back to article Game offers pre-orders on pre-owned titles

Game has launched a scheme for customers to order pre-owned games before the title has even hit the shelves. Registered visitors to the Game website can place orders and will be put into a queue. As new releases come back into the shop as used copies, they will be mailed out to the people waiting in the virtual line. Each …

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  1. David Neil

    RRP

    The RRP may be £50, but the number of games actually the shelves for that price point is pretty small.

    A quick browse round my local Game shows the majority of newish releases are proced up at around the £39.99 mark, with pre-owned around £34. By the time you pay a load of MS points for the new game only content, you would end up paing more.

  2. tommy060289
    FAIL

    Retarded much....

    It's not really a £16 saving as I can't remember the last time the last time i saw a game priced at £50 even game and game station only price £45 max, plenty at £40 and if you are doing it online then that means your using the Internet and you can always get the latest releases brand new for an absolute max of £35 new, usually less which would be. Cheaper than second hand, especially if its an ea game with the online pass!

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Each title is priced at £34, a saving of £16 on their full RRP."

    wow massive savings then.

    Just get it brand new for £34 a week after release. Which come to think of it is how long you'd have to wait anyway for some tard to use his copy and send it back looking like its been under a belt sander for 20 million hours.

  4. NoOnions
    WTF?

    I'm getting old...

    The ZX-81 article made me realise that I've been gaming for 30 years. I hit my best (online) with BF1942 and BF2.

    To find out that you can pre-order pre-owned games has actually shocked me!

    It just seems weird. Why? I just don't know.

    (NoOnions goes back to his pipe and slippers and has a think)

  5. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    How much?

    I just had a quick look and Crysis 2 is £36 pre order on PS3 and Xbox and £27 on PC.

    For that you get a brand new game on the day of release or earlier if the post is quick.

    Somehow I can't see this working.

    On the other hand, if this is an attempt to annoy the gaming industry who hate second hand games at the best of times then I think it will be a huge success.

    1. Gerard Krupa

      Re: How much?

      Considering the several hundred percent mark-up that Game always apply to second-hand titles I suspect this move is motivated solely by greed rather than any kind of attempt to bite the hand that feeds them.

  6. Chris Harrison
    Unhappy

    Just say no, Kids.

    I wouldn't 'sell' my old games to game on principle. Their markup is incredible, and as another poster has noted, this market sucks money out of the game industry.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Personally

    I find most of games pre-owned titles are WAY over priced - get them online new for less.

    1. Annihilator

      Yes

      Not only that, they're also screwing the person they buy it from. Seems that they buy them for roughly half the price they sell them at if my one-time dip into the market found. Cut out the middle man and put them straight on ebay. If they're near-new games, they'll probably go for less than Game would sell them at, but higher than Game would buy them at. Win-win.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    wtf?

    just order from play.com and save a fortune.

    game etc are rip off artists for goodness sake.

    and no, i don't work for play.com

  9. The elephant in the room
    Stop

    A good idea in principle

    - its just that Game pre-owned prices are a rip-off. They should be half what they are to be worth considering.

  10. Greg D
    Grenade

    Steam.

    I'll just buy the £50 for £29.99 on Steam thanks.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Grenade

    Shop around!

    Hmm - great idea Game. I think I might still shop around and buy my new games cheaper than your used prices. Seriously - the used prices in Game have been creeping upwards for years and are now utterly insane.....

    http://www.game.co.uk/Games/Xbox-360/Action-Adventure/Assassins-Creed-Brotherhood/~r348987/

    http://www.play.com/Games/Xbox360/4-/13461455/Assassin-Creed-Brotherhood/Product.html?searchtype=allproducts&searchsource=0&searchstring=assassins+creed+brotherhood&urlrefer=search

    ....jeez, i wonder where i'll spend my money?

  12. Paul 87

    The trouble is

    It's just a cynical marketing ploy by Game, they know that the titles being offered need a purchase from EA to get it to work as advertised, but I bet they won't even consider making that clear to the consumers. What's more, with "second hand goods", there's less protection for the consumer when the item has been clearly marked as such, so those duped won't even be able to take the item back.

  13. tommy060289
    Stop

    on another note

    why do people bum play so much. I used to buy loads off there when they were newer (and yes their service is second to none) BUT, since they have become mainstream they really arn't that cheap in internet terms anymore.

    Yes sometimes they do have good offers and sometimes they are one of the cheapest but it worries me that theyve become the default place to get a bargain, similar to what ebay used to be considered (which again isnt as cheap as people think).

    For many a game I can usually find a good £5 cheaper than play.com just by going on one of the price comparison sites such as www.find-games.co.uk

  14. MJI Silver badge
    FAIL

    50p more for brand new

    £34.something at Tescos recently for Killzone 3 day after release.

    Wow preorder used and save 50p.

    £34 for second hand HAS to be a fail.

  15. Lottie

    Hmm

    I used to get the odd used game from Game. Mostly when they were doing their 3 for £20 or something when they were trying to get shot of all their PS2 titles. I find that eBay is far better for used games as the market sets its own price and the person selling gets all the money instead of a paltry sum before Game add a good 100% markup.

  16. Keith Crooks
    Terminator

    I vant to suck your blood!

    Game is becoming more and more of a leach on the games industry as each year passes. Maybe it's a general shift in retail patterns and more people are just generally shopping online.

    But a visit to most Game stores these days shows more and more shelf space taken up by pre-owned games with new games taking a backseat. How long before they become the Smack Converter of the games industry and just deal in pre-owned?

    I guess it makes sense though - let the supermarkets and online retailers make a tiny markup on new sales then buy those same games for half the price and then sell them on to idiots at nearly full retail.

    Although it seems the supermarkets want a slice of the greed filled pie and have jumped on the band wagon. So what happens when there is nowhere left to buy new games from? Are the same pre-owned games just going to go round and round until everybody is bored of playing the same games?

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