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Forums - Gaming - Analyst: GameStop's Used Games Business Gives it 'Recession Edge'

darconi on 07 March 2008
HappySqurriel said:

Although I think buying newish used games from a store like Gamestop is not a good idea (too expensive for a used game) I like that I can find older games at a decent price in pretty good condition ... I can't really fault them for buying used games at such a low price because of the risk they probably take. If you have a game that sells a high percentage of its copies early on, and then you buy a ton of these back, you may only be able to sell a small portion of these games regardless of how low the price becomes; this (probably) isn't that common, but if you sell a game at twice the price you bought it for you have to sell 50% of your inventory before you break even on buying back that game.


 Are you sure of that?  I would say that its just as likely the opposite, used games is part of the reason why some games don't have good legs.  Because some of those big games have a good initial hardcore business, the people who buy them are more likely to beat them quick and are more likely to sell those games back than more casual gamers.

With all the hardcore gamers selling back so many games, all the casual gamers (the ones who don't really care for the fresh unopened game) will just buy those instead of the new and hence no legs.   



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Onyxmeth on 07 March 2008

Also a second thing to consider is, without reselling of videogames we wouldn't be able to acquire titles after they stop getting manufactured. Some games get a very limited release, and then that's it. You're shit out of luck. I get why Gamestop may be bad for the God of War-like monumental series, but what about the guy trying to look for ICO? Or Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne? Or Disgaea(before the PSP release)? Those of you that don't support buying used games, how do you acquire your games if they don't get made anymore?



Tag: Became a freaking mod and a complete douche, coincidentally, at the same time.



Kasz216 on 07 March 2008
alpha_dk said:
A gamer might hate them because they will buy back games at lowish prices, put them up for sale used at $5 less than new, make tons of money off the sale, and have none of it go towards the developer. 50% of $2.3 billion is 1.15 billion. That is 1.5 billion dollars that is *not* being put into developing new games.

This especially hurts short games and games that sell to casual gamers (who will not necessarily buy first-day); as time goes on, they have more chances to buy back a used game which will then sell instead of a new copy. Remember; off this sale the developer gets *nothing*.

So if you don't think thats a bad thing, then by all means keep shopping at Gamestop. I, for one, choose to vote with my dollars and buy new games from other retailers. It may cost me more, but at least I am not being a leech on the industry.

That sounds more like the fault of the poor saps who for some reason decide to sell back their games to gamestop rather then sell them on ebay... or just keep them like me.

 



fabledgamer on 07 March 2008

selling stuff back to gamestop is usally a bad idea because u end up losing a lot while they end up making a profit. That said, there are a few exceptions, like if you buy a crappy game and really want to get rid of it soon.



Ryudo on 07 March 2008

Without going into my usual detail why..I will just simply say as a former longtime employee/Customer fuck that company and will never buy from those cunts ever again.(and FYI I left on my own terms)