UK retailer GAME will cease accepting trade-ins, in accordance with new report – WGB

Based on a report by the folks at Eurogamer, UK retailer GAME will cease accepting trade-ins from subsequent month, marking an enormous shift for the enterprise.

Through the years GAME has been outlined by the power to trade-in your used bodily video games in return for retailer credit score, however in accordance with Eurogamer that long-running custom will stop on February sixteenth. The information comes through employees members who reached out to Eurogamer, and Eurogamer additionally state that they’ve corroborated it with quite a few branches throughout the nation, though as of but GAME has not made any official assertion.

Over the latest years, the gradual decline of bodily video games has resulted in GAME having to change its enterprise mannequin by bringing in bigger quantities of board video games and videogame-related merchandise, together with a seemingly neverending provide of Funko Pops.

It looks as if GAME nonetheless desires to proceed promoting bodily video games, although, in contrast to UK supermarkets like ASDA and Tesco which have drastically diminished inventory or stopped promoting them altogether. Talking to Gameindustry.biz final yr, GAME CEO Nick Arran mentioned,  “Gaming is our core enterprise and we shall be final man standing promoting bodily video video games. We see our place out there as proving that there’s a place for bodily, whether or not that be the collector’s editions, which we see because the vinyl of video video games, or the gifter who doesn’t wish to wrap up a obtain code for Christmas. However we have to be life like.”

With that mentioned, the final time I visited a GAME retailer, which was towards the tip of 2023, it did look way more like a toyshop than a videogame retailer. With second-hand video games being phased out, I can solely think about the ensuing shelf house shall be taken up by extra Funko Pops.

Curiously in Eurogamer’s personal feedback, somebody claiming to be a former GAME supervisor chimed in with some potential explanations, having reached out to present workers. Going by the identify JJGAMESTER, they mentioned,  “I labored as a supervisor of GAME for years, solely lately left. Spoke to my outdated colleagues they usually say it’s as a result of new tills. (If anybody has seen, the GAME tills are from 1995.) Frasers Group couldn’t determine the right way to program a trade-in function on the brand new tills in addition to a loyalty programme so they could be going as nicely.”

JJGAMESTER additionally acknowledged that the GAME rewards scheme was even be retired, together with reward playing cards, digital merchandise and some different issues.

Replying to different individuals, JJGAMESTER additionally confirmed that whereas GAME’s greatest revenue supply was used video games on account of large margins, it’s now toys on account of Frasers Group, who personal GAME, securing an ideal cope with Hasbro.

Sadly, I’ve no method of corroborating what this consumer has mentioned, however he/she presents a compelling case. God is aware of I’ve definitely famous the traditional tills at any time when I’ve been in-store at GAME, together with workers sometimes being eaten by mentioned tills.

On a extra private degree, GAME was an enormous a part of my childhood. I used to be in there continuously, buying and selling in video games to assist purchase new ones. Watching its decline through the years has been unhappy, however inevitable. Sadly, I can’t think about GAME’s future goes to be significantly better as they nearly all the time appear to cost greater than anybody else for brand spanking new releases.

But when there’s a silver lining to be discovered, it’s that maybe there shall be just a few bargains to be hand within the pre-owned part whereas GAME tries to shift the remaining inventory of second-hand titles.