UK retailer GAME to cease video game trade-ins, staff say
UPDATE: Chain now confirms.
UPDATE 16/1/24: GAME has now confirmed it will end video game trade-ins, as first reported by Eurogamer yesterday.
"As part of the integration of GAME, we will be phasing out the trade-in, pre-owned and Game Elite offerings in the UK over the coming months," a spokesperson for the chain's owner Frasers Group told BBC News.
"Pre-owned will still be available in our standalone stores across the UK while stock lasts, and Game Elite will still be available until the end of summer."
GAME Elite is the chain's reward programme where you can earn boosted reward points with a £3/month subscription.
Eurogamer understands the move has been prompted by the growing number of GAME outlets now located within Sports Direct stores, which require a separate till that tracks the large back catalogue of items the chain currently accepts for trade-ins.
GAME's till software remains distinct from the software used by Sports Direct, staff have told me, and also requires training for shop staff to deal with. Removing this would streamline the operation further, rather than undertake a costly process of merging systems in an age of declining physical game sales.
ORIGINAL STORY 15/1/24: GAME, the UK's biggest high street video game retailer, will no longer allow customers to trade in physical video games from next month, staff have told Eurogamer.
The chain is expected to end its long-running video game trade-in facility on 16th February, with remaining pre-owned stock continuing to be sold until it has run out.
GAME staff have been told of the change, and Eurogamer has corroborated this with multiple branches of the retailer nationwide. We've contacted GAME itself for more.
It's unclear when GAME itself is planning to detail the change, but if you've got physical games lying around you no longer want, staff have told us there's still a month to take them in to your local branch.
GAME's website notes that the chain currently still accepts "most consoles, games and gaming accessories" - although nothing "retro" (which it states includes the PlayStation 2 era and older).
At GAME, trade-ins can be exchanged for store credit or a gift card. This differs from CEX, the UK's other major high street chain to deal in pre-owned video games, which still offers cash (albeit in lower amounts than store credit).
"Gaming is our core business and we will be last man standing selling physical video games," company boss Nick Arran told Eurogamer sister site GamesIndustry.biz last year.
"We see our place in the market as proving that there is a place for physical, whether that be the collector's editions, which we see as the vinyl of video games, or the gifter who doesn't want to wrap up a download code for Christmas."
At the same time, GAME has also pushed into the toy market, including Lego sets and trading cards.
GAME has been part of the Frasers Group since 2019, when the company accepted a takeover bid worth £52m.
The chain has since lost a number of standalone stores, but gained others via concessions in other Frasers Group outlets such as Sports Direct and House of Fraser. Including these, GAME now trades from more than 300 locations nationwide.