If you thought your retro collection of gaming gear was completely useless and good for nothing more than collecting dust, you must not be aware of GameStop's newest initiative. The company will be taking back old gaming gear and giving you some in-store coin for those games, controllers and sorely outdated consoles.
IGN is reporting that a GameStop representative mentioned that the company will be initiating a new trade-in program to take back “retro” gear in two of their regions, including the New York City and Birmingham markets beginning April 25th. And yes, this means gaming devices dating all the way back to the NES era.
According to the report, GameStop will take back the original NES, SNES, Sega Genesis, the original PlayStation One, Nintendo 64, and the Sega Dreamcast. Sadly, it doesn't appear as if the Sega Saturn, PlayStation 2, GameCube or OG Xbox will be accepted.
In addition to this, there will also be trade-ins available for the games and the accessories. Well, select accessories. I doubt they would want the VirtualBoy or anything to do with it.
Take note that according to IGN's report and the GameStop rep, the retro initiative will only roll out at select GameStop locations. They will be testing this new retro campaign to see how well it goes over and gathering up the old gear and seeing how much of it can be cleaned up and resold as refurbished wares.
According to the report, there will be a lead time of about two months between the time in which the old gear is taken in and the time for which GameStop will begin reselling the goods. The items will also carry the same level of warranty as the other used and refurbished items sold through GameStop.
There is a bit of catch to this, though: GameStop won't be reselling these old wares through the storefronts. According to the report, the company will be hosting the goods for sale through their online portal or via web-in-store system. This is likely for the express purpose of keeping down on store space being taken up with old goods and allowing them to keep in stock all the new and exciting games and gear they continue to roll out.
I'm not exactly sure how to feel about this, other than that it's good that the company is definitely looking to offer more alternatives for gamers interested in experiencing some old-school gaming gear from back when GameStop used to be known as Funcoland (oh man, I really loved that name).
It's hard to tell right now how much of a good thing this initiative will be until we can see exactly how GameStop will price the turnaround on the gear, but at least they're attempting to keep an element of historical value and presence around for the cynosure of today's gaming youth. Whether or not young'ns will take to the old gear is a whole other story... but GameStop is trying.
The new retro gear will be made available online. Depending on how well the promotion goes will depend on whether or not GameStop locations near you will start taking in your old gear. I guess we'll find out once April 25th rolls around.
