It’s like a scene straight from one of the video games it sells.
GameStop, the biggest seller of used video games, opened its doors Tuesday to find the world’s largest retailer, Walmart, was taking aim at one of its main lines of business.
Walmart said Tuesday it will step up its game and start offering store credit to customers who trade in used video games.
Scared by the upcoming battle, investors sent shares of Grapevine, Texas-based GameStop down 3.4 percent, to $38.39, Tuesday.
The used video-game business is a lucrative one, and GameStop likely has no intention of backing down.
“Our buy-sell-trade program creates a unique value proposition to our customers by providing our customers with an opportunity to trade in their pre-owned video game products and mobile devices for store credits and apply those credits toward other merchandise, which in turn, increases sales,” the company said in its most recent 10K regulatory filing.
There are roughly 2.3 billion used games in circulation, GameStop estimates, so there is not likely to be a shortage any time soon.
It’s clear why customers like buying second-hand video games. The average price of a used video game is $19 at GameStop, compared with $41 for a new one, according to the company.
As of December 2012, the company had 3,100 different used video-game titles in its inventory throughout its 6,600 stores.
Roughly 27 percent, or $2.4 billion, of its total revenue of $8.9 billion in the year ended Jan. 31, 2013, came from used video games, the company said.