Sony and Microsoft: snuffing the used-games market?

How would you feel about not being able to buy (or sell) used games anymore? The question is not as hypothetical as you may think. There are some very persistent rumors doing the rounds about the successors to the PS3 and XBOX360 allegedly not being backwards compatible and making it impossible to play pre-owned games on it. 

Old bearded guys may soon become a rare
sight in game stores

The backwards compatibility thing is not as big a deal as many (mostly Americans) make it out to be. They probably forgot that the PS3, when launched in the EU and Australia was not backwards compatible either and hardly anyone cared at all. After all, the jump in visual fidelity between the PS2 and its HD successor was so enormous that it was hard to go back to the blurriness of old SD games once you had actually experienced the colossal difference (hence I pity people who only own a Wii and not one of the HD consoles - they're basically still playing obsolete last-gen games).

Preventing people to buy or sell used games is a different matter though. I prefer buying games new, because I know I am supporting the developers. However, on occasion I do sell games I don't play anymore and many people (especially young gamers on a budget) do make good use of the used-games market. This entire market may collapse if this rumor turns out to be true.

Video gaming analyst Michael Pachter
thinks gamers will not accept this
monkey business.

Video gaming authority Michael Pachter expects gamers to rebel against such practices. That may very well be the case, but right now there's already very little complaint about the various types of 'online passes', which are basically similar strategies.

In many ways this whole conundrum reminds me of the painful struggle the music industry went through when p2p music sharing started getting popular. Traditional business models are in need of a revamp to remain attractive to the gaming community. The PSP Go taught us that emphasizing digital distribution too strongly is a dangerous strategy. But there is a lot of merit in the model if game companies can hit the sweetspot.  In the end perhaps we can learn from the successes of Steam and the iTunes store. I'm convinced the magic formula for making digital downloads a compelling proposition are finding the right mix of attractive pricing and extreme convenience. 

If Sony can figure out how to bring us an exceptionally seamless and convenient PSN shopping (and storage!) experience paired with prices that match the best offers you typically find for physical media their new strategy may not turn out to be too bad for us. But please, Sony: no more funny business with proprietary storage.

Addendum:
A more interesting side-effect of the whole thing is that for this strategy to work, all three major console manufacturers have to go the same  route in order to not be at a disadvantage with one another. This will be a major issue for Nintendo who are still far behind in terms of digital distribution strategies compared to Sony and Microsoft. Will Nintendo be able to catch up and learn fast enough to survive this generation or will they finally go software-only after the Wii U?

Let's wait and see what Michael Pachter wil predict...