Gamestop's used game sales data in beautiful chart form

Could anyone tell me why the hell GameStop now puts yellow stickers all over the spine of the actual paper covers? Why do they now deface the box art on games?

I would NEVER buy a game in that condition... it could be a game I want, the used game with that sticker could be $1 and the new game could be $100, and I'd buy the new game. I have my limits.

I always buy new games because I'd rather see the money get back to developers. Except EA games, after they monopolized the NFL games, I kinda feel like they're an evil corp.

i think because next gen games cost so much, if you go in 3 days after a game comes out, they usually already have a used copy-depending on the population in your area. Some people trade them right after they beat them, so you cant tell the difference-and save $5-$10

matt matthews? come on, seriously?
well where's john johnson, mitch mitchell, pete peters, and richard noggin? ok, you may have to think about that last one kids ;D

Well the Gamestop near me sells me used games and I don't even know it til I open up the box and *surprise*!

"remember that consumers tend to take trade-in value into account when making those new game purchases. A bloated $65 price tag for a new game is a lot easier to swallow if you know you can get a good portion of that back once you're done with it, after all."

That's a very good point. As a person who buys games "for keeps" usually - I hadn't thought about it that way.

Regardless, I think the reason I don't sell my games is because I'm pretty insulted when GameStop offers me $10-15 for a game that I see resold on their shelf for $54.99.

I get much more personal benefit lending the game to my friends and family. Sure, I may loose $10-15 (in trade-in value, of course), but I usually save others much more than that, and I like to think that they remember the gesture.

I don't buy used...ever. I encourage everyone to buy new or wait for a sale (I didn't think Assassin's Creed was worth $60, so I waited for BB to put it up for $40).

I can't support a model that generates huge profits for a company which it does not share with the producers of their product. It's piracy to my eyes...the developers should profit from every sale. When they don't, it's stealing.

i dont trade my games in there anymore unless they have some kind of good promotion going on. i got like $25 for Far Cry: Vengence on Wii that i had bought for $20 in the Circuit City bargain bin. other than that, i always feel like im getting shafted and would rather just keep um. i was done after i watched my little brother trade an old Madden game in for like $.50 when he paid $50 for it when it came out. ive been buying used game on eBay alot lately when i do purchase used games. otherwise, i feel Gamestop is only good for new games.

Trading in games is such an unnecesary evil. I did a bit of excelling to compare the prices gamestop was offering for the games i sold on half.com. ridiculous gouging. $25 for a brand new game that will get sold for $50 is ridiculous. (as a side note, i found that DS games retain value betteer than xbox 360)

Gamestop may have made 50% on used games before but that isn't the case anymore. They used to give me $25-30 for a one or two month old highly sought after game. Now they offer me $10-15 for a game that sells for $50 used. Thats a 60% profit right there. What they are trying to do is make 100% back on a game they buy from a publisher. If they make 30-35% on the first sale and 60-65% on the used sale, that is 90-100% profit. Sorry but thats BS.

When they offered me $10 for Motorstorm and $15 for Dirt I told them to go to hell unless they gave me $25 for each since both were still being sold for $45 and $50 used. The guy told me that trade-ins are set by corporate and I told him that the used game inventory at Gamestop is going to dry up pretty fast if they keep ripping people off and I won't ever be back.

Join in and don't trade your games back. Dry up Gamestop's cash cow and they'll change thier tune pretty quick. Let them know that offering $10 for a trade in worth $50 to them is a business tactic gamers won't put up with.

it looks like the last set of data is flipping me off.

If I know the game is really good I have no problem buying it new, but if the game is a bit weak or too short I buy it used.

Soooo... what this is saying is that consumers are willing to pay the price of used games, but not of new ones.

Therefore, if the companies reduced the price of their new games to that of the used ones they'd get 44% more sales/profits.

@ capt Carl as a former longtime Gamestop employee,get a new job while you are still ahead.

That corp fill fuck you in the ass more so than it fucks with the customers eventually I saw them (not the manager I worked with a great manager) fuck over just about every employee they had,I eventually became another.




I hope one day Play N Trade or Gamefly does to them what Netflix has done to blockbuster.

They are a freaking rip-off!!! Let's not buy from them!! I went into bored without the intention of buying anything, just looking around and I saw a Used PS2 Katamari Demacy for 30 bucks!!! WTF!! Isn't that the new price? In 2004? What a bunch of douches!! I don't buy anything from them anymore, I'd rather get a price match at Best Buy from Circuit City, beacuse CC never has anything in stock, or Fry's, Target.
THEY CAN GO TO HELL!!
Seriously it's up to us as gamers to send them a message.

