Video Game Accessory - Third-party Versus First-party

Third-party Versus First-party

Game accessories can be one of two types, first or third party. First party accessories are often very expensive for what they are. Because of this, many companies specialize in the production of similar products that perform the same functions. Most of these items are similar but cheaper. They come at lower costs for many reasons. Because these companies can avoid licensing fees, and did not have the same development costs, they can save money that way. They also may use lower quality materials in the production of the accessories, making them cheaper but usually more fragile and less trustworthy. Another common trait with third party accessories is a better value. While most first party accessories only have one version, only one kind of controller for example, many third party companies will expand upon the original product. As an example, Sony was not the first to release a memory card of twice the original’s capacity. Instead, many of the third party companies were able to release such a product first and get many sales from them.