8 Reasons Why Gaming Just Isn’t Gaming Anymore

4. Trade-Ins Are Discouraged

The biggest thorn in the gaming industry's side over the first two decades of its living room existence was the notion of trade-ins; that consumer-first idea that favoured brick n' mortar stores by allowing them to run deals on the latest games, whilst also letting you walk home with a second-hand version of whatever was fresh on shelves for a lesser price. Publishers never liked that, not one bit, and they set about green-lighting the implication of restrictive software on the latest generation of consoles; ones that - if Microsoft's initial vision for the Xbox One hadn't been so staunchly opposed - would've genuinely banned trade-ins without a very laborious license-authentication process. Either way, the former idea of knowing you'd fetch a good price with your selection of older titles now amounts to only a few coins, as thanks to the higher costs needed to get high-profile titles in stores in general, only the most reputable outlets are still going - which also happen to be the ones pushing pre-order 'bonuses', strategy guides and DLC add-ons to stay in the good books.
Gaming Editor
Gaming Editor

WhatCulture's Head of Gaming.