Online passes fail to dent used game sales

Publishers' efforts to stem sales of used games by introducing online passes have so far been ineffective, according to leading UK retailer GAME.

GAME CEO Ian Shepherd told MCV, "Certainly, publishers are using content to extend the life of games to extend the reasons to keep them. That's a good thing, as it's good for us and we'll sell more of the games,"

"No, we've not seen the changes in the commercial nature of how some games have launched make any impact on the trade-in category," he added. "It's still a strong part of our business."

EA, Sony and THQ have all recently introduced extra charges for users who have bought a used copy of one of their games and want to access online content.

In June, EA Sports boss Peter Moore explained, "One thing I have to do, and it's my job, and my development team's job, and my marketing team's job, is make you not want to trade the game in."

If GAME is to be believed, he'll need to try a little harder.