Decision From GAME On Pre-Owned Purchases Signals End Of Era

The video game retailer GAME will, reportedly, stop accepting trade-ins by February 16, while all remaining pre-owned games will be sold until stocks run out.

This would be a continuation of the store's policies, after it stopped offering cash for trade-ins - just store credit - in 2023.

It marks an end of an era for gamers who knew the excitement of heading to their nearest GAME store after completing a PS2 or Xbox game. Getting a return on it felt like a reward for the hours put in.

There was a unique buzz as well in searching the pre-owned section for a bargain or a hidden gem, or a random game you decided to take a punt on.

With more and more gamers downloading through online stores, retailers such as GAME and GameStop will become obsolete.

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Worked for OG Gamestation and moved to a GAME store during Administration. Gamestation was the character and soul, GAME could never replicate. Trade-In was everything. Pre-owned was everything. It gave people access to gaming. They seem to have forgotten that.

— Baron (@VonHavocInc) January 15, 2024

My local store (which is inside Sports Direct) haven’t been accepting trade-ins since start of December. They no longer sell pre-owned games either.

— Scott Emsen (@Emo185) January 15, 2024

‘We wanted a new proposition that attracted new customers," said GAME CEO Nick Arran in a recent interview.

"We now have people who come in for Transformers toys, Hot Wheels, even Barbie toys, and through our reward database and all of our social activity, we can speak to these customers.

‘We get them, and their parents, on board at an early age, and at some point they will get into gaming and we can promote that to them.

‘Our main industry is in decline so we need to plug that gap, but also for the future to bring in these new customers, and get them off of online retailers.’