OCT. 6, 2009 • Based on its test of used game kiosks that began in May, Wal-Mart announced that it was rolling out used sales to all of its stores. PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, and DS titles will be offered at between 15% and 30% off original MSRP.
Impact: GameStop’s focus on used games has been the source of growing concern for game publishers. The worry is that GameStop tends to focus on pushing more profitable used games to consumers instead of having them buy new product. After GameStop, Wal-Mart is probably the most important game retailer in the U.S. However, we feel that their entry into the used game market will not have as big an impact. Unlike GameStop, the used game kiosks should be a fairly minor portion of Wal-Mart’s retail scheme.
