Lewis: Second-hand games are part of the ecosystem

Chris Lewis has told GamesIndustry.biz that he can see the positives in the growing trend towards retailers offering more and more preowned titles to consumers in-store.

On the prickly issue, which has divided industry opinion, the Microsoft VP of Interactive Entertainment Business in the EMEA region admitted that it was part of the overall "ecosystem" of games, and that the practice had the potential to get people playing types of games they might not have otherwise.

"I'm a fan of the ecosystem overall," he explained. "I can see the positive in it, because I can see that what you then get is more and more people touching, playing, experiencing a game that they may not otherwise have access to.

"I think you've got to try and extract some positive from it, and that's undoubtedly a good factor - a positive swirl of ecosystem that results. Clearly it's a reality, and certain retailers are very focused and spend a lot of time on it. It's good business for them."

But he does feel that if developers and publishers want to find ways to prevent users from selling games back to stores, he points to downloadable content as a possible method.

"I think things like premium downloadable content, and that kind of thing, will ultimately play a part in used games - and that's not me saying that it's a great way for us to try and minimise that," he said. "I think it will be a great enhancement to the way that people experience games. If some additionally content is available via the Xbox Live service, for instance, that further enriches the game experience and might encourage folks to hang on their games for a bit longer."

Microsoft recently released new content for Grand Theft Auto IV exclusively on the Xbox 360 platform as part of a deal with Rockstar Games and Take-Two.

The third part of the GamesIndustry.biz interview with Chris Lewis, in which he also talks about his stance on Metacritic, is available now.