Your Guide To Gaming

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I’m sure you all know what the store GameStop is. Am I correct in assuming that? Well, just in case I’m wrong, GameStop is the world’s largest video game retailer. They have about 6,000 stores world-wide and are known for selling used and new video games. I know I’ve gotten a couple cheap, used games from them that have worked perfectly fine.

However, they are having some legal issues. It turns out that they have been selling used copies of games as new copies. They do this via their “check-out” policy that they have among their employees. Their check-out policy  states that an employee can check out an item from the store for up to four days. The merchandise can be used or new, but there are some restrictions as to what can be checked out. For instance, hardware, accessories, sealed CDs or software programs that must be altered to install may not be checked out. Popular titles cannot be checked out either, and if there is only one copy of the title left on hand, then it cannot be checked out. If the employee returns the merchandise in bad condition or if he or she loses the item, she must pay for the item. However, if it’s in good shape, then the company takes it back.

What happens then is kind of a mystery. Most of these games get put back into their cases and are sold as “new.”

How does the company manage to sell the games as new if they’re in cases? Well, once a shipment arrives, managers usually “gut” a few copies of the game. What this means is that the game is taken out of the case so that the case can be put on display without having to worry about it getting stolen. Employees then are able to play these games and return them to the company, which in turn sells the games as “new.” If a customer asks why the case is open even though the game is “new,” GameStop typically tells them that they are display copies but not that they have been played before.

I wonder what will happen to them…