THQ: We know gamers want pre-owned

THQ’s CEO Brian Farrell says he doesn’t want to kill off pre-owned as it is something consumers demand.

The publisher has adopted various second user charges in order to make money from second-hand sales. But Farrell says THQ’s real goal is to deter gamers from trading in.

The most important thing is we have to participate in the value chain in used games,” he told MCV.

We understand, given our focus on the gamer, that consumers like to be able to monetise their game library. So it is an ecosystem between publisher, gamer and retailer that just has to sort itself out.

Part of it is monetising but the bigger win is keeping our gamers engaged with DLC and robust online play, and that keeps the disc in the first purchaser’s hands.”