This really is a fascinating problem. If Guise Bule gets his way the the maximum number of software licenses sold would be equivalent to the maximum number of concurrent users. I don't think that's particularly desirable for either developers or users.
A similar situation exists with video games. The market is going pure digital and gamers want the ability to sell "used" digital games. If that were possible then a middleman service would appear which would instantly "buy" and "sell" the game as you launched and closed a game. A wildly successful game such as Skyrim sells millions of copies but only had ~300,000k concurrent users (on PC) at launch. A couple of months later and that number is only ~50,000. Suffice to say this will never be allowed to happen.
This already happened for video games under similar circumstances with Internet cafes. These days the typical video game EULA prohibits use in Internet cafes without a special license, but as far as I know that has not been tested in court. The easier workaround from the developer and publisher's point of view is to just go online-only, which to a large extent has already happened, especially in Asia where gaming in Internet cafes is widespread.
Nice point! Valve has a special program just for cyber cafes (https://cafe.steampowered.com/index.php ). I have no idea how much it costs but you can pay some recurring subscription for access to a large number of titles. My impression is that most popular cafes pay this and it does very well for both Valve and the cafes.
"Add a wide range of 100+ popular titles to your catalogue.
We provide complimentary promotional materials and marketing support for your cafés.
We are happy to support for in-café tournaments and special events. Please let us know about your upcoming events.
All participants have access to the private Café Forums where they may discuss trends and issues in the cybercafé industry with fellow café owners and operators."
Once again Valve is showing the world how things should be done, is wildly successful, and nobody else seems to pay attention.
It shouldn't be such a huge issue to just meet your customer in the middle.
On the subject of second-hand digital licenses, some people I know (slightly, haven't spoken to in quite a while) created http://www.greenmangaming.co.uk a couple of years ago, built around this concept - no idea how they're getting on.
Though it's not nearly as pronounced; at least in the case of net cafes (absent any other licensing), there needs to be a copy for every game for every computer, which probably does add up to a decent amount of revenue per player hour for all except the Counter Strikes of the gaming world.
Discounted, but not to a $24 million for all Skyrim players degree (based on $80 a copy and 300k users peak).
I never understood how selling used digital games is illegal. It's certainly against the license agreement, but people have the right to sell their stuff and barter it, and game license keys are unique to each copy, which means they can be resold. Has anyone actually been found guilty of selling a "second hand" game, 'cause that's just ridiculous...
Ignoring the legal issue, second-hand purchase of software with license keys, particularly on ebay, is dangerous because those keys may be in use by other people. If the software uses an internet licensing server, it might disable itself because the key is already in use. Buying windows on ebay is a good example.
Ask you local school or corporate IT admin about their license server. Shared licenses are quite standard in the software. They tend to cost more than software with per-client-machine licenses though. The obvious (also standard) alternatives are per-user licensing (user accounts) , and non-user-transferable licenses locked to a client device with DRM (Hello, App Store).
If only game publishers understood that people pay £50 for a game at launch because they can sell it a bit later for at least £25. Used games spread the cost around, and the only way to stop it (or piracy for digital games) is to lower the cost.
A similar situation exists with video games. The market is going pure digital and gamers want the ability to sell "used" digital games. If that were possible then a middleman service would appear which would instantly "buy" and "sell" the game as you launched and closed a game. A wildly successful game such as Skyrim sells millions of copies but only had ~300,000k concurrent users (on PC) at launch. A couple of months later and that number is only ~50,000. Suffice to say this will never be allowed to happen.