‘Games lose value quicker than cars’

"Brand new video games can lose as much value in percentage terms in just three days as a car would over three years" – that’s the eye-catching introduction to a report into the pre-owned games market by leading consumer watchdog Which?

It claims that a Ford Focus loses around 60 per cent of its value over three years. By contrast, Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops was found to have lost up to 70 per cent of its value in just three days according to the trade-in prices offered by some retailers.

Which? found that CEX offered the best trade-in prices on most prices. Three days after the release of Black Ops it was buying copies for 33 cash. GAME, in contrast, was offering just 16.70.

In addition, at the time of asking CEX was offering 13 cash for Red Dead Redemption compared to Blockbuster’s 6.

"It’s not too difficult to see why so many high street retailers are happy to take second hand games off your hands," the report reads. "When we checked the retail prices of used video games on the shelves of stores we visited, they were as much as five times as high as the price we were offered.

"Blockbuster, for example, was selling pre-owned copies of Red Dead Redemption 29.95 – a mark-up of 24 on the price they quoted us. GAME had Red Dead Redemption on sale for around the 30 mark, despite only offering us 6.70 for our copy."