Walmart Takes Video Game Trade-Ins

The company announced:

Starting Wednesday, March 26, customers will be able to trade in their video games and apply the value immediately towards the purchase of anything sold at Walmart and Sam’s Club, both in stores and online. The traded-in games will then be sent to be refurbished and made available for purchase in like-new condition at a great low price.

The plan, therefore, allows Walmart to sell the refurbished games at a discount to new ones, which could bring in a new group of customers who need or want to pay less for their gaming.

The consumer’s effort to take part is easy:

• Customers bring their working video games, in the original packaging, to the electronics department.
• Associates scan the UPC code on the case and evaluate the game for obvious damage such as deep scratches or cracks.
• The customer is then provided with a trade-in value for each game to accept.
• The total value accepted by the customer is awarded immediately and can be applied at checkout in a Walmart store or Sam’s Club, or online at Walmart.com or SamsClub.com.

About 3,100 Walmart stores will participate.

Walmart is taking a last bite at an aging industry, which may not exist in its current form just years from now. The success of consoles made primarily by Sony Corp.’s (NYSE: SNE) PS4, Microsoft Corp.’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Xbox One and Nintendo have been undermined by the rise of the tablet and smartphone. And traditional video games have been replaced to some extent by ones that can be downloaded from app stores, primarily those controlled by Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL). Some company has to take advantage of the end of an era. It might as well be Walmart, which has the customers, stores and online base to do so.