Here is my dilemma. (Which, admittedly, as far as dilemmas go, isn’t really anything to get terribly concerned about.)
As previously alluded to, for reasons that I’ll reveal in a future post, I am trying to keep my spending habits down. I’m not buying any Blu-Rays, but the wife and I are known to spend $5 on an On-Demand movie; I’m not buying any music, but I am a premium Spotify user (which has probably saved me at least $1000 dollars since I signed up last year); and I’m not buying any video games, so I’ve been using Gamefly’s rental service.
These are all legal, paying services; I’m not getting anything for free, and I’m working under the assumption that, at the end of the day, the right people are getting my money. (I’m aware that Spotify’s rate-of-return for the artist is absurdly low, but it’s still better than outright piracy.)
Still, though, there’s a part of me that likes to own things. And, also, I like to support the things I like.
So, in the case of Darksiders 2 – a game that I am enjoying the shit out of, and which, if I were to enjoy the full breadth of what it has to offer, would need to own a new copy of the game in order to validate certain codes and thus unlock certain content – I am tempted to buy it outright. I want to support the developer, as I imagine DS3 on the next generation of consoles will look fucking amazing, and I want them to know that I am interested in such a product. I also want to throw THQ a bone, a publisher in dire financial straits that nevertheless has still put out some truly compelling IP in the last few months (i.e., Saints Row 3).
Here’s the question, then.
I can buy my Gamefly copy for $44 – the disc has never been used by anyone but me since I got it on launch day, so it’s not technically “pre-owned” or “used”. But I’m not sure that THQ or the developer will see any of that money (though it’s entirely possible that they’ve already received it through Gamefly’s purchase of the original game, although who knows).
Or I can buy a new copy on Amazon for $53.
Or, I can suck it up and just enjoy my rental copy, knowing that I have other things that I’ll need to be able to afford.
Shouts From The Couch 