In the last couple of years when the new generation of consoles were launched, I've noticed the trend that many Malaysians were beginning to embrace the "Buy Original" mentality and shun away from pirating games; something which I was impressed about and applaud.

I'm not saying that piracy isn't still rampant, it's still there but there's been a noticeable shift towards going "Original"; more so on the next generation consoles as opposed to the PC. This (from my point view at least) is due to a combination of the focus on multi-player gaming on the console, manufacturer implemented copyright protection technology as well as the mentality of todays Malaysian gamers has which has made it pointless to pirate such games as they'll lose the fun value associated with the game.

Having said all this, we all know the fundamental reason why piracy is most rampant in these parts.......the price!

Playing these games is an expensive hobby, one that most of us love but one that many can't afford. This goes back to simple economics, we simply don't earn as much as our counterparts in America do and thus have less disposable income to allocate to our vices if you will.

Consider this, the median household income is the United States is around $50,000 (actually 75% of American fall within this bracket). If we were to draw up a monthly household budget for a single or a couple pulling in $46,000 annually, it would look like this:



Notice how much they pay for utilities and entertainment and then consider how they can easily afford a console game or 2 a month if they decided to skip watching a movie that month.

Now according to a survey done by the Statistic Department for the Economic Planning Unit, the Malaysian average monthly household income is RM3,686, which falls in the RM3-4k group.



If you look at the graph carefully, you'll notice that 57.8% of the families fall below this group, and 29.3% are above it. This shows that on average the families actually have a higher position than the median in the distribution, as the median falls in the RM2-3k group. This mean that the majority of the households are at the poorer side of the income group but the income of the richer side is so much that it is still able to pull up the average income figure.
Now also think about how much you pay for all the categories of items mentioned above and how much are you left with at the end of the day...

What's the point of all this?

Quite simply that we don't earn as much as our counterparts in the states do on average and when you factor in the necessities that we need on a daily basis, spending RM200 on a game or 10% of your monthly income (assuming its RM2,000) is simply not practical or responsible.

So we're left with a dillema, we want to play but we can't really afford it.

Is there a solution where anyone, even those that don't really have that much money can enjoy playing these games?

I firmly believe so.....and I think it lies in the used game market.

You see, those of us who can afford these games go out and buy them and have a great time with them. However, once we're done with them it just sits there on our shelves gathering dust. If all of us, the gaming community, "traded" our used games with one another then everyone would always be able to get a "new" game so much more affordably.

For the buyer of the brand new game, you got a new game which you paid for. When you sell that game to a 2nd hand buyer you're able to recover some of the cost of the game to fund your next purchase. As a 2nd buyer, you've just got a "new" game which is sooo much more affordable. Everybody wins.

Taking a page out of the AirAsia motto.....if we can build a dedicated community around this, then "everybody can play!"

We want to build this community and provide a way that everyone irrespective of their income group can have the enjoyment of playing games and not be in want in this respect.

Which is why we've developed SwitchIT which we hope will help to be a catalyst for the trading of games from one gamer to another throughout the country.

...what do you think?

Wow

So much text to promote his own web site. LOL

THERE NO PC GAME ... I want PC game

I suppose you could look at it like that, but that was not the intention of the post.

If been abroad for quite sometime and I've seen the used game flourish in the states and even in some parts of Europe and since I'm back I want it to flourish here in Malaysia as well. I'm a little passionate about it which was why I wrote what I did.

My apologies if the post rubbed you or anyone else the wrong way.

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Added on May 6, 2010, 12:14 amHey Mr.Achitz,

I'm actually quite surprised at the number of people asking for the addition of PC games. There was some debate about it over at this thread http://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?act=ST&f=162&t=1409467.

And as I told the good Docter, the PC game section can easily be added given sufficient demand for them.

I didn't think there was but if there is, I'll be glad to to make the section available.

This post has been edited by The SwitchIT Team: May 6 2010, 12:14 AM

thanks for your effort,
i'd love to see a used game store here as well.

is it possible that you include the demographic on 1st hand buyers, second hand buyers and "further hand" buyers ?
i would also like to know in depth how the trend goes.

