The video game industry has been becoming more digital in the past few years. Following suit in an effort to continue with used game success, totaling about two-and-a-half billion dollars in revenue this past year, GameStop is looking into ways to re-sell digital software.
“It’s very interesting,” CEO Paul Raines told GameSpot.com. “There are some technologies out there in Europe, and we’ve looked at a couple that are involved. We’re interested; it’s not a meaningful business yet. Right now we’re not seeing that as a huge market, but I think we’re on the leading edge. There are a few companies, a few start-ups, out there that we’ve talked to that are doing this.”
A logical move by the video game juggernaut, this news comes nearly three weeks after European courts ruled that the re-sale of digital products, video games included, is a legal practice. Though this doesn’t affect those of us in North America, the possibility of that being the case here is pretty good.
So far, GameStop buys and re-sells hard copies of games as well as selling codes for certain downloadable titles. If GameStop can figure out the technology behind re-selling digital video game software, it would provide a valuable asset to gamers in the future. This would allow gamers to be able to sell back, return, or trade-in digital games just as easily as it is done for retail copies, whether it is for a bad game or one that a player no longer wants and would like to sell/trade in.
