14 DAY TRIAL // GameStop, the biggest videogame specialist retailer, seems to be ready to replace the paid Edge card linked to its rewards program with a new initiative, called PowerUp Rewards, which, at the time, is tested in Ohio, Missouri and Tennessee.
An inside source has indicated that the new program will be launched country wide in the United States in about one month or so and it seems this is the way GameStop plans to draw in more customers and counter moves on the part of videogame publishers, like Electronic Arts and THQ, to limit the sales registered on the used games market.
A paid version of the PowerUp Rewards card will offer those who get it a 10% discount on all the used videogames that they pick up at GameStop and will add 10 percent to the value of the titles that customers are interested in trading in with the retailer. There's also a free version of the card that does not have the abovementioned benefits.
Both of the versions will get the customer points when they buy things at GameStop, with used games bringing in double the amount of points new games do. An anonymous source told Kotaku that 4,000 worth of points, which is the equivalent of 400 dollars spent on new games, could get the customer a 5 dollar discount on a used videogame. There are also rewards for Netflix, Xbox Live, iTunes and other GameStop programs.
The PowerUp Rewards initiative seems to be built specifically to draw in customers who want to pick titles like Madden NFL 11 or Dragon Age: Origins a month or two after they were officially launched. Publisher Electronic Arts is trying to get them, with programs like the Online Pass and Ten Dollar Project, to get the games new and GameStop is quick to hit back and add incentives to keep them picking up the used version of the titles.