The used game sales (including renting) that have bitten at the heels of the gaming industry for close to a decade have had major ramifications over the years. We've seen single-use registration codes, online-only DRM, and even release-day DLC used to thwart it from ravaging sales figures. It has even left Bethesda fearful, always looking for a way to combat it without compromising its award-winning experiences.
Bethesda Developer Pete Hines opened up to Destructoid about how he (and presumably Bethesda) feels about used-game sales and piracy. He said:
Absolutely [used game sales are] a concern. We have tried to mitigate it by creating games that offer replayability, by supporting them with DLC that's worth hanging onto the game for, or offering tools that let them take things further.
Looking at my gaming library, it's the games with outstanding replayability that remain in my collection for as long as I live. Sometimes that means a game that makes me want to run through the experience more than once, while other times it's an experience that becomes my go-to for local multiplayer entertainment. High-quality DLC is always a welcomed way of further increasing that value. Dark Souls Artorias of the Abyss was a fine example, as are most of the packages Bethesda has put out over the years (i.e. Dragonborn).
While some companies will look for new intrusive ways of ensuring we don't resell our games or pirate them, it's the companies like Bethesda, who use it as a reason to make its games even better, who should be looked upon as role models.
