Odds are, when you think of GameStop, you picture yourself trading in a handful of old titles to buy a new release or one of the retailers “pre-owned” games. You imagine yourself in that physical store. Now GameStop is relying that reputation as a gamers’ hub in a rapidly evolving era of gaming.
In 2004, when it spun off of Barnes & Noble, GameStop had already opened up a world of play by buying old titles in exchange for credit. The used business is still huge for the retailer–it reported $1.2 Billion in trade-in credit last year. It even owns a 200,000 square-foot facility in Dallas, Texas, that refurbished 17 million discs and 1 million consoles in 2011. Ninety percent of trade-ins come from members in GameStop’s loyalty program, PowerUp Rewards, which allows the company to track consumer trends. In 2011, the 17 million PowerUp members accounted for 59% of the retailer’s total sales.
But the market for used physical games could be changing soon. Nintendo announced that this year physical games for it’s handheld Nintendo 3DS and for the upcoming Wii U console will also come as digital versions. Sony had already gone this way with most of its games for its new PS Vita handheld. And rumors abound that the next consoles from Sony and Microsoft, likely coming in 2013, will have additional measures to counter used games in the form of linking purchases to a player account, ala iPhone apps.
Read the full article at Fast Company.