Allowing a secondary market for online content

Question

Many games with an online component, allow players to buy various kinds of content. As far as I know, none of them allow a secondary market where players resell purchased content to other players. Presumably this is because the developers think disallowing the secondary market will get them more sales.

However, there seems to be a widely held school of thought regarding Magic: the Gathering (the nonelectronic card game) that the existence of a secondary market actually increases revenue by encouraging people to buy more cards in the hope of being able to resell them. Whether that theory is true or false, the mere fact that many people believe it, should encourage at least some video game developers to try allowing a secondary market.

Given the existence of a reasonably widely held theory that this is a good idea, why is it that no video game developers whatsoever allow a secondary market?

Answer 1

In general, it's more trouble than it's worth.

• Money Laundering and fraud: can the player buy a magic sword from anywhere in the world? What if the credit card is stolen? Can items be moved through half a dozen anonymous users, before cashing out in Nigeria? This is why Kongregate shut down their tip jar.

• If you can sell it for real money, it's worth something. Does that mean stealing it in game is a crime? Is opening a loot box gambling? If a player claims an object is lost to a glitch, are you obliged to replace it? Can you afford to defend yourself against legal challenges from anywhere in the world where your game is sold?

• If hacking your game is worth real money, it will be targeted with dedicated, well funded attackers. This is Trouble that you do not want.