{"id":450341,"date":"2024-01-16T13:35:45","date_gmt":"2024-01-16T19:35:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/?p=450341"},"modified":"2024-01-16T14:10:08","modified_gmt":"2024-01-16T20:10:08","slug":"uk-games-retailer-game-reportedly-eliminates-trade-ins-next-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/uk-games-retailer-game-reportedly-eliminates-trade-ins-next-month\/","title":{"rendered":"UK games retailer GAME reportedly eliminates trade-ins next month"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Long-time UK games retailer GAME won&#8217;t be accepting trade-ins when February 16 rolls around, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/uk-retailer-game-to-cease-video-game-trade-ins-staff-say\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Eurogamer<\/a>. GAME&#8217;s parent company Frasers Group has officially confirmed its plans to remove the trade-in program to BBC News on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;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,&#8221; said a spokesperson of Frasers Group to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/technology-67983764\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">BBC News<\/a>. This effectively hands off mainstream game trading to CEX, a popular used media retailer in the British Isles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Anthem-is-likely-staying-on-store-shelves-for-a-long-time.jpg?resize=640%2C360\" alt=\"Anthem is likely staying on store shelves for a long time\" class=\"wp-image-450390\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Image via EA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The remaining pre-owned stock that GAME has acquired will be available on store shelves while they last. It will be curious to see how long copies of disappointing titles like <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/reviews\/review-anthem\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Anthem<\/a> <\/em>and old sports games will remain in GAME before it throws them out. Frasers Group hasn&#8217;t given an official reason for this decision, but it&#8217;s likely due to lacking sales in the used game market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;PlayStation and Xbox were not as big a part of the sales as they were [due to supply constraints],&#8221; said GAME CEO Nick Arran to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamesindustry.biz\/game-we-will-be-the-last-man-standing-in-physical-video-games\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">GamesIndustry.biz<\/a> in 2023. &#8220;But our toy business really came into its own, with staggering numbers at Christmas.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>GAME could be switching gears to toys and other similar goods like Pokemon cards instead of its video game titles as gamers look towards an all-digital future. <a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/gaming\/2022\/02\/fewer-and-fewer-console-games-are-seeing-a-physical-release\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Ars Technica<\/a> reported in 2022 a 30% drop in available physical games from 321 in 2018 to 226 in 2021. It was also leaked that the next Xbox Series X refresh called Brooklin <a href=\"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/a-full-recap-of-all-the-xbox-ftc-leaks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">might be digital only<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Perhaps GAME sees the writing on the wall as the gaming industry slowly moves past a used game model, which used to have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/100-million-used-games-traded-annually-in-us\/\">100 million titles traded in<\/a> every year in the US alone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The end of an era. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":852,"featured_media":450375,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"article_type":"","ub_ctt_via":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[478,19114,19116,22252,100,19115,115,116],"internal-label":[24255],"invoiceable_action":[23725],"article_type":[23116],"coauthors":[{"id":852,"display_name":"Chris Penwell","user_nicename":"chris-penwell"}],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GAME-not-accepting-trade-ins-in-February.jpg?fit=1200%2C675","author_info":{"display_name":"Chris Penwell","author_link":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/author\/chris-penwell\/"},"apple_news_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GAME-not-accepting-trade-ins-in-February.jpg?fit=1200%2C675","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450341"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/852"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450341"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450341\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":450412,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450341\/revisions\/450412"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450341"},{"taxonomy":"internal-label","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal-label?post=450341"},{"taxonomy":"invoiceable_action","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/invoiceable_action?post=450341"},{"taxonomy":"article_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_type?post=450341"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=450341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}