The Death of Trade-Ins

I remember a time that people could buy games and then, in a month or two, when they got tired of them, they could go to the local videogame shop and trade them in for store credit. Now, it feels more like store charity. I went to an Electronic's Boutique today, looking to hock a few games that were a little on the old side. One of them was an XBOX 360 game. They rang them all up and then told me what I would get for the 7 games I brought in. Thirty bucks.

What! The guy went through the list of prices for the games. A couple of them were worth a buck, a couple were worth 4 bucks, and the 360 game (Perfect Dark Zero) was only 10 bucks. That's pretty fucking terrible if you ask me. I was expecting to get maybe enough to get a new game (Fight Night Round 3). So, I gathered up my pathetic resale-value games and took off.

So, I decided to check out what was out there as an alternative to cycle through a large amount of games. I mean, playing Burnout Revenge is great and all . . . but I need a little variety. I checked out Gamefly.com and they have a 14.95/month for 2 games out at a time for the 1st month. Then, they start charging 21.95 thereafter. Sure, I have to return the games in order to get more, but that's pretty much what was going to happen anyway, and this way I don't get screwed on the return price. Seriously, a fucking dollar for a game I payed 50 bucks to get when it originally came out? Insane.

So, this is why I think the trade-in business is either in fast decline or just ready to hit rock bottom. It's just not a feasible option for people like myself. You know, people who don't make a ton of money (or I would if you people endorsed/patronized my advertisers). I just signed up for the service, it seems alright and all. I'll be getting in the mail Fight Night Round 3 & Farcry: Instincts Predator in a couple of days.