GameStop ‘taking everybody for a ride’

GameStop’s used games policy is hurting both developers and consumers alike, claims Ready at Dawn boss Ru Weerasuriya.

The US retailer GameStop earns about half of its gross profit from used games, but the practice has aroused the ire of numerous developers that don’t get a dime of the sales.

"I think the problem is right now there are retail outlets that are really taking everybody for a ride,” Weerasuriya told GamesIndustry International.

“You can’t make a living at the expense of everybody else. 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."

The Ready at Dawn boss is gearing up for the launch of his first major console IP, The Order: 1866, which is a PlayStation 4 exclusive.

With all the pressure of a high-profile launch mounting, Weerasuriya confesses he told off the last GameStop employee that tried to sell him a used game.

“I flipped out in front of the guy. I was like, ‘Dude, wrong guy… You’re doing this to the wrong guy,’” he said.

“I don’t think people realize, and the guy was trying to justify it to me. I was like, ‘You have no idea.’ There are developers out there who are making games for [years] and some of them will go down purely because the revenue stream is basically flawed and creating this place where developers don’t see even a little part of it."

Weerasuriya said he doesn’t think used sales should stop completely, but he does think something should be done to help developers get something out of the sale of their games.

"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,” he said.

"That’s not penalizing the consumers; they’ll still get what they want. But I don’t know who’s going to address it."