North American retail giant Wal-Mart has quietly entered the pre-owned games market over the weekend with the surprise introduction of trade-in vending machines in some of its stores.

NeoCrisis reports that the machines offer users that chance to sell off titles on a number of formats including Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PS2 and Xbox.

The cabinet works by scanning boxed product, asking some questions about condition and then swallowing the game whole. It then credits a user’s account with an agreed amount.

Wal-Mart enjoys a growing presence ion the UK via its owned brand ASDA, which itself has expressed growing aspirations in the game space following great success in the sector.

The news follows similar moves from a number of firms in recent months. Some American Toys R Us outlets are currently trialling a trade-in system, whilst other big-hitters such as Amazon and HMV have also recently entered the space.

On top of this, leading retailers such as BlockBuster, GAME and GameStop have also stressed how important the pre-owned model is to their own businesses.

Picture credit: NeoCrisis