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gamestop
GameStop to Take Up Resale Issue with Industry, After Holidays
So yesterday saw a huge row over the issue of used game sales, specifically one writer's now-disowned call for them to be regulated heavily in favor of the publishers. Victor Godinez of the Dallas Morning News wrote to me to share some details of an interview he had Thursday with Dan DeMatteo, the chief executive officer of GameStop, in hopes they can better inform this discussion.
Some of what DeMatteo said has been out there already. But his on-the-record position, shared by Godinez, is that the damage done by used-game sales is more perceived than real, and it sounds like after the holidays DeMatteo will be going to game makers to make the case that resales are a good thing for them. More »
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bad idea jeans
Editorial Calls for Aggressive Obama Intervention in Growing Games Industry [Updated]
On the assumption that President-elect Obama is indeed interested enough in these issues — and with Detroit and Wall Street cratering, that's a Hulk-sized leap — an editorialist at Kombo has appealed for aggressive, White House-led regulation of the games industry once the new administration takes over.
[Update] While the writer stands by his call for the Obama administration to take some sort of leadership role in giving games developers some investment and advantages, he's disowning his paragraph regarding regulation of the used games markets. I've been in this boat a few times so I'll allow his response, but I'm keeping the original post in place because, lacking context, any response is hard to follow. It's on the jump. More »
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Used Games
Spore Programmer Writes in Defense of Secondary Market
Soren Johnson — who wrote the code for Civilization 3 and 4 and is now a designer for EA Maxis, working on spore — spoke a few words of charity on behalf of used games and resellers on his personal blog this week. It puts this emerging debate in several thoughtful contexts. Notably, the resale of games increases the perception that they have monetary value, and that is a powerful concept that connects more gamers to games. Especially in times like these. More »
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Nice Package
Gamers Enjoy Their Disc Packaging
A recent study commissioned by the Content Delivery and Storage Association (CDSA) and the Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA) indicates that gamers are much more likely to save the DVD cases rather than store their disc somewhere else and throw the packaging away. They could have determined this by looking in any gamer's living room, but I suppose The NPD Group, who conducted the study, gets paid for hard numbers, so here they are. 88 percent of game owners store their games in their original packaging, with 8 percent claiming to save the discs in sleeves while storing the packaging, and a minuscule 5 percent saying that they throw the cases away. More interesting that those stats though is the reasoning behind them - 54 percent of gamers polled stated that they trade or sell their titles when they are done with them. No wonder GameStop is doing so well.
The survey also unearthed a few interesting facts, such as the average size of a video game collection (48 titles) and the fact that 11 percent of video game households surveyed have unopened games in their collection. Hit the jump for the full results, and see how game collectors stack up against those filthy DVD collectors. More »
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Buy, Sell, Trade
HMV Launches Used Game Initiative
HMV is pretty sure games are going to be bigger than music, and as part of their slowly shifting focus they're rolling out their very own pre-owned game program, HMV Re/Play. Launching this Friday across approximately 160 HMV retail locations, the company will begin accepting game trade-ins across all major console and handheld platforms, exchanging used titles for store credit good for anything the store carries - DVD's, games, and even music...but who buys CDs anymore?
"Our launch into pre-played games and the acquisition of gamerbase.com underlines HMV's long term commitment to games as it becomes an ever-increasing part of our overall product mix," said HMV managing director Simon Fox.
An interesting development, but I've always felt that trade-in programs work better in video game-specific retail stores. Many electronics and entertainment chains in the states have tried this and failed miserably. Remember MediaPlay? Yeah, we were such dorks back then.
HMV enters pre-owned market with Re/Play launch [GamesIndustry.biz] -
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Used Games
Best Buy Canada To Sell Used Games
GameStop will be getting some major competition in the used game market in Canada as Best Buy Canada begins to roll out used video game sales at their Future Shop outlets throughout the country. The company is kicking things off with a test at six of its Calgary stores, with plans on rolling out used product to each of its 133 Future Shop stores across the country by late summer.
Future Shop's director of merchandising Michelle Grawe expects that the sale of used games will draw in younger customers to the chain while doubling the chain's video game sales over the next three to five years. Grawe also commented that the chain is prepared to undercut GameStop prices in order to lure customers away from the chain, which until now has been Canada's only major retailer offering used games.
If the used game push is successful in Canada I wouldn't be surprised to see this initiative rolled out in U.S. stores soon after.
Best Buy to enter used video game market [ReportonBusiness.com]
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gamestop
49 Million U.S. Gamers Buy Used Games To The Tune Of $1.3 Billion
Used games, the bane of publishers and the bread and butter of retailer GameStop, is a $1.3 billion business in the U.S. alone, reports research firm OTX. Their findings from the MI6 summit breaks down the used games biz, showing the buying habits of folks who dabble in the pre-owned, all of which is detailed at the report at Gamasutra.
There are some interesting, if dry research results, as OTX profiles "Glutton Gamers"—the type that turns around new software fast enough to make a decent return on their investment when reselling—what games are generally considered "keepers"—sorry Carnival Games—and just how much of that trade-in cash gets funneled back into the industry. Worth looking at if only for the Glutton Gamer graphic. It's XTREME!
Analysis: 49 Million U.S. Gamers Buy Used Games [Gamasutra]
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sales
GameStop Brings New Meaning To Gross Profit
File this under the things you really didn't want to know category, right between the "yes, your parents had sex to make you" and "McDonalds cheeseburgers are half tofu, half insect protein" files. Next Generation has documented that GameStop makes loads of money by selling you used games. Shocking, we know.
While GameStop sells more dollars in new software than used, their gross profits on resales are indisputably the $650 million lifeline of their business. Then again, all those consoles GameStop sells—that's basically charity work. Here's another graph showing you the breakdown even better: More »
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gamestop
Used Game Sales Are "Parasitic", Hurting Industry
The GameStop business model is built on the company's ability to sell used and, in many cases, often piss-poor condition console games. That practice is being slammed in an editorial published today by Next-Gen editor in chief Colin Campbell, who calls the process "parasitic" and writes that it costs the industry $1 billion annually. It's not necessarily a new sales trend, but one that may be changing, as digital downloads via Xbox Live Marketplace, Wii Ware, Steam and the PlayStation Store ramp up. More » -
used games
Gamefly Testing Trade-Ins
We all know that GameFly replaces having to run out to the store and buy a game with the convenience of having to wait several weeks in a queue for AAA titles, but what about our old games? They just sit there, gathering dust and making our entertainment centers look all varied and colorful. Well soon GameFly might even be able help with that. The company has been testing a game trade-in service through select customers, allowing gamers to ship in their used games in for credit towards membership fees and purchasing other used games. The folks at Joystiq contacted GameFly, who gave them the down-low.
We've been testing a trade-in program for a few months now. When we are convinced that there is sufficient consumer demand and the customer experience is highly robust, we expect to make it available to all our members.
Of curse other websites have had this sort of system in place for quite some time, and as the article states GameFly's used prices don't bode well for trade-in values. Convenient possibly, but I still think eBay will still be the most profitable way to go when you're clearing out shelf space.
used games
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