Games are being traded in because they’re too short, says Mad Max dev

By Dave Cook

Mad Max and Just Cause developer Avalanche Studios makes massive games, and founder Christofer Sundberg has suggested that the reason so many games get traded in is because they’re too short or offer little motivation to return.

Speaking with Edge about the recently thorny issue of used games, Sundberg said, “I’m sure it’s been an issue but that’s because games have been too short. I mean, when you can play a game through from 8 to 10 hours, I would return the game too, because there’s no reason for players to play it again.

“If you’re offering little variation, then there’s no motivation for the player to keep that game–unless they want to have a nice bookshelf. That’s why we answered that with Just Cause. I go into game stores each week and I always go to the used game boxes–I usually don’t find that many [copies of Just Cause].”

Sundberg added that hundreds of thousands of gamers still play Just Cause 2 on a weekly basis, backing up his claim that scale and variety can help hold a person’s attention.

Nintendo’s Reggie Fils-Aime on the other hand, said last week that the key to curbing trade-ins is to simply make better games that people want to keep. He has a point.

What do you think keeps a person from trading in their games? What about you personally? Let us know below.

Thanks Gamespot.