Ars Technica: Parcel Gamer wants to share used game profits with publishers
At first, the concept behind the site sounds too good to be true. Not only does Kennedy plan to pay “30 percent more for your trade-ins than the corner retail store,” and offer free shipping both ways, but he also promises that used games purchased from Parcel Gamer will include access to Online Passes and all the free downloadable content that’s included with a new copy of the game. Not only that, but Kennedy promises to pay 10 percent of the used sale price (usually $3 to $5, he says) back to the publishers, helping compensate them for any new sales they’re losing and helping to solve the industry’s main problem with used games.
Will Parcel Gamer really be able to do all this while maintaining a viable business model? Kennedy says that it will, thanks to significantly lower profit margins and overhead than major brick-and-mortar retailers. He gave an example where the site pays out $30 for a recent release, then resells it for a cheaper-than-new $55. That leaves enough margin to purchase a $10 online pass, pay $5.50 to the publisher, pay $4 for round trip shipping, and still reap $5.50 in actual profit, he said.
Parcel Gamer’s Mike Kennedy seems to have an interesting take on how to funnel money from used video game sales back to the publishers. Having previously worked in an environment where making and selling content was a major part of our business plan, I can see this gaining ground. It seems to be headed somewhere — Parcel Gamer has gotten “one major publisher” to sign on and plans on adding a handful by this summer. I’m hoping this goes somewhere. I really like this idea.
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