If you were surprised to see a Best Buy vending machine at an airport like we were, you can rest assured that Best Buy isn’t stopping there with it’s vending machine plan for world market domination as it’s rolling out game trading kiosks at select stores for a trial period. Although shoppers will not be able to actually trade their games for another, they can trade them for in-store credit. The kiosks are an answer to the ever expanding used game sales market and to Wal-Mart’s movie rental kiosk that doubles as a game trading station. Although Wal-Mart’s version does not give in-store credit, it doesn’t chain the consumer and their money to the retail giant as it gives them credit for their trade-ins on their debit or credit cards two to three days after the transaction.
Will this expansion of the market make a dent in GameStop’s used game sales? According to Colin Sebastian of Lazard Capital Markets, not at all. “While we believe that Best Buy’s entry into the used video game market will create a new overhang on shares of GameStop, we expect Best Buy’s initiative to expand the used videogame market rather than take significant share from the speciality channel.” So which has your used game vote, dar readers? GameStop, Wal-Mart or Best Buy? Let us knowin the comments!
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