With the European Court of Justice legalizing the resale of digital content, including games, UK video games trade association TIGA foresees “huge ramifications” for the industry.
The EU law ruled it illegal to prevent the sale of used digital licenses, something which Dr Richard Wilson, the CEO of TIGA, thinks will be a hugely important ruling:
This ruling has potentially huge ramifications not just for gaming and software but also music. Additionally, what impact will it have for car licenses and so on?
The second hand market has long been a contentious one and it’s well known that many traditional publishers are against it. They have taken their own steps to lessen its impact on the high street – such as restricting online play to the original purchaser – but the speed at which digital distribution is becoming the norm means developers and publishers will need to constantly innovate ways to ensure the original licenses retain their value for players. Digital is too engrained in gaming culture now for this kind of ruling to discourage developers from such a distribution route. The fact remains that this court is not the supreme one so we imagine this ruling will be appealed against in the near future.
Whether the new law will cause there to be a huge second hand digital games market remains to be seen, but if it does, it’ll likely further push platform holders and publishers into cloud gaming, where you can’t resell the content.
