Deal-of-the-Weekend: Buy 2 get 1 free used games at Gamestop

by Joystiq Staff { Sep 26th 2008 at 7:00PM }

Gamestop is having a special this weekend: Buy 2 used games, and get 1 free. You can head to a local Gamestop or used the code GSB2G1 during checkout. If you are part of the Edge program, you will receive an additional 10% off. The offer ends this Sunday, September 28th, so you'll have to hurry if you want to take advantage of it.

Tags: deal, deal-of-the-day, gamestop

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Philip @ Sep 26th 2008 7:23PM

shoot i'm broke, just got buzz and lego batman NOOOoooo!!!

Jason B. @ Sep 26th 2008 7:42PM

I was just there yesterday and they said nothing when I bought two used games. That irks me.

george @ Sep 27th 2008 11:47AM

WEEKEND. A period referring to saturdays and sundays, sometimes including friday. Yesterday was not weekend.

Adam @ Sep 26th 2008 8:03PM

No one should shop at GameStop, no matter who you are.

You do no one any favours, and actually hurt game developers and publishers. Not to mention, feed the evil seed that is the GameStop brand.

Tim @ Sep 26th 2008 8:05PM

Not to mention, their used games cost like $50 or $55. Not really worth it. It would be much cheaper to buy them on EBAY.

LatinoLA1 @ Sep 26th 2008 8:08PM

i have no other way to buy videogames so my only choice is to buy from them, but what i don't get is why is it so bad buying from them?

Kodros @ Sep 26th 2008 8:20PM

I'm not against shopping at Gamestop but I won't buy any used games from them.

AznCrew8317 @ Sep 26th 2008 11:07PM

you should buy used games at BlockBuster instead, they are usually in better condition, and carry alot of rare gems if you're willing to dig through their inventory!

Smitty @ Sep 26th 2008 11:08PM

@Latino

What Adam is referring to is the standard Gamestop operating strategy. Sell new games only when forced to and push used games as hard as possible. Why? Here's some made-up math to illustrate:

Let's say you buy a new game for $60 from a major retailer. I don't know what the margins are, but we'll say that the retailer makes $10 in profit from the sale (they have to buy from a distributor / manufacturer at, we'll say, $50). The $50 that the retailer paid gets distributed to the manufacturer, the developers, etc. who all have their own costs as well. Let's say they also make $10 in profit from each sale. I'm completely making the numbers up but it really doesn't matter.

What Gamestop does is aggressively urge gamers to sell back their new games to the chain. They pay very little for this (usually single digits). They then resell the used game, again very aggressively, at as high a price as possible (like Adam said, sometimes at less than a 5% discount from a new game). This means Gamestop is keeping a very high margin of profit (up to $50 vice the $10 seen on the sell of a new game). That's why your average Gamestop is filled to the brim with used discs and very scarce on volume for new releases.

Honestly, it's a very good business model; especially from a profitability standpoint. But it really, really pisses off game developers, manufacturers, and pretty much anyone else in the supply lines as they are all cut-out of the resell profits.

It will be very interesting to see what happens as digital distribution becomes more and more feasible. Think about it. Buy Warhawk used from Gamestop, they make ~$30. Buy it new from PSN, all the profit goes to those who actually made the game and distribute it. Game developers are DYING for digital distribution to become the norm!

LatinoLA1 @ Sep 27th 2008 12:55AM

Yea i get you on the trading thing now, that's why i never sell them back to them and find a friend or some one outside to sell it to(which probably doesn't help developers), but i can get more money for myself since what they usually want to give me is really low for it, and plus they make me mad since i look on what there giving me and what there selling the used ones for, which usually have a pretty big difference in price...

SteveO @ Sep 26th 2008 8:13PM

Would be nice if one Gamestop had all the games I want. Civ Revolution, Warhawk and Burnout Paradise... I have 7 Gamestops in my area, and NONE of them have all 3 in stock.. Awesome.

Snutz @ Sep 26th 2008 8:34PM

If you don't have three games to buy, they've also got a 20% off any used games or accessories for up to 3 items coupon. I threw it up on imageshack here:

http://img101.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ebc3006517qd7.jpg

Daniel @ Sep 26th 2008 8:49PM

There is nothing wrong with Gamestop. It's not our fault devs don't somehow count the amount of games that are re-sold or come up with some tracking system to see those numbers. There is nothing wrong with Gamestop though. If you can get a used game for a good price there then it's well worth going there. I agree for newer games it's harder to find good deals but I've found some AWESOME PS2 games for like $5-10 so those are a great deal.

freeblue @ Sep 26th 2008 9:01PM

wish i could.. but no more money after fallout 3 and LBP, and iron man.

lorddshadow @ Sep 26th 2008 9:36PM

please tell me you're talking about the movie...

freeblue @ Sep 27th 2008 1:47AM

of course.. you can't even pay me to play movie turn video game games.

iamkid @ Sep 26th 2008 10:08PM

yea, whats wrong with gamestop people? the only thing thats wrong with them are the insanely low prices they pay for your games, but other than that, its a good place. cool deal though if youre like me and like used games

freeblue @ Sep 27th 2008 1:47AM

i have to agree, if you know there's a new game you want, trading in your old games for store credit and immedately use it to buy the new game. the price you get for gamestop is almost the same as you get from ebay and amazon after you deducted all the shipping/fees/package expenses. and you get the bonus of not having to deal with scammers on those "self" selling sites.

bsnitch @ Sep 26th 2008 11:39PM

I am way anal with my game cases. i wont even buy the special editions because they dont look the same when i put them in my rack. I like all of the cases to be smooth and uniform when looking through my wall cabinet. So the only reason i hate gamestop is because every case looks like a 1 year old used it as a chew toy. that is not going to fly with me. i have bought new games from them, but it would be very hard for me to buy something from them because of the case.

lorddshadow @ Sep 26th 2008 11:45PM

heck, even the new ones have those annoying stickers plastered all over them and trying to remove them makes it worse! gamestop is only good for preorder goodies.

georgel @ Sep 27th 2008 12:01AM

Heres whats wrong with gamestop: they give you an insulting price for a used game or system and sell it for $54 used. I can get it for $54 brand new and sealed at a mom and pop type store online. I recommend using gamefly and renting titles, if you want to keep one it is anywhere from $44-48 to keep one and that saves you at least $12 or more per game to cover the cost of the service. Right now for instance i can keep the ps3 game pure for $46 instead of buying it at gamestop for $65 after tax. Lastly a few years ago when i bought a game at gamestop the person asked if i wanted $3 insurance on my game. when i refused he handed me the game and said with sarcasm "heres your uninsured game".... very rude and insulting and its even rude that the company would offer such a ripoff service.

HarryPS3 @ Sep 27th 2008 7:52AM

PS3fanboy.com must be sponsored by gamestop, i can't think of better reason they would be posting this. A well thinking person won't even enter a gamestop let alone buy items there.

Smitty @ Sep 27th 2008 8:23AM

Hehe... I like the way you say that!

For some reason I feel almost dirty walking into those stores. Almost like the impending process of fending off the sharks is going to leave me contaminated in some way...

But, don't forget, there's mostly good people working the registers there. Very few of them actually enjoy having to hard sell every customer for an insurance policy, a game guide, a pre-buy on a future game, and gamestop frequent buyer card with free subscription to some magazine. I think most of the stalwarts that work there are holding on for whatever take home policy there is and not for the love of swindling fellow gamers.