thing (with console game sales generating more revenue than PC gaming)
Grey market / pirated selling of Steam etc accounts with games is already a thing
Netflix-like game streaming/subscription services are springing up all over the place in 2H 2019 - so the current model is already under attack, by the industry itself

I don't see this as being a particularly big hit for the industry overall.

With regards to smaller developers being hit harder, new storefronts offering them significantly higher % of revenue anyway will hopefully help, and the slice taken by Steam is at least as big a problem as whether I decide to resell Untitled Goose Game after I honk at my 50,000th person.

Also if I sell a game because I'm thoroughly done with it, what am I going to use the money for? Quite possibly buying another game.

There are already more games out there than can possibly be played; it's not as though the ability to sell a game 2nd hand will cut the amount of money I pump into the industry.

Also, the ability to sell games doesn't necessarily mean people will sell them. Peer to peer key giveaway sites exist already, where users give away spare, unactivated steam keys to people who fairly often wouldn't be able to afford to buy the games otherwise (e.g. you get a game in the Humble Monthly you already own, you give the spare key away) So the ability to give away games to people who'd never have bought them anyway doesn't see anyone lose out.

Moreover, many gamers like having extensive libraries and wouldn't sell or give away many of their titles even if we had that option. I have plenty of books I am unlikely to re-read that I have neither sold nor given away despite having a right to. Same with DVDs. Arguably that hoarding is very selfish (versus giving away) and against my own self interest (versus selling). But I still have loads of the things.

The next interesting questions for me are about what terms the games can be resold on. The main one being that marketplaces tend to take a cut of the sale when you sell 2nd hand goods. What % of the cut will be levied by Steam for games resold on that platform - and of that, what & will it choose to give to developers? I doubt it has to give any. But if other storefronts like Epic see which way the wind is blowing and follow suit by enabling reselling of games on their platform, I wouldn't be surprised if they make a point of how they give developers a slice of the fee they levy.

Also, is there anything specific that will make these games 2nd hand? Perhaps you can't generate steam trading cards off them, for instance.
 
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ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
We're not supposed to discuss politics on here I think, but I rather suspect there is more international politics and EU vs USA muscle at work here than there is pure economic benefits to end users. (I confess I've not watched the video...).

Personally I think we're likely to see further moves in this direction from the EU, for political reasons mainly, but I rather suspect that after October you'll see the UK moving closer to the USA and further away from the EU on matters like this.

And to quote Forrest Gump, that's all I'm going to say about that....
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
It's a fair consideration. Given the cases re: Loot Boxes, the introduction of GDPR, and various scandals involving social media companies I do think there are genuine consumer and digital rights issues at play here independent of international politics. Similar matters being discussed domestically in the USA too of course.

It feels a bit like there's (finally?) a fair wind for people campaigning on these sorts of issues - though the ruling on digital game copies still feels huge and surprising.
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
It’s gonna be interesting.

If this does pass after the inevitable counter from valve (probably backed by every other publisher), then it paves a huge change as surely it would affect all digital media including music and film.
 

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
surely it would affect all digital media including music and film
Personally I think the whole issue of copyright, especially on music and film, needs a root and branch review. The current global laws were not designed for the age of the Internet and a new balance is needed I think.
 
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