Bravo. This was the first time I have ever read a story on Joystiq about GameStop that was fair and balanced, taking a look at both ends of the spectrum.

80% of new game sales are enabled by trade-in credit. For some big titles, that number actually increases. The developers are starting to understand that their sales are predicated upon a perpetually rejuvenating market, otherwise the risks of a mid 80's crash become far greater due to the buying public's increasing inevitability to afford new generation systems and games.

If you read my earlier posts, you'll see I am a part of the company. And I will say we have made great strides, specifically in the last year, towards redefining ourselves for our customers. We didn't like what we had become (albeit no independent video gaming retailer we have been able to survive without used sales to compete against Best Buy, Circuit City, Wal-mart without reservations and subscriptions, and certainly used sales) and I can say we are changing.

Our performance rankings no longer had reservations or Game Informer subscriptions; starting 3 days ago, we now rank stores on Customer Service feedback scores, Turnover of employees (because we were washing through so many due to the aggressiveness in our reserve/sub culture), total sales comps, trade comps, and shrink.

I promise everyone on here; we ain't perfect, but we're trying. This is a young retail company, with a lot of learning left to do. Please still consider us. I am just a District Manager, but I believe in our customers, employees, company, product, and retail model. Should any of you ever endeavor to run your own gaming store, you'll see; your business couldn't survive with used sale profitability to reinvest in new products.

By the way--$1 billion dollars of customer purchasing power to buy new games from games they don't want anymore surely isn't bad for the developers. Consider that if it were removed as an option, and that's all our trade in program is for you; an option.

Thank you all, even for hating us, because it challenges me to want to be better for you.

-Cloaker

Why on earth do you people give 2 shits how much Gamestop sells it for once you've sold it in? Go find a nice best buy employee, ask them to check some of their item costs (Their employee discount is 5% over what company pays). Those 19.99 USB cables, they pay under a dollar for. Those 2000 TV's, they might be jacking up 500 dollars. But since you can't see it, you don't care. But since Gamestop gives you the information, everyone hates them. Kinda ironic.

I just never sell old games. Not even home alone for the SNES that I got bundled with an Ebay purchase.

I may return or trade-in games that I just bought, but only if I'll get my full money back or at least an equal amount of in-store credit.

I hate it here in the UK when the store tries to tell you it's not their policy to accept unwanted games for refunds. Then they say they'll do it just this one time. Don't believe them, it's the law and your right!

I'm really curious to see what this graph looked like from 1999-2003. That's when I was a poor college student and frequented the used game shops like EB Games and Game Crazy, actually found good deals on good games, and never felt ripped off. And even after I graduated, I never felt too ripped off at EB until the merger with Gamestop.

The last used game I got was sometime last year when I managed to find the Minish Cap for GBA. You think case stickers are annoying? What about stickers on the actual game? Who wants to slide that graying, peeling, greasy, yellow price tag into their portable GBA-playing-device-of-choice?

one of the things that really annoys me that was touched on by another poster was the fact that often games are sold as new yet are completly unwrapped and "used". this is due to employees being able to take home games, kinda like a free rental system for gamestop employees's. once a game is unwrapped it's used, in any other buisness if some thing is unwrapped or opened it's used.

another point to remember is that the reason gamestop's numbers are so low on new games being sold is that unless you researve something your not going to get it new there on release week which is a problem that has been talked about over and over. how many times have the posters here been told "you better researve it or you wont get it" from gamestop people? they need to start ordering more new titles and stop the we dont have enough overhead to buy new games crap, there turning into a huge company with stores all over the world, overhead isnt a problem anymore.

Seriously guys. Go to gametz.com (or any other trading site, I'm not advertising) and cut out the middleman.

Couple things to consider here.

New means not previously purchased by a customer.
A brand "new" car can have 10 miles to 100 miles on it and it is still "new"

If a game is unwrapped, it does NOT mean that it was used in any way.

Games have been opened to use the case as a display because you can not leave the game in there because of the theft.

So, when done with the display, they wrap it. The game was in a sleeve in a drawer. Therefore, the item is STILL NEW!

Oh, as far as I know, they do not allow employees to take the games home anymore to try them out.

That is one thing I never understood. It is new. It is undamaged and shinny. Even if it was out of the case and in a protective sleeve.

Are the clothes that were tried on (but not bought) at the store new or used?

Just a thought to consider.

does gamestop accept the x-box 360 with the red ring. it just happened to ours and we are just curious if they would take it as a trade-in?