GAME begins trial of pre-owned pre-orders

Dragon Age II, Homefront and Fight Night Champion among those offered for savings

News by Phil Elliott Contributor

Published on March 4, 2011

Retailer GAME has begun offering pre-owned pre-orders on eight key releases in a new trial on its website.

The games are being offered from one week after their official release date, with savings for consumers of up to £21 under the recommended retail price. Five of the titles are from EA, two are from THQ and one is from SEGA.

The practice of selling traded-in games has contributed significantly to the finances of retailers in the past couple of years at a time when a difficult economy and the rise of digital distribution has caused some issues.

However, it is a practice that some sectors of the development and publishing communities are against, because subsequent resale revenue doesn't filter back to their businesses.

The general argument from retail is that there is a clear consumer demand, and that trade-ins promote the sales of new games - although offering pre-orders for pre-owned games before they're released seems counter to this.

The games involved are: