Why can't we sell or exchange digital game keys?

[Rain for x-gods]

I've been pondering a question lately about the transition from physical game copies to digital game keys. One of the aspects that seems to have been left behind in this shift is the ability to sell or exchange game keys.

Back in the day, when we bought a physical game, part of the joy was sharing it with friends. You finish a game, pass it on to a friend who might enjoy it – a simple and communal experience. However, in the digital era, platforms like Steam currently don't provide a way to sell or exchange games.

Is this a deliberate choice, or just an overlooked aspect of the transition? Is it an economic decision on the part of platforms to keep users tied to their ecosystems?

I'm curious about your thoughts on this matter. Do you think there's a possibility for change? Could regulations, perhaps from entities like the EU, force platforms to allow users to exchange or sell digital game keys?

[rawWwRrr]

The game key is just an instrument to enable a license onto an account. Once used for that purpose, it's just a random string of letters and numbers.

At that point it's the account that "owns" the game, not the user. The user controls the account in which the games are associated. So there is no user owned product in which to sell or exchange. It's all on the Steam platform. Valve owns the platform, the accounts, and everything in them. The user is granted access to it all.

[pckirk]

there has been numerous topics lately about this. You only purchase a license key to download and play digital media. only 1 owner, licence can not be resold, traded or given away. You do not own the software. you purchase a license only. that is the legal answer. this is due to the owners of the game loosing out on $$$ sales from new licenses.

no this has already been upheld in multiple courts around the world. Very Doubtful it will change.

[Rain for x-gods]

If the games we purchase on Steam cannot be sold or transferred, they should be 50% cheaper than the original game price. The whole world is aware of the monopoly Steam is imposing, and European courts as well as PC gamers are not happy with it.

[The nameless Gamer]

One of the reasons which obviously eludes too many people is that it would bankrupt pretty much every indie developer because to them every sale matters, and if one key gets resold 100 times without them seeing a single dime off of it... do the math. How much profit would they turn?

And that's just indie developers. AAA games would cost 200$ and more if people could resell keys like that. Games are a VERY ACCESSIBLE hobby today. You can buy a video game for a minimum HOURLY wage in all but the worst European countries. And that's without accounting regional pricing.

[The End]

Originally posted by Rain for x-gods:

If the games we purchase on Steam cannot be sold or transferred, they should be 50% cheaper than the original game price. The whole world is aware of the monopoly Steam is imposing,

You have nothing to resell, what you buy is a singleuse license to play a game. And it's the same on every other pcgame platform out there.
Valve/Steam is not a monopoly, you are free to use all the other platforms/stores available.

Originally posted by Rain for x-gods:

Why can't we sell or exchange digital game keys?
I'm curious about your thoughts on this matter.

It would probably kill the good sales we have now because the developers/publishers would have to make more money on each game they sell to make up for what they lose every time a game is resold as "used".

[Crazy Tiger]

Game developers/publishers already were trying to kill the secondhand game market before games went digital. They don't want it, they merely lacked the ways to enforce it properly in the past.

Originally posted by Rain for x-gods:

If the games we purchase on Steam cannot be sold or transferred, they should be 50% cheaper than the original game price. The whole world is aware of the monopoly Steam is imposing, and European courts as well as PC gamers are not happy with it.

That's just bollocks. The physical media the games came on weren't that costly, people seriously overestimate that. There is no reason for the developers/publishers to lower the price if people are willing to pay that price.

It's not a monopoly, the EU courts aren't doing anything about it and what random PC gamers aren't happy with isn't that relevant at all.

Wallets speak louder than words. Something people seem to forget a lot.

[Doctor Zalgo]

Originally posted by Rain for x-gods:

If the games we purchase on Steam cannot be sold or transferred, they should be 50% cheaper than the original game price. The whole world is aware of the monopoly Steam is imposing, and European courts as well as PC gamers are not happy with it.

If you account for inflation, games are wildly cheaper than they should be.

