All digital game licenses in EU might be legal to sell second hand!

[Gargantou]

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/07/03/crikey-eu-rules-you-can-resell-downloaded-games/

RPS: "Well here’s some pretty huge news. The Court Of Justice of the European Union has just ruledthat people should be able to resell downloaded games. In an environment where publishers are trying to destroy basic consumer rights like the ability to resell physical products you’ve paid for, this could be one heck of a turnaround for customers. And that’s no matter what it might say in the EULAs. This could have absolutely enormous implications on how services like Steam, Origin, GamersGate and the like work, and finally restore some rights back to the gamer."

Actual ruling: http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2012-07/cp120094en.pdf

Various bits from ruling: "An author of software cannot oppose the resale of his ‘used’ licences allowing the use of his programs downloaded from the internet." "The exclusive right of distribution of a copy of a computer program covered by such a licence is exhausted on its first sale." "Therefore, even if the licence agreement prohibits a further transfer, the rightholder can no longer oppose the resale of that copy."

So, if I am to understand this correctly and if this preliminary ruling actually makes it through then this means that software authors basically have the choice to either allow their licenses to be sold second hand by their customers or simply not sell these licenses within the European Union.

 

[B_MAN]

it'll be very interesting to see how this pans out
I am sure Valve will go along with this, and I certainly like the idea of selling whole accounts rather than individual games
I also hope this puts a giant dent in EA's plans re digital content (Origin)

 

[Lobster]

EA's plan is to make everything Free-2-Play with premium subscriber services and item stores. If anything this supports their plan, as the individual game license will no longer hold any value to the company.

 

[ríomhaire]

The question is I guess does each game count as an individual licence or is the entire Steam account one licence? If this is actually enforced on each individual game I foresee a lot of publishers not wanting to be part of Steam sales anymore.

 

[B_MAN]

EA's plan is to make everything Free-2-Play with premium subscriber services and item stores. If anything this supports their plan, as the individual game license will no longer hold any value to the company.

but they also want to get rid of used sales (lost sales) by switching to digital
this could potentially ruin that plan, especially if other countries follow suit

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2406671,00.asp

 

[Gargantou]

but they also want to get rid of used sales (lost sales) by switching to digital
this could potentially ruin that plan, especially if other countries follow suit

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2406671,00.asp

Speaking of EA, remember this?

"The second thing and this is a point that I think might be lost on many is a big and substantial
portion of digital revenues are micro transactions. When you are six hours into playing Battlefield
and you run out of ammo in your clip, and we ask you for a dollar to reload. You’re really not very
price sensitive at that point in time and for what it’s worth the cogs on the clip really low. And so
essentially when as it happening and the reason though the play first, pay later model works so
nicely is the consumer gets engaged in a property, they might spend 10, 20, 30, 50 hours in the
game. And then when you’re deep into the game, they’re well invested in it. We’re not gauging but
we’re charging and at that point in time the commitment can be pretty high."

Whatever you tell yourself to sleep better at night, Mr. Riccitiello.

 

[Krynn72]

*hyperbole mode engaged*
This could be the true-death of pc gaming. PC gaming has been revitalized due to the success of digital distribution, but the profit margins are very slim compared consoles. This could take a huge chunk out of new sales, and could have a serious impact on developers' and publishers' interest in developing for such a limited market in which 2/3 of the customers (if the numbers hold true to how it is with consoles) will not pay the companies that made the game.

Gotta say, I'm not exactly excited about this.

 

[Ren.182]

Yeah I'm not overly excited about this since really the only way publishers/developers are going to make money is with F2P/subscription based games. Neither model I'm overly keen on.

If this comes into play in the EU I could see a lot of publishers pulling their libraries from Steam etc in the EU. Basically, we'll not get any PC games...

I do think it's kinda fair that licenses are a one sale kinda thing. Especially since piracy/copying a game on the PC is so easy to do. Plus PC games are generally much cheaper than their console counter-parts, especially when Steam has a big sale on.

I dunno, we'll see how this pans out.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

Haha continent and colony get boned. Where's the nearest suicide booth.

Oh wait we have green man gaming. And this would require a massive restructuring of digital game delivery depending on the distributor. And so much let loss. Why do this during a financially hard time on your side of the pond.

**** off

dick.