Best Buy, Toys R Us Retrying Used Game Sales

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Best Buy, Toys R Us Retrying Used Game Sales


Toys R Us [http://www.bestbuy.com/] have joined Walmart in taking another run at the used games market, but industry analyst Colin Sebastian thinks these new programs could do more harm than good to big box stores.

Thar's gold in them thar hills - pre-owned videogame gold, that is, and everybody wants their share. Walmart revealed [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/100580-Walmart-Takes-a-Second-Look-At-Used-Games] on Monday that it's testing a comprehensive new program for used games with a "start-up services provider" called Game Trade and now it appears that fellow big-box operators Best Buy and Toys R Us are also looking into new ideas for used game sales at a few of their stores.

Specifics aren't available, but Colin Sebastian of Lazard Capital Markets said he doesn't expect any of the new initiatives to have much of an impact on the dominance of GameStop [http://www.gamestop.com], the big dog in the used games fight. "Given the lack of success of other pre-owned game initiatives, we don't view these new initiatives as posing a clear threat to GameStop," he said in a statement.

"The barriers [to] establishing a liquid and profitable used video game business are fairly high, including dedicated systems to track and manage used inventory and pricing, the ability to refurbish products and restock stores to balance supply, and compliance with numerous municipal codes," he continued. "While the third-party companies likely have these core competencies, we note that they will not be as tightly integrated as what exists across GameStop's network of thousands of stores."

In fact, Sebastian believes that regardless of their success, the biggest impact of these pre-owned programs could be to cut into the sale of new games. "We believe that the new big box initiatives could have a bigger negative impact on sales of value-priced new software, which are traditionally sold to 'mass market' consumers through the discount big box stores," he added.

The beefy profit margins of used videogames is obviously attractive but can retailers like Toys R Us and Walmart come up with the expertise necessary to be effective in what is inherently a very fluid and subjective market? I bet there are at least a few high-placed videogame executives who are hoping very much that the answer is "no."

Source: IndustryGamers [http://www.industrygamers.com/news/best-buy-toys-r-us-looking-to-test-used-games-again-too/]


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Billion Backs

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Apr 20, 2010
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The gaming industry weeps in horror =p

Hah, so the pirates aren't so bad now are they?

No comment otherwise.
 

GonzoGamer

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Apr 9, 2008
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Like the best buy ad in the pic points out, buying used isn't the value it used to be.
Where a few years ago you could regularly find used games for $5, now you're lucky if you find a used game that's $5 cheaper than a new copy.
I hardly ever buy used anymore. If I'm only going to save $2-$3, I'll opt for the new copy just so I don't have to worry about the fruitcake behind the counter putting in the wrong game... or no game at all.
 

Jared

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Jul 14, 2009
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Well...looks like it has all boomed. Well, I am sure publishers will have alot to say about this at some point...
 

Mcface

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Aug 30, 2009
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New used games are a joke.
Pay 54 dollars for this scratched vomit covered copy, instead of 60 for a new game. But wait, you have to pay another 15 dollars to get the "exclusive" content just to play the game that the 60 dollar version comes with free. now that 54 dollar game costs about 70 dollars.
 

Danpascooch

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Apr 16, 2009
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It would be hard for Best Buy to get into used games, but Toys R Us? Impossible, nobody shops at Toys R Us for NEW games, much less used games.
 

Assassin Xaero

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Jul 23, 2008
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Walmart selling used games? Yeah right. The Walmarts here only have the newest/popular games. If I'm looking for anything that hasn't been released in the past month, Walmart is not the place to go here...
 

Danpascooch

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This is exciting! I guess I'll be shopping at Best Buy now if I can get new games for the price of used games.
 

VanityGirl

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Apr 29, 2009
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Best Buy is bad about over charging for games in the first place so I wouldn't be used games from them...
Also, if I have a choice I won't be a used game at all.
 

Mister Benoit

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Sep 19, 2008
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I think Toys'r us was offering like 10cents USD for a used copy of Earthbound Snes.

The game goes for 70+ for just the cart on ebay, hope they fix their prices lol.
 

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Used games can be great for picking up titles that are out of print or just really hard to find. I'm always careful about prices and never buy used if a new copy can be had for $10 or so more, but I've made some sweet scores going the pre-owned route.

But it's getting harder and harder to find used stuff for PC. One of the EBs in "my area" has dropped used PC game sales entirely and the other one has maybe a dozen titles in stock, all garbage that's been sitting around for years. So for me, it's become almost irrelevant.

With the big push against pre-owned, I have to wonder if maybe these guys aren't a little too late to the party. Are they coming in just as things are starting to wind down? Or will they help rejuvenate the pre-owned market with their massive retail muscle? After all, if Walmart says pre-owned is in, then it's on.
 

OmegaZeroX

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Mar 17, 2010
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...and then there was eBay, where new and/or used is usually, if not always, cheaper than retail. For example, I recently purchased The Last Remnant for the Xbox 360. eBay was selling it new for about $9.99. This meant it was never opened, mint condition, still had the new game smell, all that for a lower price than retail. You could probably sell games online for a bigger profit than trading them in at a game store as well.
 

Hiroshi Mishima

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Sep 25, 2008
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This reminds me of how I used to buy NES games that turned out to be absolute shit as a kid at our Toys R Us and would return them within a week (if that) for a full refund and go buy a different and hopefully better game.

Those were good times... pity little sods had to go and ruin it by beating and then returning games saying they didn't work. :/