Wednesday, November 01, 2017

What, a Post About Gamestop?

Incredibly, Gamestop has announced something that seems to be a legitimately good deal.

That seems impossible, I know.

It's called "Power Pass Unlimited Gaming". It's $60 for six months. Here's the official description:
Enjoy half a year of unlimited gaming for the price of one new game!
Pick any pre-owned game, from throwback classics to the latest hits.
Swap as often as you want and keep the last one. 

Well, if anyone should have a giant stock of pre-owned games, it should be Gamestop. And it's only $10 a month, which is just one lunch, basically.

Plus, it seems like you could find the most expensive used game they offer, check it out a week before your six months is up, keep that game, and sell it right back. So that $60 expense could be only $40, pretty easily.

How does Gamestop make money on this? Damned if I know.

You could argue that people will get this subscription and never use it, but if I'm a parent, I absolutely get this for my kid, and we'll go to Gamestop every week, just like Blockbuster in the old days. I wouldn't have any new games to trade in because I wouldn't buy them anymore.

All right, I'd buy some new Nintendo Switch games. Those are exempt. Everything else, though, I'd just rent.

Also, if I was a used games consumer, I wouldn't need to buy them anymore, either.

No matter how I look at this, it appears that Gamestop is cannibalizing its own business model. That's an interesting business strategy.

Site Meter