Leading high-street video game retailer GAME is to end game trade-ins, according to accounts from store staff.
GAME employees have told Eurogamer the retailer is putting an end to game trade-ins from February 16.
This means you can expect to see second-hand games eventually disappear from GAME stores altogether. At present. it’s not clear if the remaining stocks will remain in stores, whether they will be consolidated to certain locations. or offloaded behind the scenes. We have approached GAME for further comment.
The move is part of a longer-running shift in strategy. GAME stopped offering cash for traded-in items in 2023, instead offering only store credit or money off an item bought then and there.
At present, the GAME website shows no indication trade-ins are to come to an end.
“At GAME you can easily take your old consoles, games and accessories in-store and sell for credit. Whether you're having a clean-up, or looking to upgrade, we offer a hassle-free trade-in process in your local GAME store,” it says.
After February, CeX and Cash Converters will be gamers’ key high-street chains that offer second-hand games and hardware. Music Magpie and, of course, eBay offer a comparable service online.
GAME Digital was acquired by Frasers Group, best known as the owner of Sports Direct, as part of a £52 million deal in 2019.
The chain has “over 240 stores nationwide” according to the GAME website. However, many of these are nowadays concessions in other stores, including sister retailer Sports Direct.
A standalone GAME store in Newport was closed in favour of such a concession in October 2023, followed by other closures in Nuneaton and Rugby. More recently, stores in Exeter, Witney and Huntingdon are also due to close, according to the Sun.
“Gaming is our core business and we will be last man standing selling physical video games,” Nick Arran, Managing Director of GAME Digital, told gamesindustry.biz in June 2023.
The chain has a much more significant focus on toys, board games and trading cards than it did in the high street’s healthier years.
“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,” Arran added.
