14 DAY TRIAL // GameStop, the biggest specialist video game and hardware retailer in the world, has acknowledged that it might be ready to introduce a used game market for digitally distributed titles that it sells to its customers, following a decision from the European Court of Justice.
Paul Rainer, who is the chief executive officer at GameStop, has told Gamespot that, “There are some technologies out there in Europe, and we’ve looked at a couple that are involved. We’re interested. It’s not a meaningful business yet. Right now we’re not seeing that as a huge market, but I think we’re on the leading edge. There are a few companies, a few startups, out there that we’ve talked to that are doing this.”
The only digital distribution service which currently offers trading is Green Man Gaming, but all others might soon be forced to introduce their own solutions.
Tony Bartel, the president of the company, also talked about the impact of used game sales on publishers, saying that, “We are giving them 17 percent toward the purchase of their games today. We have that form of unfunded discount that we give to the publishers.”
GameStop has estimated that it created 1.2 billion dollars (977.5 million Euro) of in-store credit from the sale of used games during 2011, from which 17 percent were then used to buy new games.
About one quarter of the overall business at GameStop is linked to used games.
For a long time developers and publishers have maintained that the increase in the value of the secondary market is hurting their business as players seek deals and price cuts rather than focusing on new releases.
GameStop has always said that gamers trade in their games in order to get the cash that they need to pick up the latest AAA release and that without the secondary market the overall sales for most titles would drop.