Several of retail chain's New York locations now buying back and reselling games as part of preliminary program.
The North American used-game market is currently dominated by GameStop, but it's a lucrative business that continues to draw interest from larger retail chains. Best Buy and Circuit City both ran preliminary used-game programs at a select group of locations for a time, but both ultimately shied away from a national rollout.
Now another retail chain is considering making the leap into the used-game business. A Toys "R" Us representative confirmed for GameSpot that the retailer is buying back and reselling games at "several" of its New York-area locations. In-store signage for the program was photographed and posted on the blog of Cheap Ass Gamer user phear3d.
According to the blog post, the Toys "R" Us in Nanuet, New York is offering store credit for used games as part of a roughly four-month-long trial program. The store requires that all games be in their original cases, complete with artwork and manual, and free from cracks. Furthermore, the sign states that Toys "R" Us will not buy back any games rated "A" by the ESRB, which is presumably intended to rule out games rated AO for Adults Only.
In an exhaustive interview with GameSpot last year, GameStop executive vice president of merchandising and marketing Tony Bartel downplayed concerns of new competition in the used-game market. Although retailers such as Best Buy and Circuit City have run trial buyback programs in the past, Bartel said that they eventually discover "huge barriers" to entry in the market. He said that two of the biggest hurdles to entering the market were the necessity for a refurbishing department to fix products that come in broken, and the ability to transfer stock easily from store to store and region to region to ensure that inventory gets to the places where it can sell.
Brendan Sinclair has been a games journalist since 1999. His tastes are eclectic, though he has a definite affinity for games with arcade roots. He's Canadian, but has also been at home in Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, and San Francisco.
I use to buy used games when games were on cartridges, now when there on a disc I tend to not buy just because some animals tend to scratch up there games and then sell them back to places like Gamestop. I only buy used when its in perfect condition now.
Not a fan of used games. I only buy used if the item is astronomically more expensive brand new than it is used. That said I love Toys 'R' Us dearly. I hope this works out for them.
Hopefully it will be worth actually trading in games and not getting 1/4 of the price(like gamestop>_>). If they actually give in good credit, I will give them a try.
Hmm very interesting how companies like gamestop and Slackers are going to take this kind of approach to their, up till now, dominance in the resell/rebuy portion of gaming.
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