What if you took back control? If you’re a gamer – a demographic whose main hobby continues to grow in popularity – you’ve probably already bought video games online. But have you ever managed to resell a dematerialized game?
Reselling dematerialized games is a real problem
It will not have escaped your attention that sales of physical versions of games are plummeting. This is hurting specialist stores, which now look more like eco+ goodie stands than real video game stores. Blame it on gamers, who now only buy online? Not only.
It used to be that when you bought a game in a store, you could lend it to your family or friends. They in turn could enjoy the game without spending any money, or buy it if they really liked it. You could also go back to the store and resell your game once it was finished. This would help finance your next acquisition.
But it’s clear that lending or reselling a game is no longer so simple. While Steam does include a family library, which allows a loved one to play your Steam library while you’re away, it doesn’t yet allow you to resell your games.
This is an issue that has already been referred to the courts on several occasions, at the instigation of UFC-Que-Choisir.
2019, the courts condemn Steam
Joie, allégresse, the French courts have just order Steam to set up a system allowing the resale of purchased games on the platform. Consumer associations and gamers jubilantthey glimpse the gates to a new-found freedom, unaware that it will be slammed in their faces.
Steam has appealed against the lower court’s decision, and the Paris Court of Appeal will invalidate the lower court’s decision.
The reason? The video games are not just softwarethey are complex products qualified as artistic works that involve a absolute copyright protection. However, the resale of a dematerialized game is not currently compatible with this protection.
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2023, blockchain as a solution
How can we give control back to gamers and ensure that rightsholders receive their share of the pie when their games are resold? Until now, this has been an impossible question to answer. But that was without taking into account the arrival of the blockchain in the world of video games and projects such as UOS, which are developing new marketplaces where resale is permitted.
So, just as the creator of an NFT on OpenSea continues to receive royalties each time his work is resold, the publisher of a video game will continue to receive receive a commission for each resale of a purchased game on the digital second-hand market.
We can imagine the publisher setting a threshold of 10% (for example) of the sale price that he will automatically collect each time a player resells his game on a platform using blockchain.
The interest for gamers is twofold. It is the a sign of freedom and a clear renewed purchasing power. You might as well resell certain games rather than unnecessarily inflate your game library.
And for publishers and developers, these new possibilities ensure a new revenue stream of which they have always been deprived, even in the days of boxed games and resale stores. A revolution to which the creator of Final Fantasy seems to subscribe.
Even if the video game press, and some gamers, often adopt a hostile stance towards NFT and blockchain, let’s hope they will appreciate the advantages offered by these technologies we believe in. If only to enable the resale of the shamefully expensive skins that some gamers splurge on in FTP games.
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