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European court: You are allowed to resell your digital games and software

Thrakier

Member
Well, that's how it seems for now. There is a new verdict now in a case against Oracle that users are allowed to resell used software, even if it's digital.

I only have a german link, sorry. :(

http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/netz...e-software-darf-verkauft-werden-a-842260.html

If this works, that would mean that in the future we could resell our digital games like on Steam etc. - this is really hard for software devs I guess. They were just trying to get rid of Gamestop and now that... :p
 

Glass Rebel

Member
This could be huge. Goddamn.

I remember Gabe talking about reselling your games some time ago but that it'd be hard to actually implement.
 
I had a thought of how devs/sellers could deal with this.
Instead of offering money off buying a game, offer money back to take the game off the users account - a sell back kind of thing. The money is only on that account and not 'real'.

Offer deals where publishers can offer money off their other games if you 'trade in' and you have an almost Steam Sales like situation. It just works the other way around.

Some people will buy games knowing they can 'swap in' but end up keeping them. Win Win.
 
The game has (potentially) changed. This could bugger up everyone's digital distribution plans, not just Steam's. Best case scenerio is that Steam can't ban people for selling accounts, worst case is that everyone has to adopt Green Man Gaming's model and all the necessary DRM that accompanies such a model. GOG may be in the most trouble due to this.
 

dorn.

Member
I believe this only applies to corporations and/or timed software licences.

Edit: Read the article, seems I was wrong about the timed licences. Hmh.
 

Thrakier

Member
There's already a thread in OT about it, and there was one on the gaming side earlier.
Pretty good news.

Sorry, didn't see it. :( Well, but I guess the topic belongs to the gaming side pretty much.

"This means Steam, GOG, Origin, et al., NEEDS to supply a way to transfer the ‘right to download the game’ to the proper party. Whether this feature will include a nominal fee or not remains to be seen. Don’t be surprised if it does; the potential revenue to be made there is astounding. Even if the fee is something around ten cents and it’s Euro counterpart, the volume alone could net Gabe and company quadrillions of dollars. Gorillians even."

So Gaben is happy and devs are crying. I don't think if this is a fair judgemnt to be honest.
 

Data West

coaches in the WNBA
I don't get it. How would giving more power to the consumer limit the appeal of a digital only future?

Publishers and developers would not be happy about it. A big part of the 'realistic' potential of the digital future is that pubs and devs would get some kind of profit out of it vs used games, but I don't see something like this giving a cut.
 

patapuf

Member
I'm not seeing this, with GOG being DRM-free can't you just send the installer to someone else?

GOG is in the most trouble because their system can be exploited best. what stops you from selling the game but keeping (a copy of) the installer?

I'm unclear as to whether this mandates the infrastructure necessary to support such an endeavour.

this is going to be the interesting part.
 

MRORANGE

Member
Title is a bit hyperbole as the article does not mention Steam or any other DD stores yet. If so then Steam/Origin/iTines/Windows Store/Android/others are gonna have a sticky situation.
 
Register all your games on different Steam Accounts, sell the accounts for $$$, profit.

Except you can't sell your Steam accounts without getting banned right?
 

Dascu

Member
nah. Your games are attached to your account. the EU court in this case was talking about license keys for "productive software".

You can read more details here :
http://www.heise.de/ix/meldung/EuGH-laesst-Weiterverkauf-gebrauchter-Software-zu-1629754.html

I really wonder whether "tied to a user account" isn't just the same as another form of EULA or any other written contractual agreement between licensor/publisher and licensee/consumer. In which case, the actual law and directives (in principle) have the final word.

That said, I do agree that it's maybe too early to be shouting victory. Best wait and see how this develops.
 
Publishers and developers would not be happy about it. A big part of the 'realistic' potential of the digital future is that pubs and devs would get some kind of profit out of it vs used games, but I don't see something like this giving a cut.
That's true but the advantage of the digital infrastructure would be that it would be much easier for the publishers to be given a cut of the used sale.
 

mclem

Member
I'm not seeing this, with GOG being DRM-free can't you just send the installer to someone else?

Strictly speaking, the act of sending the installer *isn't* the act of transferring the license. That's where it gets complicated.

One other question that crossed my mind that I asked in the OT thread but really belongs here:

Imagine there's a product X on Steam that cannot legally be sold in Country A. Someone in Country B - where the product is legitimate - purchases it, and sells the license to someone in Country A. Person in country A downloads the product from Steam. Who's breaking the law?
 

dorn.

Member
Why do you think that?

Because the ruling was specifically about a corporation going bankrupt and liquidizing its software assets. I'm not all that knowledgeable about how to interpret court rulings but didn't think it would set a general precedent that also applies to consumer software. But after reading the article apparently that's what it does.
 

snap0212

Member
The current ruling isn't about software that is tied to an account. I guess that you'd have a case if there was just one piece of software tied to your account. You should be able to legally sell that (account) now. I'm not 100% sure on this, though.

I'd really appreciate movement in this area, though. Publishers have platform holders have done absolutely nothing in this regard even though they could have done something. Why should you not be allowed to re-sell a game if you don't like it? Because you can't easily do it? Because it says so in the EULA? Those are not good (enough) reasons.

Over the years, they've failed to implement something like this and I'd love it if a court just stepped in and said “Your users have the choice to do whatever they want with a product they've paid for”, because they sure as hell are not going to do anything like that themselves.
 

Raonak

Banned
Valve should let you sell your activated games but take 15% of the cut or something.

Free money for them.

Well. the disadvantage of buying used games is that it's second hand.
In digital, theres no such thing. You're gonna get a full download link for a fraction of the price.

why even bother buying new digital games, when you can just get the used version for way cheaper.
Since you're gonna be download the same code anyway?


This could potentially destroy digital distribution if it actually happens.
the only way devs could counter this is with online passes, which won't come with used versions obviously.
 

Acidote

Member
And remember kids, at least in the UE, law has absolute priority over terms and conditions of contracts, so if this was the case (because until I see this working I'll be skeptic), any drm that denied this right would be illegal.
 

mclem

Member
That's true but the advantage of the digital infrastructure would be that it would be much easier for the publishers to be given a cut of the used sale.

I'm pondering on the likelihood of this increasing prices such that the new price - the used price is the old price. Example:

Assume there's a game that currently sells for $5.

Under the new directive - with a hypothetical system where Steam allows resales:

Setting the base price higher than $5.
Setting the resale prices such that they get $5 from each resell, uh, resold.

They make exactly the same money either way.
 

AHA-Lambda

Member
Wait, if we could sell our steam games in the future, wouldn't this completely destroy the "new" game market on steam?
 

alr1ght

bish gets all the credit :)
And at the price you originally bought it for. People will exploit it and sell 75-80% off discounted titles for profit, if applicable.

If someone is willing to pay for it, good on them. It already happens with physical software when it goes on sale.
 
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