There has been an attempt in recent months to portray the whole question of the second-hand market for videogames in extremely simplistic terms. As the development and publishing sectors rail against second-hand, the narrative has been uncompromisingly black and white.
Retailers - the parasites at the end of the value chain - make huge profits from second-hand sales. Developers - the creative minds at the start of the chain - suffer major financial setbacks as a consequence. Looming over it all is the spectre of digital distribution, which publishers wave like an admonishing finger, muttering darkly about how the end of High Street sales - and our new, second-hand bereft future - is coming sooner than anyone expects.
As so often happens when the industry decides to gaze upon the navel that is its own value chain, there's something missing from this picture - consumers. You can have whatever value chain you like, but it doesn't matter a damn unless there are consumers sitting at the very end of the chain and feeding their hard-earned cash into the system.
For consumers, the second-hand "loop" at the bottom of the value chain isn't just a convenience or, as some in the industry have rather foolishly commented, a system that makes them into little better than pirates. In fact, for many, it's a vital part of their experience of the videogames industry.
(...)
As painful as that may look, it's also a golden opportunity. Online, the publisher owns the distribution method. Having looked with envious eyes for years at the revenues GameStop, GAME and company are making from second-hand sales, publishers suddenly have the possibility of taking over those revenues online by directly providing the trade-in and re-sale systems consumers are used to offline. Instead, they're seemingly determined to slaughter the goose that lays the golden eggs. While this attitude persists, GameStop and its cohorts will continue laughing all the way to the bank.