Amazon Shanks GameStop
BThompson March 5, 2009 - 2:58 pm
Now this is just getting ridiculous. The other day, we told you about how Toys R Us and Best Buy are starting to get into the used game business, and today we learn that Amazon.com wants on board as well. Looks like everyone wants to save a few pennies by playing other people’s greasy games.
(I speak from experience here. I once bought a used copy of The Orange Box that looked like someone used it as a napkin after eating a bucket of fried chicken. Plays perfectly, though.)
But GameStop is currently the undisputed monarch of used game sales, so I’m sure it will take more than this to… Oh, wait. Looks like GameStop shares dropped nearly 14% upon Amazon’s announcement.
Well, crap.
Under Amazon’s plan, you’ll be able to print a shipping label for your used games and send them in as long as they include the original packaging and manual. In exchange, you’ll receive store credit, but it looks like Amazon’s credit percentages won’t be too dissimilar to GameStop’s. In which case, I really don’t see why anyone would want to involve the postal service when they could just walk on down to the game store.
Still, no one should underestimate Amazon.com. They built the Kindle, and that device now owns my soul.
Source: bizjournals
Comments (2)
Now if only the Kindle was cheaper…
Yeah, the Kindle’s on the pricey side, but I got mine as a gift. Maybe I’d feel differently if I had to pay for it. But the fact that I’m able to tote thousands of books with me wherever I go has changed my life. Now I can read the complete works of Dostoyevsky all over town. I’ve taken to just never removing my traditional reading uniform of smoking jacket, ascot, and pipe.
Yes, I’m a pretentious ass.