GameStop Less Of A Cheapskate Now, Offering 20 Percent More For Used Game Trade-Ins

We reported exactly one week ago of a ridiculous venture gaming retail giant GameStop would soon pursue in its never-ending quest for increased revenue: A very high interest rate credit card. Well today, we learn of a different sort of venture, one that could increase something just as important as revenue - customer loyalty.

It'd be impossible to count the number of jokes people have made involving GameStop's lackluster trade-in values, but as of August 18th, those jokes are going to be harder to make. According to documents obtained by Kotaku, average trade-in values will go up 20%, with the best value coming to you in the form of store credit.

In an example taken from the slide, if someone isn't a Power Up Pro subscriber, they'll get $29.00 hard cash for a game instead of $34.80 in store credit. Power Up Pro subscribers would receive $31.90 and $37.70, respectively. Obviously, few games are going to be sold with this kind of high value, but it still gets the point across.

Now worth at least $12 to GameStop

The key difference in all of this is that GameStop is greatly simplfying how its trade-in system works, which will no doubt be appreciated by employees as much as consumers. When the new system goes into place, trading in for value towards a pre-order or some new item simply won't exist - it's a straight cash or credit deal with the value differing based on whether or not you're a Power Up Pro subscriber.

In the end, I think that this move by GameStop is an important one - after all, its used game business accounts for a major part of its overall revenue. Keeping people enticed to keep on trading-in at the store should only improve things for a company desperate to secure its future.