Zelnick: Criticising used game sales is "irrelevant"

Speaking at the BMO Capital Markets 18th Annual Digital Entertainment Conference in New York yesterday, Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick said that moaning about the used games market is pointless: you beat secondhand sales with quality, apparently.

"It's irrelevant to be critical of the used-game marketplace," Zelnick said, as reported by Gamespot.

Attempting to dissuade players from selling games through measures like EA's Project Ten Dollar - which charges secondhand buyers to play EA games online - isn't the right way to go, the exec added.

"You don't want to use a stick punishing users for buying used; you want to give them a reason to buy new," he said. "You want to create something that's of benefit to consumers."

It is the first six weeks that are particularly important for used sales, said Zelnick and the way to combat the secondhand market is to make quality games and inform customers about incoming DLC.

"By letting consumers know there's more stuff to come, it stands to reason they'd hang on to their titles," Zelnick said.

The used game debate is an evergreen one, with EA being particular proactive on the matter.

EA Sports boss Peter Moore made it clear in July that "it’s my job, and my development team’s job, and my marketing team’s job, is make you not want to trade the game in."