James Delahunty
24 Nov 2011 8:35
New and Used games to be lumped together.
Kotaku is citing employees of Canada's EB Games (GameStop) in reporting that the chain is to blur the distinction between NEW and USED game titles in its stores. If the report is correct, then all games must be in the same sections with the same white price tags.
Essentially, it will strip away much of the features that would give away the fact that a game was previously owned. Kotaku's main source also told them that employees are encouraged to put New copies of games below Pre-Owned copies.
Kotaku contacted EB Games for comment but has not heard anything back at the time of writing.
Since posting the news, Kotaku has gotten e-mails from people who claim to be EB Games employees, with most saying the report is true, and in some cases that the policy has been in effect in a particular store for more than a week.
One e-mail pointed out concern among staff about games that require codes for online play, as some customers might accidentially pick up a Used copy of a title, and go home to find they can't play it online.
Still, even in that e-mail the employee does admit that the stickers do still have USED and NEW on them, but didn't seem convinced it was enough to completely avoid problems for customers.