DRM News

A short while ago, I wrote an article about SwitchGames, a website that allows people to exchange, buy and sell used games with each other. Their service has taken off quickly, with over one hundred thousand games available for trade or sale between the thousands of members on their site. And all of that while still in Beta status. It’s definitely come a long way from the early days as a simple non-commercial database for those tired of feeling ripped off when trading in games in stores.

I was able to speak with co-founders Jason Crawford and Kai Bond about how the system works, how they got to this point, and where they see it going from here.

SwitchGames ran for a number of years as a sort of open game trading database before re-launching as it is now. What was the motivation behind taking the next step with it?

Kai Bond : Through word of mouth, the site was eventually bursting at the seams and needed to be expanded to meet user demand. Once new video games hit the $60 mark, it was time to get busy with SwitchGames 2.0.

Our goal was to create a next generation peer-to-peer web application that blended community, commerce, new technology, and highly automated systems to make buying, selling, and trading more effective than they had ever been before.

What sort of response have you seen so far? How many games are currently listed?

Kai Bond : Currently, the SwitchGames.com community is offering over 110,000 games.

(111,135 games available in the system at the time of this posting).

What does SwitchGames offer above some of the other game trading sites out there?

Jason Crawford : Unfortunately for gamers, the term “trading” has become synonymous with trade-ins. Getting store credit or points for something you own is NOT trading. Trade-in sites involve middlemen running a typical “buy low and sell high” operation, though some sites disguise this racket better than others.

On SwitchGames.com, members trade, buy, and sell directly with other members in a peer-to-peer format. SwitchGames.com cuts out the middleman and facilitates safe, fast, and easy exchanges for everyone with no dictated game values.

Do you see the expansion of games purchased digitally, and tied to a user account, through Xbox Live and PlayStation Network as a positive or a negative for your business and for gamers?

Jason Crawford : Since our objective is to establish a direct line between gamers and publishers, we think digital distribution presents a lot of cool opportunities in the SwitchGames universe.

What charges are there to use your service, complete a trade, or buy/sell something through your system?

Both : Basic trading on SwitchGames.com is always free. We offer optional, premium services that make your experience faster, safer, and easier.

For instance, if you want to guarantee the safety of a trade, you can opt to use SafeTrade. We also offer online postage labels for sale and members can verify their account for a small fee.

With buying and selling, we take a 10% commission on the final sale price. Listing games is free and listings don’t expire. Joining SwitchGames is also free.

Tell me about SafeTrade. What does it consist of, and does it cost extra to use?

Kai Bond : SafeTrade is a premium service we offer for our users whereby SwitchGames will guarantee the delivery of games in a trade. We include a US Postal Service First Class mailing label, and free package tracking and delivery confirmation, for $5.95.

You offer a Verified membership above and beyond the standard account type. What are the differences between the two?

Kai Bond : A regular membership on SwitchGames.com is 100% free. However, a member can verify their information for $4.95 annually.  A Verified Membership delivers additional credibility within the community, and 96% of our members prefer doing business with those with Verified accounts. Verified Membership also comes with additional benefits, like priority listing in search results, and early access to our newly launched products and programs.

SwitchGames deals primarily with console titles. Any interest in expanding the service to include more PC games as well?

Kai Bond : We support all PC titles, but the overwhelming majority of our user base trades console titles.

Right now you’re limited to the US market. Any plans/timeframe to expand beyond that?

Kai Bond : Correct, we are only available in North America today. We have plans to launch SwitchGames.com internationally in the coming year.

(For clarification sake, they are currently operating in the United States. Canada, Australia and the U.K. were all mentioned as specific targets, but they’re looking at any and all English speaking nations for overall expansion.)

One of the unique aspects of SwitchGames is that you allow sellers to set aside anywhere from 1%-90% of their sales profit to be sent to the game’s publisher. Has this been something many sellers have done?

Kai Bond : Currently 10% of our sellers are donating to publishers, which is actually higher than we expected being that this concept is so new.

How do you plan to get that money to the publishers? If the publishers decide not to accept it, what happens to it at that point?

Kai Bond : We simply send the publishers checks on a quarterly basis on behalf of our users.

Jason Crawford : In the event publishers don’t want the free money, it will be returned to the users who donated. Publishers and developers have been trying to get a piece of the used game business for a long time, so we highly doubt they will turn down unexpected revenues for a game. We provide detailed accounting to publishers, so getting these payments effectively provides a unique perspective on the longer term value of their game catalog, too.

What are your own thoughts on publishers like EA and Activision complaining about not getting a piece of the pie from used sales? Do you worry that these companies might accept a program like yours as proof that they should always be receiving a cut of second hand sales from all vendors?

Jason Crawford : Again, this is about the gamer, not about SwitchGames.com deciding policies or game values. Our purpose is to cut out the middleman and establish a direct line between gamers and publishers. As with everything else we do, SwitchGames.com empowers gamers to take control and answer that question for themselves. If members feel like it’s appropriate to donate money for used game sales, then so be it.

How often are you surprised by a trade or a sale, thinking to yourself “He gave up that for THAT?” or “That’s all they’re asking for?”

Jason Crawford : Game values are subjective and very personal.  Someone who loves Borderlands may not see any value in a copy of Project Gotham Racing, and vice versa. So, you see plenty of trades that some people might think are weird, but it was an equitable trade for those users, which is all that matters. It’s fun to look at them though. That’s why we added the recent trades slider on the homepage.

(They aren’t kidding when they call this interesting to watch. It’s like a stock ticker, only less with the ‘Dad the day trader’ vibe and more of a “Rainbow Six Vegas 2 for Trauma Center? Someone is a big fan of melodramatic medical simulations featuring a lot of surgical interaction with the human spirit.” Seriously, whoever you are out there Trauma Center dude, thumbs up for uniqueness.)

Are you guys also active users of SwitchGames?

Kai Bond : Everyone that works for SwitchGames.com is an active user. None of us have made a purchase at retail since launching the site. We’ve also been scooping up some incredible deals since buying and selling was launched.

So there you have it. Creators of a service who actually use it themselves…it’s sort of sad how refreshingly different that actually is, but it’s certainly nice to see. I’d like to thank Jason and Kai for their time and answers to my questions. I know I’ll be keeping an eye on SwitchGames to see where they go from here.