I'm as fascinated as you are to find out the demographics as well.

The site is able to provide these demographics once we have many members signed up and start trading.

The cool thing is that we have a trend analysis of each game (available of the details page of that game) so you can see how many times a particular game has been traded and at what prices for as long as its been traded.

From here you'll be able to see how many 2nd, 3rd, 4th and nth hand traders there have been for a particular game.

This post has been edited by The SwitchIT Team: May 6 2010, 12:24 AM

This will only work if you can guarantee trade success and no con mans

I would like to know what you have in place to stop things like that from happening.

Sending empty dvd boxes and the such

its the price alright, but more so, i believe, is the proliferation of modded consoles. If i were to ask myself if i have a modded console, would I pirate? the answer to myself is i still would sometimes.

Modded consoles are a hassle to maintain, and there are some serious benefit u r missing compared to an unmodded console. but coz the market out there by default sells modded consoles (Wii is a good example, 360 a close 2nd), people who have bought it feel they must as well make use of the modded feature since they are losing out on the benefits of an unmodded one. These are the very people that are not persented a choice between modded and unmodded when buying, coz most sellers sell modded only.

if u notice the more modded consoles there are out there, the less 2nd hand games u can trade. Just look at the wii tab.



This post has been edited by ramz: May 6 2010, 08:31 AM

he, a used game store would be nice what..

We have an extensive FAQ section where these questions are answered in.

Basically, we a providing a service or platform where gamers can trade games with one another and we have checks in place to ensure the protection of our buyers and sellers and to eliminate unscrupulous traders from our service.

What we say is that sellers must send their games via registered mail (so that it can be tracked and a confirmation receipt is obtained when a buyer signs for it). This way as a seller you can be sure that your game was delivered and you don't get a situation where a buyer says he hasn't got it.

In cases of buyers receiving broken, scratched, unplayable games, the wrong game or even empty boxes; they are requested to send those games to us for verification of that claim. If we find that claim to be true, the buyer will be refunded their cost for the game.

In all these cases, the wrongful party will be provided with a severely negative feedback affecting their trading reputation. If they were to do this again, they will be banned from trading.

Additionally, if a buyer claims to have not got the game but actually did and we can verify that via the registered post confirmation receipt, they too will have a negative rating against them and will be black-marked.

You may think that just signing up with another email address will do it, but it won't as we also go by the users mailing address an IP.

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Added on May 6, 2010, 9:16 amI completely agree with you.

However, if you notice the latest trends in game activation requires you to have a internet connection for verification. An example would be MW2 for the PC and the upcoming Starcraft II with their new BattleNet that has no LAN option. You'll find more and more games requiring this and focusing towards a complete online gameplay. This is for the PC, the most prolifically pirated platform.

Consoles like the Wii, DS and PSP can be modded and until they come up with a blu-ray equivalent there's nothing really we can do about that.

However, the hardcore gaming with the AAA titles are found on the PS3 and 360. Sony has done a fantastic job with the PS3 with the inclusion of blu-ray making it the least modded console and I think other manufacturers will follow suite. While the 360 can be modded, the games available on them are so awesome that many are compelled to forgo their modded versions for the original.

I think that having a thriving used game market would make those on the fence of getting a modded or unmodded console realise that they can still have all the fun of an original console (Game Demos, Hi-Def movies, Music, etc) and original games (achievements, online co-op, etc) at a fraction of the price. Thus, making it more affordable for them.

The only catch I see is that they just have to wait a little, a month or 2 depending on the title. I don't think that's really a big deal.

But like all new things, it will take sometime for people to get into it, for the community to grow and to fully realise the benefits.

p.s. depending on how things go, we might just focus on the 360, PS3 and PC but we'll let the community decide.

