Are used games harmful for the industry?

I've heard a lot of complaints how used game market is harmful is for the industry, and some of the developers have implemented PSN / Multiplayer pass on their games.

Here's some links
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/121/1217257p1.html
http://www.destructoid.com/remedy-screw-retailers-let-s-go-digital-200288.phtml
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/90627-Nintendo-President-Used-Games-Are-Bad-For-Consumers

It's not harmful. No more so than the used car market is harmful to the car industry.

What's happening is that publishers are seeing the amount of second hand copies being sold and, games being what they are, they think that they can attack the second hand market. It's not harmful. It's just that they can see an opportunity there which has only just started to exist. It wasn't harmful before so why would it suddenly be now?

Something that cannot happen with the vast majority of physical products over which the creators can exert no further control once the product has been bought.

Meh. This is just the big corporations attacking things they don't understand, in an attempt to capture an even bigger piece of the pie. IT COULDN'T POSSIBLY BE BECAUSE OF POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE AND WORSE TREATMENT OF CONSUMERS. >.>

How so? A used car still requires new parts and servicing, that's a huge part of the car industry.
A game does not function like that unless you plan to charge for things like future patching.

My reasoning is that it hurts the industry, especially when you compare it with pirates.

A pirate is not a lost sale because he wouldn't buy the game in the first place or will demo it that way and buy it later.

A used game is a lost sale from someone who intends to buy your product, but only gives money to companies like Gamestop, while giving nothing to publisher/developer.

Only problem is that the wrong way companies are handling it. I believe in a reward system, not a punishment one.
Stuff like day-0 DLC is crap, but a game like The Witcher 2 that after a year just keeps on giving even at a reduced price that's the way to go.

You forget one thing - gamers have limited amount of money they can spend on their games.

If someone buy a retail copy for 50$, and then wants to buy another game for 50$, but he only has 25$ in his pocket, he may:

a) sell his old game for 25$ and buy a new one for 50$

b) not buy a new game and possibliy pirate it, and spend 25$ on a beer.

Who hasn't a limited amount of money? Not a gamer specific at all.
That's why games with models like The Witcher 2 put a smile on my face.

The question is: "Is it harmful for the industry?", not for the gamer.

Then maybe the car industry was a bad example. Exchange that with something like a book, DVD, album etc. Which are all more applicable examples anyway.

Plus, a game can still have DLC for it which 2nd hand customers can buy. Just so long as it's not 0 day cut content then I don't have a problem with that.

wait.... how do you know these pirates wouldn't have bought the game if they couldn't pirate it? I know they use that as a reason for pirating all the time, but how do you know they aren't bullshitting with a convenient excuse they can use?

and how do you know all the people who buy/rent used would have purchased the game brand new?

If that gamer spend his 25$ on a beer, not on a new game, then it hurts the industry...

Is the used TV market harmful?
Is the used DVD Player market harmful?
Is the used Laptop market harmful?
Is the used computer console market harmful?
Is the used Car market harmful?

I can list off more but I wont because I think I have made my point. Basicly they are talking out of there arse, and interested only in money. Pure and simple greed. Stores that sell secondhand games make there money from them, and if they try to take away the second hand game market, the stores themselves will close. How can they not see that?

What I think could be harmful to the industry is the preference that brick and mortar stores seem to give these days to used copies. You are encouraged to trade in and buy used, with more money offered for current chart titles. Why? Because the store makes a lot more profit from a used sale.

At the same time, it's getting harder for brick and mortar to compete with online prices, so it's understandable that they'd go after a market that they stand a better chance of cornering.

Does it harm the industry? Yes, the same as piracy does; however, like piracy, it's a pretty insignificant dent in the profits of the big publishers, and indie studios are usually smart enough to work with or around these facets of the industry.

Like it or not, used games are here to stay, and industry attempts to control themselves will only harm their audience.

I think this post covers it well

Used games were always big, the previous generation, the generation before that and etc

And I dont remember anyone complaining, some publishers were trying their hardest to combat this by making as better games as possible and giving free stuff (Actual physical stuff) to new buyers

This generation Developers and Publishers Have been crying and whining NON-STOP about used sales, WAAAHHHH, USED GAMES, WAAAHHHH, LOST REVENUE, WAAAHHHH WE ARE SO POOR, USED SALES ARE THE DEVIL WAAAHHHHH "CRY CRY"

So what do they do? Do they try to improve the game quality? do they try to give more value to customers?

No - They put in stupid shit like Online passes and "Preorder" DLC

There is a reason why I bought Demon's souls and Dark souls on release day, publishers need to learn from Namco and FROM SOFTWARE in this regard

As far as I'm concerned, if publishers, etc., feel that used games are harmful to their profit margins, then perhaps they should be making their first-hand copies more appealing to potential customers. They could start by setting far more reasonable pricing, if not at time of release, then at sometime after (a concept that publishers in Japan simply cannot grasp).

*sits down and waits for certain person(s) to arrive and start claiming that not every pirate is a spineless one and that there are many that actually purchase games after pirating them first*

Used games are as harmful to the industry as piracy. But somehow people think that buying used games is better than piracy.

The main fact to remember about games (or software in general) is that you are not purchasing a "good" in a physical sense, like a car/cow/or accelerator. You are purchasing a licence (which is in most cases non-transferable).

The money I invest in gaming I give to the publisher/supporter. If I ever buy used games/books/DVDs, etc. I only buy them as collectors items. (Like a nice RoA 2 box).

During the 80/ earyl 90s reselling was basically as legal/illegal as piracy. As the EULAs back then usually did not permit resale of the licence (and I don't think they do now) and piracy wasn't explicitly stated in laws yet. I remember that the first draft of "anti-piracy laws" were so strict, they actually covered lending and selling of software licences. Naturally they didn't make it.
Preorder is a whole different kind of animal. Preorders are important for business projections and the like. Important for investors, etc. The fact that you are buying a new game for full price is surely also a welcome effect, but not the primary reason for this.