GAME Group CEO Ian Shepherd has said that more than half of new game purchases over the busy Christmas period were funded with trade-ins.

"Even in the run-up to Christmas, when you would think most of our customers are buying games new in order to give them as gifts, you still have a lot of trade-in happening," he told MCV.

"Around 50 to 60 per cent of the time, when we were selling a brand new game we were taking in a trade-in against it."

GAME said last month that it expects pre-owned software to account for around a quarter of its sales in 2010.

THQ told CVG last year that it believes second-hand sales "cheat" developers out of income.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/28 ... trade-ins/

I'm gonna mess around with COD for a bit more, but I could see it getting traded in or sold, that's for sure...

Half those existing sales would probably not happen if there were no trade in market. With the exception of really really good games, I buy preowned all the time. Banning preowned would just cut my need to get any and would even threaten my need for a console.

Arguably the used game market keeps the new market artificially high, just look at PC games which have no resale value, they price drops a lot faster on many

Just a thought - could that be because everyone who can afford to purchase new games outright is smart enough to get them from somewhere that doesn't charge about 10 quid more than the market rate?
The nearest Game to me is on an out of town shopping development. Day of release price in Game - £44.99. Day of release price in the Asda literally next door - £35.99 (or less). Is it really surprising nobody spends money in Game?