Speaking to Gameindustry.biz, Guillaume de Fondaumiere – COO of Heavy Rain-developer Quantic Dreams – has stated that his company missed an estimated amount between 5 and 10 million Euro (between 7 and 14 million Dollar) worth of royalties due to the second-hand sale of the studios interactive drama from 2010. According to de Fondaumiere, the game has been sold approximately 2 million copies at retailers, but trophy records from Sony indicate that more than 3 million users have played the game. He added that “on my small level, it’s a million people playing my game without giving me one cent.”
De Fondaumiere continues to elaborate that he believes the second-hand market is a genuine threat to the current gaming market, and that he expects this to be a primary reason for developers and publishers to shift their business to direct distribution platforms.