Switch Lights

The lights are on

What's Happening

Pachter On Rumors Of Next-Gen Consoles Locking Out Used Games: "Not Happening"

The next-gen console rumors are running fast and thick, and one in particular has gamers talking: Will they support used games or not? Michael Pachter, industry analyst and managing director at Wedbush Securities, has some choice words on the subject.

When asked about rumors that the next Xbox system would not include a disc drive and not support used games, Pachter says those rumors are "so stupid as to be laughable."

Pachter thinks that both rumors make no sense because it's a divisive issue that could only give an advantage to the competition. If your console doesn't support used games, the other systems would gain ground simply by including the feature.

"Unless you believe in collusion – unless you believe that all the console manufacturers are going to get together and scheme to screw the consumer, and at least in the U.S. we have laws against that, so probably none of them would do that – then if one of them did that unilaterally (any one of those things), the others would say, "Hey wait a minute, we have a disc drive. Ours will play used games. Buy ours instead of there's.'

"[It's] not happening. Not even a prayer of that."

Pachter also thinks that the sheer number of gamers who deal in the used games market – or would at least appreciate the right to do so – is too large to freeze out. 

"No used games: Stupid."

For more on what Pachter and others in the industry think about some of the next-gen console rumors, be sure to check out the latest issue of Game Informer Magazine (#229). It's out now for Digital subscribers, is rolling out to magazine subscribers, and will be on newsstands shortly.

[Full disclosure: Game Informer is owned by GameStop]

Email the author , or follow on , and .

Comments
  • "Buy ours instead of there's" - Somebody flunk out of High School English?
  • I said the same thing.  Just does not make sense.

  • Pachter is THE most pathetically back-asswards person to ever hit the internet. Really, GameInformer? You stooped to a new low guy giving this asshat ANY credibility......
  • Well, rumors should be taken as that: rumors. They are nothing more, and we can't trust some second-hand word of mouth. The ideas always seemed irrational, and it's reassuring, even if said by Pachter, that these are definitely not true.

  • I also heard has a blu-ray drive so it has a blu-ray disc drive and it doesn't have one? Do I just place it on top?

  • Exactly what I've been saying since the beginning. But here on the internet, rumors turn into sensationalism, which eventually turns into people actually considering it a fact.

  • Bad idea for the future. Imagine going back to the past to play the PS4 or Xbox 720 years from now. If it can't play used games then you won't be able to play them.

  • "Buy ours instead of there's"... i'm no grammar nazi, but still

  • I like how it says at the end gameinformer is owned by gamestop. If gamestop couldn't sell used games anymore then it would take a huge hit to its finances. Might even go out of buisness..

  • i dont trust analysts but this dude has been right on many things and on this one i think and feel he is spot on...

  • Thank goodness for a good decision for the players for once

  • Not sure about this. I agree with Patcher that disallowing used games is stupid if nothing else changes, but then I wonder, would a SteamPowered console be successful, even though it doesn't support used software from the get go? I think I'd get on board on that one, should its price and specs be reasonable, simply because the lack of trade-ability is matched by a friendly consumer model, with lots of real sales, a true cloud support, and so on. Now, selling console-locked software at Microsoft/Sony/Nintendo prices? Well, that would not only be stupid to do, it is also kind of stupid to even think this is what they'd do, right (which is partly Patcher's point)? But to think that games will be the last physical (=trade-able) media standing in a world where paper books, music CDs, or BDs, are increasingly irrelevant is kind of wishful thinking, no? Patcher's arguments are not specific for the upcoming generation, and yet we know they can't be valid forever, so what's really preventing MS/Sony from waiting until they aren't to release their new model for gaming? More to the point, what's preventing them from campaigning to convincing US that that future is already here. After all, is kind of like Facebook and Google, who compete fiercely yet take advantage of the public's shifting sense of normality imposed by each other's abuses on privacy. Almost as if colluding. So no, I don't buy the "competition advantage" argument. Not in these times.
  • I agree with Pachter. Any company who chooses to implement this feature in their system may as well be shooting themselves in the foot.

  • Thank God someone from the industry has put down some annoying and stupid rumors.

  • I don't listen to Pachter, but I don't expect it to happen either.  I think it's at least a generation too early.

    You know it's going to happen... probably Microsoft will enjoy the idea of going completely digital.  They'll screw some people and anger a lot of others but people will get on board anyway out of lack of choice.  This will happen because everyone but Nintendo gets on board with the idea of having full control of data and the money that brings in.

  • Sometimes whatever Patcher says turns out to be the opposite, so I'm just not going to believe him for now.
  • This guy owns...no dilly dally, straight to the point.

  • "Buy ours instead of there's." Should be "theirs" instead.

    Also I agree with this guy. I want to be able to play Skyrim on my next console, **BRAAAHHHH**.

  • ... okay so we finally received confirmation on this. I didn't believe this would actually happen.

Previous 1 2 3 4 5 Next ... Last