Digital game trade-in plan revealed

A new PC digital platform is on the way that will allow consumers to sell back their download purchases.

Green Man Gaming is due to arrive in March, with over 400 titles available at launch.

The service’s customers can trade back their games for discounts on future purchases. The firm will then re-sell that game code to another customer for a ‘pre-owned’ price, with publishers and content owners getting a cut of the profit.

Previously the minute you had paid your money and downloaded your game it had no re-sale value,” said Green Man Gaming COO Gian Luzio.

This is expensive for the gamer and does not encourage them to try new genres.

Pre-owned is pretty good for the consumer and encourages them to buy the latest releases. So publishers do get some small benefit from the current pre-owned market. The trade-in sector monetises games for the consumer and allows them to afford the latest release.

What we are proposing is something where everyone benefits in perpetuity. Everytime that game is sold and re-sold, the publishers and content owners will receive royalties.”

Green Man Gaming is also set to work with retailers and other partners worldwide, to integrate digital products into online stores. And the company insists that this is no white label service.

Luzio said: We are offering to integrate digital product seamlessly into their current retail proposition and pay royalties in perpetuity on sales.

I come from a retail background and I’ve seen several digital platforms, but I’ve never been excited enough to implement their proposition.”