Why don't game companies sell their old games anymore?

[Hobo Elf]

So I've been looking for a few PS1 games online (Suikoden 1 & 2 to be precise), and I'm completely stumped at the asinine prices they are being sold at. No way I'm paying over 100 euros for an old used game (I also think I saw Suikoden 1 being sold for 400 bucks. Manual not included?).
So this got me thinking; why the hell don't game companies sell old games directly from their online stores? I'm sure there are a ton of people who'd love to own copies of old classic games. Is there a reason why these companies aren't doing this? What is stopping these companies from selling their old games? Or do they just think that they wouldn't be profitable anymore?

P.S: Does anyone know any good online vendors apart from the usual (amazon, eBay, play.com)?

 

[Orgasm]

One old game at cheap price sold is one lost sale for a 70 euro ps3 game. Time and people are finite. ^^

 

[Hobo Elf]

That's a load of crap and you know it.

 

[spekkio]

So this got me thinking; why the hell don't game companies sell old games directly from their online stores? Is there a reason why these companies aren't doing this? What is stopping these companies from selling their old games?

Are you trolling, Hobo? I can't tell from your post... The reason is called Sony Computer Entertainment...

here

So, game companies DO sell their old games, but directly from Sony/M$/Ninny online stores.

Of course normal people get their old POPAMOLE console games from "good online vendors" like UndergroundGamer or Snesorama...

 

[Hobo Elf]

So this got me thinking; why the hell don't game companies sell old games directly from their online stores? Is there a reason why these companies aren't doing this? What is stopping these companies from selling their old games?

Are you trolling, Hobo? I can't tell from your post... The reason is called Sony Computer Entertainment...

here

So, game companies DO sell their old games, but directly from Sony/M$/Ninny online stores.

Of course normal people get their old POPAMOLE console games from "good online vendors" like UndergroundGamer or Snesorama...

I'm quite aware of this. But I'm talking about having an actual physical copy. Not virtual theoretical copies. And most of the games being sold in those virtual stores are games that A) no one cares about or B) aren't that rare. The only good game (old PS1 classic) I ever got from PSN was Vagrant Story, which I was rather pleased with. But I'd like to see some rare and good games that are hard to find now.

 

[Martin]

Just dl the damn thing and use a psx emulator.

 

[Raghar]

So this got me thinking; why the hell don't game companies sell old games directly from their online stores? I'm sure there are a ton of people who'd love to own copies of old classic games. Is there a reason why these companies aren't doing this? What is stopping these companies from selling their old games? Or do they just think that they wouldn't be profitable anymore?

There are multiple reasons for that:

Have you heard about collector items? If they flood the market, collectors will be able to get it cheaply, and then what it would have low value. How many Mona Lisas are made and sold yearly as work licensed from the original author?

Old games should be free. Encouraging game companies to hold theirs right for all these 75 years which are guaranteed by a copyright law would be outrageous. Some of these games are unwatchable 10 years after release.

There are bit torrents when you can't find your game sold anymore, or placed on museum part of developer pages released into general public.

(I would hate to patch an old game to work on modern computers, it would basically require to do a radical modification of the source code which is largely undocumented as game developer traditions nearly ensure.)

 

[Jaesun]

So I've been looking for a few PS1 games online (Suikoden 1 & 2 to be precise)

You can download Suikoden 1 on the PS3 store.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

There are multiple reasons for that:

Have you heard about collector items? If they flood the market, collectors will be able to get it cheaply, and then what it would have low value. How many Mona Lisas are made and sold yearly as work licensed from the original author?

I doubt companies give two shits about my collection's value, though

 

[Luzur]

nah, remember they want to shut down the second hand market.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Wouldn't selling more copies reduce the second hand market's activety? As in, people would buy from them instead of paying some guy on ebay because he has one of the 10 copies in existence?

 

[Fez]

True. Sony getting $10 for a download or budget game direct is better for them than you spending it on eBay.

There's quite a lot of old games just rotting in this limbo, neither released to the public as freeware/abandonware nor available for purchase.

 

[Orgasm]

That's a load of crap and you know it.

Nowadays, who knows...

 

[Paperclip]

If it's still profitable, why do you need to discontinue certain game?

So the reason a game is discontinued is because it must be not profitable anymore.

Do you think the conclusion is true?

 

[Zed]

That's a load of crap and you know it.

Nowadays, who knows...

I didn't see it until now...

:shock:

 

[Fez]

If it's still profitable, why do you need to discontinue certain game?

So the reason a game is discontinued is because it must be not profitable anymore.

Do you think the conclusion is true?

It depends on how you try to sell it. There are different sales models and some are better for AAA blockbusters and others are better for old DOS games.

 

[Raghar]

Wouldn't selling more copies reduce the second hand market's activety? As in, people would buy from them instead of paying some guy on ebay because he has one of the 10 copies in existence?

Remember 10 people who are paying 100 $ for a game are irrelevant. When 1/10 people who bought the game would sell it, they would cause similar damage as computer piracy.

(I consider absurd calling games used SW, as SW can't be subject of wear and tear. HW is damaged by using SW, however SW is just a virtual form which doesn't exist as a physical entity.)

 

[Sonic The Hedgehog]

There's a fuckton of virtual PSone games for purchase. Almost all of the "at the time" classics and "considered now classic" titles are on at least one region. Most of the RPGs without a USA release take some time to be converted. My guess is that this has something to do with the language and publishing rights or Sony has a pre-determined release strategy to maximize the sales of certain game (E.G. can't release Suikoden II within a month of FFIX). Either way, like the FF, all of these games will end up being on the virtual system, which is a much more effective system than actually owning the discs.

 

[Hobo Elf]

So I've been looking for a few PS1 games online (Suikoden 1 & 2 to be precise)

You can download Suikoden 1 on the PS3 store.

Not if you're in europe. For some god awful reason JP, USA and EU have different PS3 stores.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

(I consider absurd calling games used SW, as SW can't be subject of wear and tear. HW is damaged by using SW, however SW is just a virtual form which doesn't exist as a physical entity.)

Their medium (CDs) however, can be damaged.

 

[Norfleet]

I am unclear as to how ANY video game could possibly "not be profitable", given that a piece of software has a marginal production cost of practically zero, and therefore, anything you could possibly sell it for represents almost pure profit.

 

[Fez]

If you could sell the game without needing to provide support (with the aim of selling 8-bit to DOS-era games for emulation) then all you'd need is a server and a way to take money as the real work is already done. You could also put an emulator style wrapping on it (be it DOSBox or another platform's emulator) and sell it to work on modern machines with little effort (X-COM on Steam, etc.). The real roadblock to releasing these thing are the publishers that own the rights to them all. Most likely they fear the competition that these ancient games may have on your wallet with their new titles, but of course many people either don't want their new titles but would buy the old one (especially if you charged below a dollar or generally made it very cheap like iPhone Apps) or would happily buy both.

I do get annoyed when I find out that the online/download version being sold by a company is one of the old cracked versions obtained from a torrent or similar. That's just cheap and nasty. Especially when it ends up causing problems later on due to it being a bad crack and incompatible with patches.

 

[aries202]

A lot of old games can now be found at gog.com - from very old (eye of the beholder games) to slighty new (the syberia games)

 

[KalosKagathos]

A lot of old games can now be found at gog.com - from very old (eye of the beholder games) to slighty new (the syberia games)

Sorry, but I don't like to pay for my torrents.