David Braben, the developer behind the retro classic Elite and Lost Winds on Wii, believes  that the second-hand market has killed what he claims to be ‘core games’. Braben says that he knows publishers who have scrapped games because stores won’t restock their title after release, as the retailers rely on pre-owned games to make their profits.

“The real problem when you think about it brutally, if you look at just core gamer games, pre-owned has really killed core games,” he said. ”In some cases, it’s killed them dead. I know publishers who have stopped games in development because most shops won’t reorder stock after initial release, because they rely on the churn from the re-sales.”

“I mean, the idea of a game selling out used to be a good thing, but nowadays, those people who buy it on day one may well finish it and return it,”

“Developers and publishers need that revenue to be able to keep doing high production value games, and so we keep seeing fewer and fewer of them.”