Analyst: Wal-Mart game trade-in kiosks are no threat to GameStop

Signal Hill analyst Todd Greenwald doesn't believe Wal-Mart's new automated game trade-in program will pose a threat to GameStop, calling the new kiosks "more of a traffic driver to Wal-Mart's stores ... than something that will take meaningful share from Gamestop's core consumers."

Greenwald believes that the instant-gratification factor of GameStop's trade-ins will insulate the chain from losing its market to Wal-Mart's machines. He also said that the credit offered by the kiosks "doesn't seem to be significantly higher than what GameStop is offering to pay."

He believes that these Wal-Mart kiosks are just the first of many such automated movie and game kiosks to appear in the near future, some of which, he expects, will not just buy and sell, but also trade products. Despite the oncoming competition, Greenwald calls GameStop "nearly bullet-proof," explaining that the company has several thousand copies of 50 Cent: Bulletproof. Okay, he didn't actually say that last part.

[Image via Neocrisis]