For a few years now, there's been a war brewing between the games shops, and the games publishers. The problem here is one of money - with pre-owned sales making up ever increasing percentages of total game sales, game stores have been profiting hugely (100% of the pre-owned revenue goes to the retailer), while publishers see nothing in return. With publishers quickly growing weary of stores like GAME, Gamestation, and recently even Tesco promoting pre-owned games over everything else, keeping new software artificially high whilst lowering pre-owned software on a natural gradient, the games industry has, somewhat understandably, been trying to think of ways to discourage pre-owned sales. First, we had online passes, which blocked online play, unless you inputted a single-use code. Effectively meaning only the first person who owned the copy of the game could play online for free, players who bought pre-owned, and wanted to play online, had to buy an online pass through the console's online store, at a charge of around £6.80. While it wasn't much, the publishers seemed happy(er), as at least they were getting some return.
A single save file? We feel like our heart's just been crushed like Chris Redfield, splatted under this massive mallet :(
With the release of Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, however, Capcom have taken their campagin against pre-owned sales one step further, by making it impossible to delete your save game. As a high score based game, which sees you defending yourself against wave after wave of zombies for as long as you can survive, the more you play, the more you'll level up your character, which in turn will unlock new skills and abilities, helping you achieve higher scores. In fact, the levelling system's the main reason you'll want to keep playing, as there's always a new skill, costume, or character being dangled as a metaphorical carrot in front of your nose. By restricting the game to only a single, un-deletable save file, Capcom have decided to play a dangerous game - and seemingly, a very unwise one. Not only have they rendered the game practically useless for anyone who's unlucky enough to buy it pre-owned without realising, they've also substantially reduced the appeal of the game for households where more than one person plays games, as the single save slot means only one person's able to store their progress (a phenomenally stupid decision for a high-score based game, as it eliminates any competition), not to mention for those who like to start afresh, and play through the game multiple times.
Not wanting to take the situation lying down, retailers have begun to fire back. Australian retailer EB Games are refusing to stock the Mercenaries: 3D, while HMV in the UK have confirmed that they won't be accepting the game pre-owned. GAME, on the other hand, appears to be looking to take advantage of the extra publicity, and has explicitly stated it will happily take pre-owned copies of Mercenaries 3D in as normal.
The inclusion of a single-use save file feels like a somewhat short sighted decision, especially in light of the vitriol that's currently flying around the web. Players around the world are threatening to boycott the game, although the game's publishers, Capcom, have been quick to try and pour water on the situation. In a statement issued to Giant Bomb, Capcom denied the decision had anything to do with discouraging trade-ins: "Secondhand game sales were not a factor in this development decision," the statement read, "The nature of the game invites high levels of replayability in order to improve mission scores. In addition, this feature does not remove any content available for users."
Unless, of course, you want to unlock things for yourself. In which case, if you buy pre-owned, that particular feature's kind of been removed.
In another blow, we can confirm that Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D also doesn't support single-card download play - meaning if you want to play through the levels with a friend, in co-op - guess what - you'll need another copy of the game. While there may be nothing wrong with the game itself, Capcom certainly seems to have gone out of its way to get under people's skin, and it's certainly managed to get a lot of people riled up. It'll be interesting to see what the initial sales figures look like when they come out next week. If you want our take on the game, you'll be able to read our full review by the end of the week - so make sure you check back.
