Atari Says Used Game Sales 'Extremely Painful'; Looks to Combat with 'Expandable' Games

During yesterday's Atari Live press conference, the publisher claimed that used game sales have been "extremely painful" for the industry, but explained that it's on the publishers to create games to combat the loss of sales.

"Second hand game sales represent consumer choice and desire," said Atari CEO David Gardner according to GamesIndustry. "Obviously, it has economically been extremely painful for the industry... the publishers don't benefit.

"But as games change and they become more and more network centric, the disc in the box becomes only one part of the experience. As that experience grows then it becomes not such a problem."

Atari president Phil Harrison also chimed in on the subject, elaborating on his company's strategy to combat used game sales with "embedded commerce" and "expandable experiences."

"There's no doubt that second hand games sales has a macro-economic impact on the industry and a lot of people get miserable about it," said Harrison. "But it's no coincidence that the most valuable games, the ones that have the most lifetime as a game experience, are the ones that don't get resold, that don't get traded.

"The games that have the embedded community, the embedded commerce, the extended, expandable experiences, are the one's that you would never want to trade, the one's you want to keep hold of. And that's perfectly in line with our future strategy, so we're not that concerned about it."