Game Stop has always been an interesting force in the world of video game retailers. They are fabulous in the sense that they are major players in the used game market, really refining a trade-in infrastructure that allows people to get their hands on new games cheaper.
On the flip side of that coin is the seedy fact that they pay dirt cheap prices for games (I once got a quarter for a three year old Madden title!) and mark them up significantly. It is hard to truly be angry about this though, as they follow a pretty strait forward supply and demand model in their pricing.
Of course as Game Stop grew, so did the concept and popularity of used sales. Used sales is great for the gamer, but horrible for the game developers, as they don’t see a dime off of the used sale. In an effort to mitigate these losses, developers and publishers have begun supplying online pass codes into new games, effectively forcing those who buy used copies to shell out $15 bucks for the same content that would be free if purchased new.
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