Saber Interactive CEO says blocking used games unfair, becomes Geoff's personal hero

Recently, there was an interview on CVG with Saber Interactive's CEO Matthew Karch where he said blocking the consumer from used games would be unfair. Here's what he has to say about the whole thing.

"I don't think we should prevent people from playing used games. I understand why they would want to do it, but I think the approach should be different.

"As long as games are distributed on physical medium as physical goods, players should have the right to buy and sell them.

"$60 is a lot to pay for a game and if a player buys a dud and is stuck with it, then that's just not fair to force him to keep it. If people buy Inversion and it's not for them, then why should they be forced to turn it into a drink coaster?

"Publishers feel that reviewers have too much control now and if games can't be traded then reviews will become gospel. This doesn't serve any one's interest.

"For me the approach is to bring the cost of games down and to sell them as digital content where they can't be bought and sold. If someone pays $15 for a game, then it's less painful if they need to keep it.

"If people buy Inversion and its not for them, then why should they be forced to turn it into a drink coaster? Last time I spoke about this, some people misconstrued my comments to imply that I didn't think that games should be 'full-length'. This isn't the way I feel about it.

"A $60 game has about $30 of waste in it in getting the game to retail. I really believe that with digital distribution you can get that same full-length experience for $30.

"With Inversion (or games like Battlefield or Gears), for example, you could break that experience into two components - single-player and multiplayer - and sell them for $15 each or sell them combined for $30. If someone spends $15, then the trade-in value would be minimal anyway even if it were permissible.

"I think that's the way to go - lower the costs for the same access by bringing them to market digitally. Then a no-used solution is fair."

This whole quote is just a breath of fresh air. With so many publishers going to the online pass deal, it surprises me that they haven't thought of a way other than that to make money off used games. Sure there's DLC that they release, but a majority of that is just weapon packs and horse armor these days.

This is the type of pricing I've been waiting for. Too long has it been that we've had to pay $60 every time we want to help out our favorite developers. There needs to be some type of change. If they were to release the single-player and multi-player components separately for much cheaper, these people could be making a hell of a lot more money, especially with so many games coming out in a lot of the same genres.

So, with that said, I thank you Matthew Karch. You are now my personal hero.

Matthew Karch is CEO of Saber Interactive. Their new game, Inversion, will be coming out later this year.