GameStop Selling Games Played By Employees As New

Kotaku reports on a practice by GameStop which allows employees to "check out" new copies of video games, play them, then return them to be sold as new. Quoting: "When a shipment of video games initially arrives at a store, managers are told to 'gut' several copies of the game, removing the disc or cartridge from the packaging so it can be displayed on the shelf without concern of theft, according to our sources. The games are then placed in protective sleeves or cases under the counter. If a customer asks why the game is not sealed they are typically told the the game is a display copy. The game is still sold as new. When check-out games are returned, we were told, they are placed with the gutted display copies. If a customer asks about these, they are typically told they are display copies, not that they have been played before. Since the copies are often placed with display copies, even managers and employees typically don't know which of these games have been played and which haven't."

Re:Does it matter???

[Askmum]

My thought exactly. Except in cases where there is some kind of mandatory registration with a key on the box, or the disc is limited to the number of times you can read it, what is the difference between a disc that has been read once before and a disc that has not?
Is this the "I need a virgin" phenomenon?

the game

[Anonymous Coward]

Battletoads. Do they have it?

Re:How about DRM?

[zakkie]

"Someone who can talk intelligible..." - and they say yanks don't get irony? ;)

Re:Better customer service if you've played

[williamhb]

Many years ago I worked at the Harvey Norman computer chain in Australia and the games guys often took games home at the weekend to check out. The reasoning was simple - if you've played a game and a customer wants advice on which game to buy you're in a position where you actually know what you're talking about rather than just staring at them blankly. This was before the days of the internet being widely available, but I think the policy still holds true. If you're buying a game at a marked up price from your local software mart then the staff there better know what they're selling - otherwise how can you justify the retail space and the markup? So far from being a scandal, I call this sensible business practice.

We do the same thing with Chup-A-Chup lollies. Give each flavour a bit of a lick, so the shop assistant can give knowledgeable advice about them, then wrap the lollies back up and sell them as new. After all, it'd be a waste of cash to actually set aside ones for the employees and not sell them. That'd just not be sensible business practice.

Re:Does it matter???

[LandoCalrizzian]

All little wordplay for you:
Hate to break it to you but...I checked out your [game/wife] out sometime ago. Yeah, yeah I know you thought [it/she] was untouched and paid full price but we barely had 10-12hrs of passionate [gameplay/lovemaking] together. This was long before you decided to [buy it/marry her]. I didn't leave any marks...well that's not entirely true but you can barely see those [scratches/scars]. Don't worry, you'll still get to have your fun. If it doesn't work out there is a [sequel/sister] and my buddy says [it/she] is much better and he's only 8 hours in. I hope you like store credit.

Re:It's true, I've had personal experience with th

[Zed0mega]

So you got a bonus piece of cheese with your game and you're complaining!?