Codies versus pre-owned game sales
Sell half a game in shops, the rest as DLC.
F1 2010 creator Codemasters has a novel idea it could use to combat the threat of second hand videogame sales – sell half a game in shops and the other half as downloadable content.
That, according to CEO Rod Cousens, would not only help tackle the earnings lost from used game sales but piracy, too.
"It's not inconceivable to say that we send out a Formula One game that's not complete - maybe it's got six tracks," he told Eurogamer sister site GamesIndustry.biz.
"Then they have to buy their next track, and you follow it around the world. When you turn up in Abu Dhabi you have to pay for the circuit, and whatever the changes are to the cars that are put through.
"That, I think, would deal with a lot of it, and also address the pre-owned."
If Codies follows through on its idea, it expects resistance from shops.
"What we have to figure out is how we're going to work together to make this happen," Cousens said.
"If retail takes a confrontational point of view and says that if we go online, they won't stock the box - and publishers then say that all they're going to do is put out DLC after launch that retail can't participate in... it's ridiculous.
"Actually, you need them to get to the stage where they stock the box. It's not inconceivable that you're going to ask them to give the box away at some point in time. But then, they participate to an extent in the subsequent DLC exploitation."
Ah, exploitation. How we've missed you.