[Zukabazuka]

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

Game developers/publishers already were trying to kill the secondhand game market before games went digital. They don't want it, they merely lacked the ways to enforce it properly in the past.

Originally posted by Rain for x-gods:

If the games we purchase on Steam cannot be sold or transferred, they should be 50% cheaper than the original game price. The whole world is aware of the monopoly Steam is imposing, and European courts as well as PC gamers are not happy with it.

That's just bollocks. The physical media the games came on weren't that costly, people seriously overestimate that. There is no reason for the developers/publishers to lower the price if people are willing to pay that price.

It's not a monopoly, the EU courts aren't doing anything about it and what random PC gamers aren't happy with isn't that relevant at all.

Wallets speak louder than words. Something people seem to forget a lot.

Looking at google it seems that of that 60€ price tag the actual devs would only get around 10-15€ most likely depending on the publisher taking a bigger cut, so around 25% cut.
So when compared to Steam giving devs straight up 70% of the cut would make a massive profit for any game company. Reason why Steam skyrocketed with devs coming in. Some devs stated that their retail profit was just a small bonus for them compared to Steam.

The other bonus with steam is you don't really need a publisher for it.

[Crazy Tiger]

Originally posted by Zukabazuka:

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

Game developers/publishers already were trying to kill the secondhand game market before games went digital. They don't want it, they merely lacked the ways to enforce it properly in the past.


That's just bollocks. The physical media the games came on weren't that costly, people seriously overestimate that. There is no reason for the developers/publishers to lower the price if people are willing to pay that price.

It's not a monopoly, the EU courts aren't doing anything about it and what random PC gamers aren't happy with isn't that relevant at all.

Wallets speak louder than words. Something people seem to forget a lot.

Looking at google it seems that of that 60€ price tag the actual devs would only get around 10-15€ most likely depending on the publisher taking a bigger cut, so around 25% cut.
So when compared to Steam giving devs straight up 70% of the cut would make a massive profit for any game company. Reason why Steam skyrocketed with devs coming in. Some devs stated that their retail profit was just a small bonus for them compared to Steam.

The other bonus with steam is you don't really need a publisher for it.

Yep. It wasn't the physical media that were costly, it was the cut to the retail stores among others that were costly. Going digital made things a lot easier for the devs and publishers. And licensing all supports and enables it.

[smokerob79]

Originally posted by Rain for x-gods:

I've been pondering a question lately about the transition from physical game copies to digital game keys. One of the aspects that seems to have been left behind in this shift is the ability to sell or exchange game keys.

Back in the day, when we bought a physical game, part of the joy was sharing it with friends. You finish a game, pass it on to a friend who might enjoy it – a simple and communal experience. However, in the digital era, platforms like Steam currently don't provide a way to sell or exchange games.

Is this a deliberate choice, or just an overlooked aspect of the transition? Is it an economic decision on the part of platforms to keep users tied to their ecosystems?

I'm curious about your thoughts on this matter. Do you think there's a possibility for change? Could regulations, perhaps from entities like the EU, force platforms to allow users to exchange or sell digital game keys?

why do people tell this lie???....it was never legal unless on consoles and PC is not consoles.....

and the retail stores cut has not been lost when steaming pile tells you, you owe them a 30% cut for having no brick and mortar stores.....

[Tito Shivan]

Originally posted by Rain for x-gods:

If the games we purchase on Steam cannot be sold or transferred, they should be 50% cheaper than the original game price.

You have digital game sales literally every game of the year.

Originally posted by Rain for x-gods:

Back in the day, when we bought a physical game, part of the joy was sharing it with friends. You finish a game, pass it on to a friend who might enjoy it – a simple and communal experience.

There's over 30 million daily users here. Each with an unknow number of games in their library. That's an awful lot of licenses that could be transfered worldwide, instantly, an infinite number of times, with no degradation of the product.

The physical games you traded suffered of wear and tear, availability of titles was largely reduced to what people around you had bought and could not be traded more than locally