As much as they dislike it...

The first sale doctrine is still the law. Another industry tries to destroy its market by demonizing its customers. Good job. [Link]

After cleaning up the game, GameStop can resell the title, sometimes for just $5 less than the original price. On this sale, GameStop enjoys all of the profit after factoring in the cost of store credits offered in return. Game publishers do not see a cut of the secondary sale because it falls under the first sale doctrine, which allows consumers to resell software.

"It's a real problem right now and it's a loophole that people are using, and we're getting cut out of that model," Denis Dyack, president of developer Silicon Knights, said at a gaming conference in the spring.

Heavier scrutiny now

It's a subject that has long irked publishers and has gotten more scrutiny in the last year, in part due to the worsening economy, said analyst Colin Sebastian of Lazard Capital Markets. Sebastian said the fact that other retailers like Best Buy, Amazon, Wal-Mart and Toys R Us have thrown their hat in the used game ring earlier this year is also heightening the frustration.

"The game industry is doing good, but there are definitely losers and some of them are feeling the impact of the economy," he said. "In periods like this, it forces companies and executives to look at their cost structure and the retail channel is very costly."

GameStop denies that it's hurting its content partners and said its practice of selling used games actually promotes the sale of new games and opens up games sales to more price-sensitive consumers.