A few days ago Walmart announced that it would begin selling used games. This, of course, is in hopes that it can chip away at GameStop's dominant lead in that particular market, and further solidy its place in the gaming community. It is an interesting move, but will it work? GameStop CEO, Paul Raines, doesn't seem to think so. In a recent interview Raines pointed to several things that Walmart was doing wrong, and ultimately what led to other player's failures in their attempts to knock off GameStop as the king. We'll see.
Another interesting move by Walmart is the idea of launch parties. Call of Duty: Advanced Warefare comes out officiall on Nov 4, but several retailers, Walmart included, will be launching the game early with the special Day Zero edition. Now this Day Zero comes with lots of perks to the game play, however it isn't exactly as exclusive as some are saying. Not only are other retailers joining in on this 24 hour advance, but players also have the ability to pre-order / download the games straight to their Xbox 1 or Playstation 4. I comment in the video that if Microsoft and Sony can nail this distribution channel, Walmart and GameStop suddenly become useless partners to gamers. Why would I stand in line for a game when I could be at home playing it already with my friends? It is certainly a question that Walmart and GameStop are going to have to figure out the answer to.
One thing is for certain though, the used game market isn't going anywhere anytime soon. That 2 billion dollar a year market is simply too big to wither away overnight, and the lure of cheap, albeit used, games is too big. BUT… if everyone starts downloading their games in the future, suddenly there are no more used games to circulate.
–Dan Thompson