This post has been edited by The SwitchIT Team: May 6 2010, 09:16 AM

tried the website, a little slow considering the traffic is pretty much low atm..

and a suggestion, i would recommend you to put in the region information and console compatibility to the games, especially X360 games

eg, someone wanted a copy of fallout goty, and is using a ntsc/u console, and I have a PAL copy... if the trade is successful, the buyer won't be able to play it as it's region locked.

Same thing with Wii games, region important as M'sia players are mostly a mixture of NTSC/U and NTSC/J, and some PAL consoles. Which the region compatibility is an big issue too.

With most of the Malaysian thinking I think is going to be hard for them to accept the used game store....

With used games shop they normally take in your game with less cheaper than what you are going to get. So let say your game now GOW3 worth RM150 they will probably take in around RM120- RM130 as they need to earn from it as well. Will you sell yours GOW at RM120?

I like your website but the problem is there is not too many users till now but I hope this site gets bigger and better

The price for a new game in UK was around 39.99 pound. In US i think around $50-80

Used game for a few month may go 29pound or $30-60, where games around 1 year or more can go as low as 2.99pounds or $10 on ebay, sometimes gameshops do buy 1 get 1 free or special price on new copy.

Imagine if the game sold here brand new is rm40-80. I think it would be affordable (still pricey) to most people. A new console is only $300, imagine if it's RM300.

New DVD in US cost only $9.90, yet in Malaysia a pirate DVD already cost rm5. Here everything not related to life essential items are considered scarced.

I think the first point to realise is that we are NOT a used game store and the don't buy any games.

We are a service to get gamers who want to sell their games to another and then use the service to buy a they want from another member.

The prices we set on our site are the recommended prices for that particular used games that take into account many factors such as its release date, rating, supply and demand, etc.

Ultimately, all the members set the prices they want for their game and whoever is willing to pay for it will accept the offer and the trade will take place between those 2 members.

While you'll initially get some people trying to sell a used game for a lot more that what most think its worth, the beauty of having a marketplace is that market forces, i.e. all the members will eventually determine the fair price for a particular game.

E.g. 5 people have GOW2 and they are want to sell it for between RM40 - RM100 even though the recommended price for the game is RM45. Those sellers offering too high a price will find themselves not being able to sell it and thus have to reduce it to a level deemed expectable by the market. Sort of like the stock exchange.

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Added on May 6, 2010, 2:20 pmHi tash,

Yup, that is my hope as well. This really needs economies of scale. We just launched it over the weekend so it'll take sometime.

You could help spread the word so that when more people join, they'll be more games available to trade.

p.s. you could easily invite your Facebook buddies via our Facebook connect feature under our "Invite a Friend" section.

This post has been edited by The SwitchIT Team: May 6 2010, 02:20 PM

hmmm "everyone can play" that a good idea... simple yet powerful dream... for this i will help or recommand to my fren.
Looking forward for it to become bigger and larger community.

a game rental biz is a noble idea in MY. good luck. you'll need it.

I am one of the hardcore renters. for 3 bucks, I can play the latest games with no hassle what so ever.I am a gamer, not a collector, so I have no problems with this. I am renting games that are not that interesting and multiplatform release, my purchase usually involves exclusives. people like me, are a LOT. we play roughly 4 new games per month, and costs us way below rm50. Jitu unggul for example, has been very very successful in his game rental business. Backed up with awesome selection and awesome customer service, no luck is required. Man makes his own luck, that is what I believe.

Actually, we're not an online rental service

We're a platform for the trading of used games between members throughout the country. While I do appreciate that there any many hardcore renters as you've rightly pointed out, there are also quite a fair number of people out there who still buy games and aren't sure what to do with them when their done.

I want people, those who are far away from major cities where access to these "entertainment luxuries" a chance to have them at a very low price; and its not just a single platform, its across any platform that our members want.

With renting, sometimes people feel pressured into finishing it within a certain time frame to get their monies worth. With a used game, you get to own that game and take your time with it.

It's really down to an individuals preference; some prefer to collect, some rent and others trade their games to get cash to get another one.

We believe in the used game market and that's what we're about.

thats then thing, i was explaining to the dude there that game renting scene is pretty much alive and expanding rapidly