According to a designer for Lionhead, the studio behind the Fable series, the used game trade is worse for developers. It's a scary idea that piracy or outright stealing is less harmful to our industry than buying used games, which is within our rights. The fact is, each used game sale replaces the sale of a new game and while I'm sure devs and publishers are happy that we're playing their titles at all, they'd appreciate it even more if we bought them new. Combat designer Mike West had this to say about the dilemma:

"Piracy these days on PC is probably less problematic than secondhand sales on the [Xbox 360]"

Obviously, buying new isn't always possible and so the used game business gives us options. Steps are being made towards eradicating this facet of the industry though, with EA's online pass of particular note. In due time, the new version of games will be the one to own, unless you want to miss out on the free DLC, online play and heaven only knows what else.

[Eurogamer]