GAME: Pre-owned attitudes are changing

Ian Shepherd, the CEO of leading UK games retailer GAME, has said that the attitude of publishers toward pre-owned has changed.

As long ago as 2005 publisher bosses were openly bemoaning the revenues lost to retail’s pre-owned sales. It has even been said the sector poses a bigger threat than piracy.

And the likes of EA have even gone as far as to reward new buyers with content that pre-owned buyers must pay to access. But these moves are not indicative of the overall viewpoint, Shepherd argues.

"I think, through conversations with developers and platform owners, that there is a growing realisation that a healthy pre-owned marketplace is good for the whole industry," he told MCV.

"It has made the mint marketplace more affordable and has kept people in that marketplace. There has been endless debate over pre-owned versus mint, but my view is that a healthy pre-owned and trade-in marketplace – which we are largely the people who are involved in driving – is good for the whole industry."

However, there is some evidence that not every publisher has cooled its hostility toward pre-owned.

Just last week two leading retailers who offered consumers the chance to trade in Brink for 35 against a copy of LA Noire had to either restructure their marketing or shun marketing altogether following demands from publishers.

To read MCV’s full interview with Ian Shepherd, click here.