Games retail is "taking the industry for a ride", Ready at Dawn claims

Develop Ready at Dawn has accused games retail and the pre-owned sector of cheating not only developers but also consumers.

"I think the problem is right now there are retail outlets that are really taking everybody for a ride. You can’t make a living at the expense of everybody else,” boss Ru Weerasuriya told Games Industry.

Unfortunately, they’re not just making a living at the expense of developers but also the consumers because the consumers will see less and less games come out if developers can’t get revenue to make more new titles and keep going as a business.

"I think this is something we need to curb on the retail side. We’re putting the consumers in an awkward spot and we shouldn’t have to. Why should they be the ones to deal with a flawed system? They are the guys we do this for. They are the ones who should be able to benefit the most from being able to buy it.

"I don’t think we should stop used games, but we should do something about getting part of the revenue back from GameStop and places like that. That’s not penalizing the consumers; they’ll still get what they want. But I don’t know who’s going to address it."

Weerasuriya admits elsewhere in the interview that developers and publishers can play their part by shifting to new business models and moving away from the 49.99 triple-A model.

Ready at Dawn’s former credits include PSP brawlers God of War: Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta as well as the Wii version of Okami. It is currently working on The Order: 1886.